Steam & Region Locked Games

[Deadmano]

Hey Guys,

Does anyone know the exact process of what happens when you move countries? As quite a few of the games I bought were restricted for PURCHASE and ACTIVATION in South Africa, but I'm not sure if that also implies the games can only be played in South Africa? Is there any way I could find out this information?

Lastly, what would happen if I move countires? With the games that could be region locked for playing in the activated region, what would Steam be able to do? I've heard both good and bad stories here, but one starts to lose a little faith if they start building up a collection of games only to have Support say that they would have to re-purchase the games because "there is nothing we can do"...

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I would love to keep all the games I have lawfully rented out and be able to play them for as long as Steam services are up and running.

[Jerimis]

Games that got region lock to activate, and Games that are only allowed to play in certain countrys (because of uncensored, or specially censored games, or by "law" forbidden to be sold in said country), are, as far as i know, specially "marked" in the steam store.

But there aint alot of those games, maybe only a hand full of them.

So dont worry, game on, and be happy :)

[Deadmano]

Originally posted by Jerimis:

Games that got region lock to activate, and Games that are only allowed to play in certain countrys (because of uncensored, or specially censored games, or by "law" forbidden to be sold in said country), are, as far as i know, specially "marked" in the steam store.

But there aint alot of those games, maybe only a hand full of them.

So dont worry, game on, and be happy :)

The problem with this is, a lot of games that weren't restricted before became restricted around the end of 2015... So it is proof that this can happen out of no where, and I would like to know what I can do going forward to ensure I still have the best chance of accessing my games, even if that means rather buying from an online retailer like Amazon rather than purchasing locally via the steam store of my region...

fauxtronic, how sure are you that ANY game bought in the steam store in MY region will work in another region? Because if it was that easy, Americans and the likes would come to all these 3rd world countries on vacation, and purchase TONS of games at reduced prices compared to their own local prices...

Thanks for the feedback thus far!