Arma 3 Region Restriction

[ndest 1]

Hello fellow Arma 3 Players and Moderators,

I'm here because in 2013 I got Arma 3 RU Version even though I was from Europe, Why? Well a friend of mine sent it to me and to another friend of mine as a present. Now there were no region locks at that time so I was able to activate it and play it for almost 1-2 Months without any VPNs or anything like that, and one day getting back to it a sudden steam message informing me that the game was region locked got me sad.

Bohemia, I used to admire you as a company, however you failed this time, region locking games is something to be seen from EA...

I'm not making a flame post or bashing about the situation,

I had arma 2 and the expansions and I still bought DayZ after this mess, because all your games are great, and I would love to play Arma 3 again.

Steam did not help me at all, just answered: "You will need to buy the game in your region to be able to play it".

I am not the only one affected by this and I stand as a gamer to stop the "region lock system", It is no good for someone who travels alot (not my case but pointing out), for someone who has international friends (like I do), etc...

I will neither use VPNs or any other tricks to play the game, and I will not discard the one on my steam and buy the game again.

I hope this thread isn't deleted, and furthermore I would like help from you, the community, to help me raise awareness about "region locking" so we may tell Bohemia to stop it. Bohemia you are one of my favorite companies, surprise me and fight against this!

I'm sorry I took so long to make this thread,

Thank you for reading this.

Edited March 23, 2014 by ndest

[Tonci87 163]

Can you be sure that it was BIS and not Valve that did this?

[nettrucker 142]

Can you be sure that it was BIS and not Valve that did this?

I believe that BIS has nothing to do with that. Valve is distributing the game throughout Steam most probably they are responsible for the region lock.

Edited March 23, 2014 by nettrucker
grammar

[ndest 1]

Thank you for your answers,

I did my research and it seems publishers are behind region locks, it seems steam/Valve doesn't go agaisnt it either, however correct if I am wrong, would actually like to confirm who is behind this.

Regards

Edit: would like to point out that there are imensive steam forums' posts regarding region lock in arma 3 and a few other games

[Tonci87 163]

Thank you for your answers,

I did my research and it seems publishers are behind region locks, it seems steam/Valve doesn't go agaisnt it either, however correct if I am wrong, would actually like to confirm who is behind this.

Regards

Edit: would like to point out that there are imensive steam forums' posts regarding region lock in arma 3 and a few other games

I honestly believe that Steam is responsible for this.

[gdscei 1]

Even if BI is behind it, it seems pretty normal to me, considering for some reason you can get the game a lot cheaper in Russia.

[Tonci87 163]

Even if BI is behind it, it seems pretty normal to me, considering for some reason you can get the game a lot cheaper in Russia.

The reason beeing that statistically russians have a lower income than west european countries or the US. Publishers adapt their prices to that market so that people still buy their games instead of simply pirating them. The problem Steam faces is that people from western countries, who in theory can afford our western prices, try to buy games at a cheaper price. Of course publishers don´t want that to happen.

[archbishop lazarus 24]

The reason beeing that statistically russians have a lower income than west european countries or the US. Publishers adapt their prices to that market so that people still buy their games instead of simply pirating them. The problem Steam faces is that people from western countries, who in theory can afford our western prices, try to buy games at a cheaper price. Of course publishers don´t want that to happen.

No, $team (and probably BI$) just wants even more $$$. Hungary is the poorest country of europe, with salaries lower than in russia. Still, prices arent lower.

$team should burn in hell.

[laverniusregalis 10]

No, $team (and probably BI$) just wants even more $$$. Hungary is the poorest country of europe, with salaries lower than in russia. Still, prices arent lower.

$team should burn in hell.

Yes, yes, let the hate flow through you.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Steam allows this, but they shouldn't be blamed for the fact that BI added these modifications to the BI's Arma 3 Russian retail package five months ago. "onlyallowrunincountries" and "PurchaseRestrictedCountries" are self explanatory.

If you check the history, package was created 8 months ago and restrictions were placed 5 months ago. So they either forgot to add it when they created the package or the feature did not exist then.

Either way, SteamDB for the win.

[bardosy 158]

No, $team (and probably BI$) just wants even more $$$. Hungary is the poorest country of europe, with salaries lower than in russia. Still, prices arent lower.

$team should burn in hell.

Are you sure? Because in Hungary the game is 1990ft (~ 6 EUR) and it's very cheap. Much-much cheaper than 44 EUR as in western europe.

[ndest 1]

Steam allows this, but they shouldn't be blamed for the fact that BI added these modifications to the BI's Arma 3 Russian retail package five months ago. "onlyallowrunincountries" and "PurchaseRestrictedCountries" are self explanatory.

If you check the history, package was created 8 months ago and restrictions were placed 5 months ago. So they either forgot to add it when they created the package or the feature did not exist then.

Either way, SteamDB for the win.

Yes, and that is why I am bothered by this, why add it after it was out? The feature already exists for a long time since most EA games on steam have it, so either they forgot or were told to add it,

Online content is supposed to be available for everyone, and here they are imposing restrictions.

