Steam – Is it possible to gift Steam games to a locale in which they are not (yet) offered

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Is it possible to gift a Steam game to a user who is in a locale where the game is not being offered?

For instance, this game has a different release date in different countries. Could I get this game on the 1st day of its release by having someone from an "early" country gift it to me?

This question is similar to (How) Is it possible to get the full version of a game if I can only buy its low violence version?, and indeed I hope there is a similar answer.

Best Answer

General:

The one who is getting the present, is always getting the version of the country the buyer lives in.

Censorship:

So yes, it is possible to circumvent low violence with trading AND gifting. However, a Publisher might have decided to prevent someone from installing the game when the IP is in a country where the game is blocked. So far this is only true for 1 game from Capcom so far, where I know about. The Game was Dead Rising 2 : Off the Record. That one for example is not installable in Germany, even if you get it gifted or traded, but the store gives me a warning if I visit it via cc=us.

Example: Dead Rising 2 Off the Record

It is also possible to gift it to someone where it is not available in the store at all. For example, I gave Space Marine to a British friend on Steam, because it was not available in his country on Steam store before release and a while after. ( wave @ Game )

Release Date:

That is still governed where you live at. For example, a friend gifted me Deus Ex HR Preorder. While the game was already out in the US where he lives, I had to wait the 3 extra days to play it.

Related Solutions

Steam – (How) Is it possible to get the full version of a game if I can only buy its low violence version

The problem of region restriction and low violence content has already been discussed here. Basically those restrictions are applied based on who purchases the game, not who plays it. You need somebody in a non restricted area to gift that game to you. Alternatively, you could spend your holidays in one such country and purchase the game from there with a local payment method (apparently you can buy prepaid cards from gas stations, or at least that's what Redditors say to people who have no credit card; YMMV).

Steam – If I gift someone on Steam, will they see the email address

Yes, they will. Here's the (redacted) start of a recent gift email I got:

Hello,

Your friend s-------- (s--------@gmail.com) has given you a gift subscription
to the game Strike Suit Zero Mega Bundle on Steam, the leading digital
distribution platform for PC Games.  Here's how to redeem your gift:

They'll see both your Steam name, and the email address Steam has for you. Note that this message will be sent whether they send the gift through Steam, or tell Steam to email it to you.

You can change the email address Steam has on file from Steam -> Settings -> Account -> Change Contact Email.... You can also avoid revealing your email address entirely by trading it to them directly with the in-chat trading system, although this requires you both to be online at the same time.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Steam – (How) Is it possible to get the full version of a game if I can only buy its low violence version

Steam – If I gift someone on Steam, will they see the email address

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