Steam enacts region locking in face of Russian economic crisis

Those who are used to buying cheap CD keys online are not really going to like this.

So Russia has been in a bit of economic free fall as of late. The ruble has tumbled in value due to a number of factors, from both without and within the country and one of the latest victims is Russia’s tech and gaming market.

Already, Apple has pulled out of online sales in the nation, and now Valve’s Steam digital PC game distribution service is enacting some very interesting regulations. While not a full-on, console-esque region lock per se, the new system (which is catalog-wide, with no game spared) effectively halts game ‘gifting’ across certain borders and between certain global territories.

Although they’re the ones in financial straights, Russia isn’t the only country to be targeted by Valve either, as Turkey, Brazil, and others now have the same restrictions in place. That meaning, that gamers living there can gift games within only a predetermined spread of countries, and not freely to anyone as had been the case.

While this is a kind of region locking, gamers who buy CD keys through other outlets online, such as Green Man Gaming and Humble Bundle, needn’t worry about their games working. CD Keys on the PC are just as universal as ever on Steam and should still work just fine internationally.

Source: MCV