How to check if Steam game is region locked?

If you are buying a game on Steam then you shouldn’t worry, it will work if you don’t change your region. But it can be different if you are buying Steam game from different source, from some unknown store.

Well-known stores that sell games as Steam keys are Humble Bundle, Gamesplanet, 2Game or Fanatical. If a game is region locked, there is always an indication of that on the game page.

If you are buying a Steam game from a less known store such as Yuplay.ru, Plati.ru etc, beware because Russian locks are very common. Same applies for CIS countries and South American countires and some Asian countries.

How to check the Steam game region lock?

1. Go to SteamDB website.

2. Search for a game that you want to check if the steam keys for that game have region locks.

3. In this example we will search for Borderlands 3.

4. Look for App Type -> Game. Click the APPID -> 397540.

5. Click -> Packages. There you have a list of SUBIDs like on the screenshot below.

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6. Billing type “Store or CD Key” usually applies to purchasing the game directly from Steam websites. But “CD Key” billing type applies to keys sold on many different stores that sell cd keys for this game.

7. Let’s click on SUBID 437164 (Borderlands RU/CIS)

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8. We see that page. This means that this “package” (CD key) has a region lock for these countires (Russia and CIS countires).

9. Not always SUBID is named with a country or region in the name, so for some games you have to check and click the SUBID and read if it has any restrictions.

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10. In this instance we can see that Borderlands 3 is heavily region locked. It has CD key region locks for Russia and CIS countries, China, Asia, LATAM (South America) and Europe.

Also, the Steam official website has region locks in terms of buying gifts. You cannot buy a game as a gift for a friend if he’s in a different enough region that the price difference of that game in his region is more than 10%.

Why some steam keys are region locked?

Steam keys can be region-locked due to a variety of reasons, such as publisher or developer agreements, licensing restrictions, and regional pricing. This ensures that games are only played in their intended regions and can prevent issues with pricing and distribution.

Are humble bundle keys region locked?

Yes, they are, but you shouldn’t worry, unless you plan to gift or trade them. At most 20% of Steam keys from Humble Bundle are region locked, but if you purchase without a VPN from your real location then you will activate them fine on your Steam account. But if you want to gift them then check a resource like SteamDB and SteamGifts (where they post Humble Choice region locks every month).

Are Steam Gifts region locked?

If you want to gift a steam gift to a friend where the regional pricing of the game is vastly different, then you won’t be able to purchase that steam gift. The difference threshold can be as little as 10% of price difference, but if varies from game to game.

Marcus Richardson
Editor-in-chief

I love testing and writing about new tech. I'm also a gamer and an engineer. Check out my Twitter for keyboard stuff.

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