I am infrequently participating in Random Acts of Gaming, a subreddit for giving away games. I wanted to buy and give away a copy of the game I love. However, both the game publisher site and the Steam page indicate that I can only buy a region-locked copy suitable for my country (Russia). It may or may not work elsewhere. Since the recipient of the giveaway may come from anywhere, I'm looking to get a worldwide-giftable copy.
Steam gifts require me and the recipient of the giveaway to be friends on Steam for at least three days. This is an option, but I'd prefer to avoid jumping through these hoops.
I've contacted the publisher support. They cannot lift the region-lock, so they advised me to buy Steam wallet credit. However, unless I misread Steam help pages, I can again gift Steam wallet credit to Steam friends only.
I am open to options including or excluding Steam or any other reputable distribution platforms.
Best Answer
Based on Steam gift policy, you cannot get a worldwide copy to gift https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1266-QFZC-2141, and you can't trade steam wallet credit as they say here: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8912-WEYU-8454 .I think the only solution to gift is to have steam account same region as the winner of the giveaway.