Good to see Steam taking action against VPN users.
Taken from VG247… Valve has made things even more difficult for those looking to take advantage of Steam’s regional pricing when they shouldn’t.
Steam has implemented more restrict rules on changing a user’s main store country. Although it has been difficult to do in recent years, this new update to the process deters an even wider group of players.
As spotted by Steam Database, Steam now requires users to make a purchase using a payment method issued in the country they want to change their store to. In other words, you can’t buy games in Poland unless you have a Polish credit card, for instance.
Store country is a setting that dictates the content and prices Steam displays. Some in the past used this feature to change their country to one where games are cheaper in order to get a deal one or more purchases. In those case, users would VPN to those places while using their existing payment methods, which were issued in their actual country of residence.
“If you have moved to a new country, or are living abroad for an extended period of time, you can update your Steam country setting when you complete your first purchase using a payment method from that country,” Steam’s updated policy explains.
Valve has recently made changing your store country more strict, which requires completing a purchase using a payment method from that country.
This should hinder the ability of using VPNs to buy games cheaper. pic.twitter.com/IozwoO6gsi
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) July 29, 2020
“If your location differs from your current Steam account store country setting you’ll have an option to change your store region while you view your cart or as you complete your purchase.”
A number of Steam users recently took advantage of Horizon Zero Dawn’s cheaper price in some countries, which caused the game’s price to rise in certain places, screwing legitimate customers in the process.
This type of policy is pretty standard for online stores, especially those with extensive regional pricing support. The Epic Games Store, for instance, locks your store country to the one where the first purchase was made.
Source: VG247
