If you are one of the Steam users who changes the country associated with your account in order to buy games at a cheaper rate, we have bad news for you.
The popular video game digital distribution service is taking aim at region-hopping. That is a technically-legal trick that some users employ in order to purchase games at a discounted price. Essentially, a Steam user can change the region their account is associated with if that area of the world is selling a game at a lower price. Certain parts of the world get video games at better prices, whether permanently or for a limited time. With a simple change of your account, you can convince Steam that you live anywhere in the world. Well, anywhere with a good deal, that is.
That will no longer be the case. Valve, the company that created and runs Steam, is now putting a limit on how often users can alter their account’s country. In the future, countries can not be changed more than once every three months. That means that if you do find a good deal in a different region, you better make sure it’s the only one you want for the next three months. Previously, there was no limit on the amount of times people could change their specific location.
This isn’t the first tool Steam has used against the region-hopping practice. The company has already put restrictions on which payment methods users can have. Steam has also restricted VPN usage in hopes of limiting customers tricking the system. This latest tweak of the rules is the most serious one yet and will surely restrict the number of people who are changing their account’s home country again and again.
Moving forward, Steam users will only be able to modify their account four times a year. So they better make each change count.
