Green Man Gaming says "activates in your region" and then says "This product can only be activated in or gifted to the following regions" and lists 236 countries.
That mean the 236 countries are ok and yours (+ region) is one of them.
I can't help with the rest because i never cared for the region restricted stuff and never had problems with it :) maybe only lucky till now
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But I don't know if that means that I can buy the game in the US and it will activate in any of those countries or if the game will only activate in the country you purchase it in and that is just the list of countries where the game can be purchased and activated. Most sites sound like they are saying the key will be region locked when you purchase it and then it will only activate in your country or region.
I have never dealt with region locks much either because I am in the US and most of the keys I buy can be activated almost anywhere.
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Do you think that is right? Other stores are specifically saying they key will be locked to my country or region and will not activate anywhere else. Are different stores region locking keys in different ways? Does the store even have the ability to set a region lock on the key or is that done by Steam before the store gets the key?
Using Fanatical with Doom, if I click "check country restrictions", every country I click on outside of my own says "will not activate in country". Then if I pick a different game, like The Banner Saga 3, all the countries I click on say that it will activate in those countries.
Edit: Or maybe GMG has the option to purchase the key as a gift and it won't generate a key until the person I send it to claims the game and then it will give them a key for their country. I think Humble might work like that with their gift links, but I'm not sure.
Edit 2: I didn't check GMG yet, but Fanatical does offer gifting and they say this on their FAQ page for gifting: "If any of the games in your order are region locked they will be the regional variant appropriate to the country you connect from when you placed your order - if the recipient is in another country we cannot guarantee that they will be able to use the delivered key and you should check if the product is appropriate to their country before you gift it"
So it sound like Fanatical sets the region when you place the order even if you place the order as a gift and no key is reveled.
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I just check the FAQ on GMG and they basically say the same thing about gifting.
Do region restrictions apply?
Yes, any gifts gifted will only be redeemable in the region of purchase. giftee's will be able to view a list of regions that their codes will work before redeeming the gift code"
Also, it looks like I cannot view the list of countries where the gift can be activated until after I purchase the game. I think the main list of countries on the game page is just where it can be purchased, but once you buy it, it will be region locked to the buyers region.
I'm not sure if the issue is the site selling the game, it sounds like Doom is specifically being region locked for some reason. Almost like the publisher requires the game to be region locked no matter who sells it because other games do not have the same region locks.
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If that is the case, does that mean any key I purchase for Doom from any store will activate in those regions or only the key from GMG? If they are the same I would rather get it from IndieGala for 20% less, but I don't know who sets the region restrictions.
IndieGala, like almost every other store says, "It will only work in the region from where it is bought". I have a feeling GMG is just saying that the game can be purchased and activated in that list of countries, but it is going to be region restricted to your region once purchased. They probably mean that the game can be purchased and gifted in any of those countries, but once purchased, it can only be gifted and activated within your region.
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does that mean any key I purchase for Doom from any store will activate in those regions
I wouldn't rely on that... Those region restrictions are a pesky thing and I think they are different from store to store but really I'm quite clueless about it.
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Thanks for the info, but I'm still a little confused. Is there any way to figure out what specific Sub ID is being sold by a store?
Also, you said that "the current batch can be activated anywhere", but if I go there and click on the information tab on the left, it says "Cross region trading and gifting is disabled for this item".
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So then are you saying that almost all of the sites that say the key can only be activated in the region where you purchase the key are wrong and you think they keys from the different sites should activate in all the countries GMG listed? So I shouldn't need to worry about a region restriction?
Or do you think Steam has a system where keys can be generated when they order is placed? You place an order, the store requests a key from Steam for your region, Steam provided a key that will only activate in your region.
Also, I just went back through the archive of giveaways and it looks like this giveaway from 2 months ago was purchased in Great Britain and sent to the winner in Taiwan. And this giveaway was purchased in the US and sent to Russia.
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Thanks for the info. I haven't had to deal with region restrictions much in the past and it is confusing when different sites are saying different things. Region restrictions will continue to be confusing, but at least I have a better understanding of how to check the info on SteamDB. I will just create the giveaway with the 3 known region restrictions and hope for the best.
Thanks again for your help :)
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Doom (2016) is on sale starting today and I wanted to grab a copy for my WL, but I noticed that different sites say different things about region restrictions. Some say that the game can only be activated in the country where it is purchased, others say it can be activated in the region where purchased, others give a long list of countries where it can be activated, and others say it is region free. I am in the US.
Does anyone know what the real region restriction is? I don't know how many people on my WL are in the US or my region and I also would not want to exclude a lot of them. I would prefer to give something that they can all enter.
Edit: Fanatical and GMG both have the ability to gift an order, but they both say in their FAQ that region locked games will be region locked to the region where the purchase is made and the game might not be able to be activated in other regions.
Update: I ended up buying a key from GameBillet. I am in the US and the winner was able to activate the key in the Netherlands.
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