It’s the season of giving for many people, but someSteamusers have become disgruntled at their inability to gift games to some of their friends. The issue is an extension of a prior problem withSteamimpacting players with friends who live in various regions of the world.
Steam typically offers players the opportunity to choose between buying a game for themselves orgifting a gameto another user. It’s a nice way to show appreciation to a friend or family member, and since Steam wishlists can be shared, it’s easy to find something that player might want. However, that’s only an option if Steam allows it, as some gamers have been discouraged to discover.
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Users of the Steam platform have been discussing the problem on social media, with many likely looking to buy gifts now that theSteam winter saleis on. These users report that when they’ve tried to make their purchases, they’ve received a message indicating that “Due to regional price differences, the gift you are trying to send cannot be sent to the recipient’s region.”
As some fellow users have pointed out, this issue came about because of Steam’s efforts to block players from getting games for cheaper than they should. Games are sometimes priced according to the region the user is in, with adjustments made depending on the current value of their currency. In the past, this meant that someone could get games for cheaper than intended by having a friend in another country gift it to them, orregion swapping by using a VPNto access a different price themselves. These days, if a game has more than a 10% price difference between two regions, it can’t be gifted.
Whilegaming the Steam Store to get a better priceis understandably something Valve, game devs, and game publishers would want to avoid, this ‘solution’ has a few oversights. Users have pointed out that they would be willing to pay the higher price if it meant that they could give the gift to a friend. However, that’s not an available option, leaving players with no other alternative but to gift cash or a Steam gift card directly. While this method works, it’s more time-consuming and complicated than it needs to be.
As the economy has gone through some recent shake-ups, more players may be experiencing this problem than before. With the holidays arriving, it may be too late for some players to give what they intended to their friends this year. With any luck, Valve will recognize this issue and provide a solution that can work for everyone in the near future.
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