Steam Introduces Restriction That Prevents Users From Buying Cheaper Games Using VPNs

Valve's video game digital distribution service Steam is preventing region hoppers from purchasing games at much cheaper prices by imposing more restrictions.

Steam recently set a limit to the number of times a user can change their account's location, making it more difficult for people who use VPNs to abuse the service's regional pricing feature.

This change was discovered by the folks at Steam DB. "In a further crack down on people buying games in cheaper regions, Valve added a limit on how often you can change your Steam account's country," they said in a tweet. "Country may not be updated more than once every 3 months. Purchases can be completed using a payment method from your current region."

This move came after the company rolled out several changes that were meant to cut down on exploitative use of regional pricing.

The company's regional pricing feature enables developers to sell their games for various prices, depending on where the buyer is located. It aims to ensure that games' prices match the income in the country a user is buying from.

Last Summer, Steam started requiring users to add a payment method registered in the country they are currently in.

In January, VPNPro reported about the average cost of a Steam game all over the world. It also made a comparison between the amount people from the U.S. and Canada need to shell out and the price users from countries like Brazil, India and Russia have to pay when purchasing games.

According to the report, the differences in pricing make it possible for people to buy games below the rates currently set in their actual place of residence. To do this, they simply change the country indicated in their account.

Some Steam users find this new restriction a little too unnecessary, thinking it was already difficult to change countries in their accounts even prior to the change. However, Steam's move might have been motivated by the fact that some users were still able to find their way around the system.