Yesterday I continued my research on this and it seems RU versions and other country versions get less updates and are completely separated from the servers, I can not confirme this within Arma 3, I was able to play it just fine for a long time like I said, and everything was alright. And it seems the only thing I am able to do is to ask Steam Support to remover my game from my library so I may buy the game again, and this is just ridiculous, I mean if there was a way to upgrade it to a global version or something similar, I wouldn't mind, but having to pay the full game and discarding this one is pretty ridiculous.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Yes, and that is why I am bothered by this, why add it after it was out? The feature already exists for a long time since most EA games on steam have it, so either they forgot or were told to add it,

Online content is supposed to be available for everyone, and here they are imposing restrictions.

Yesterday I continued my research on this and it seems RU versions and other country versions get less updates and are completely separated from the servers, I can not confirme this within Arma 3, I was able to play it just fine for a long time like I said, and everything was alright. And it seems the only thing I am able to do is to ask Steam Support to remover my game from my library so I may buy the game again, and this is just ridiculous, I mean if there was a way to upgrade it to a global version or something similar, I wouldn't mind, but having to pay the full game and discarding this one is pretty ridiculous.

I understand, it's frustrating when 3 months after your purchase, additional limits are imposed on what you bought. Contact BI support and see how they can help you solve this, forums and forum staff can't really help you there much except serve as a soapbox.

[ndest 1]

I understand, it's frustrating when 3 months after your purchase, additional limits are imposed on what you bought. Contact BI support and see how they can help you solve this, forums and forum staff can't really help you there much except serve as a soapbox.

Thanks I will contact BI support, anyways here is my response from steam support :

Hello ####,

Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

The message "Steam Error: Game not available in your territory", indicates that the game you have purchased is restricted to the territory where it was sold.

Territory restrictions are noted on the packaging of the game or on the Steam Store page.

If you have purchased a retail version, please contact your reseller for a refund, as Steam Support cannot make changes to territory restrictions.

I can't get a refund (it was a present remember), and the game was not " noted on the packaging of the game or on the Steam Store page", I just put the game code into Steam and it normally added it, it did not warn me of anything.

[Tonci87 163]

Thanks I will contact BI support, anyways here is my response from steam support :

I can't get a refund (it was a present remember), and the game was not " noted on the packaging of the game or on the Steam Store page", I just put the game code into Steam and it normally added it, it did not warn me of anything.

Write them exactly that. You received it as a present, so they either give you access to it or they refund it to the person that gifted it to you.

[nettrucker 142]

Write them exactly that. You received it as a present, so they either give you access to it or they refund it to the person that gifted it to you.

Steam doesn't give refunds Tonci . . . remember? Not even for broken games like X rebirth which was a mess when released.

[Mr. Charles 22]

Steam doesn't give refunds Tonci . . . remember? Not even for broken games like X rebirth which was a mess when released.

They do. I asked twice for refunds and I got refunded twice with Steam wallet money.

[nettrucker 142]

You're lucky then, because they have a strict no fund policy. In the X rebirth case people were asking for refunds some got them the most part didn't. I will stop here to avoid further steam discussions.

cheers

[archbishop lazarus 24]

Are you sure? Because in Hungary the game is 1990ft (~ 6 EUR) and it's very cheap. Much-much cheaper than 44 EUR as in western europe.

Nem a nyugati árakra értettem, hanem az oroszra. Ha a fenti filozófiát vesszük, (szegény országoknak kevesebbért) akkor olcsóbbnak kellene lennie.

[onlyrazor 11]

You're lucky then, because they have a strict no fund policy. In the X rebirth case people were asking for refunds some got them the most part didn't. I will stop here to avoid further steam discussions.

cheers

They also offered refunds for The WarZ and that terribly broken cricket game. I mean, they were pretty broken, but it still counts. Anyway, we could probably conclude with that.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Write them exactly that. You received it as a present, so they either give you access to it or they refund it to the person that gifted it to you.

Steam will refund in many cases, like mentioned above, but when you redeem a cross region retail key on Steam they neither will nor should refund you. They didn't sell you the game.

[Tonci87 163]

Steam will refund in many cases, like mentioned above, but when you redeem a cross region retail key on Steam they neither will nor should refund you. They didn't sell you the game.

But they should refund the guy who gifted him the game.

---------- Post added at 07:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:38 PM ----------

Steam will refund in many cases, like mentioned above, but when you redeem a cross region retail key on Steam they neither will nor should refund you. They didn't sell you the game.

But they should refund the guy who gifted him the game.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

But they should refund the guy who gifted him the game.

Why? His friend gave him a key. He entered the key on Steam. Steam does not sell keys, therefore Steam did not sell the copy he's got, to him or to his friend.

That's like me asking Steam to refund my copy of South Park which I got on GMG. Would you refund me something I did not buy from you?

[Tonci87 163]

Why? His friend gave him a key. He entered the key on Steam. Steam does not sell keys, therefore Steam did not sell the copy he's got, to him or to his friend.

That's like me asking Steam to refund my copy of South Park which I got on GMG. Would you refund me something I did not buy from you?

Oh he got a Key? I thought that he was gifted the game directly. Well then you are screwed. You could try to write the company where the game was originally purchased.

[bardosy 158]

Nem a nyugati árakra értettem, hanem az oroszra. Ha a fenti filozófiát vesszük, (szegény országoknak kevesebbért) akkor olcsóbbnak kellene lennie.

6 euronal sehol se olcsobb. A ruszkiknal se.

There are no cheaper then 6 EUR. Even in Russia.

Edited March 25, 2014 by bardosy
English.