I’m not sure how Steam handles region-locking, VPNs, etc… For Nintendo or Sony stores, it’s as simple as making a Japanese account and purchasing it, but how does it work with Steam. I have all the means to make a purchase (access to JPN payments, address, etc…), but would I be able to play it from the US after I purchase it? Also, If I were to use a VPN, buy it, then disconnect from it, would it let me download the game, or would I have to download it all via the VPN? Would I be in danger of getting in trouble with Steam over this? Does anyone have any experience with this?
I originally made my Steam account in the US, then moved to Japan and have been using it here for over a decade. I switched regions back and forth for a while because a lot of games used to not be available in Japan (especially games from Japanese developers), but nowadays it’s not so much of an issue, so I’ve left my region as Japan for a few years now.
First, using a credit card from another country will give you the opportunity to change your region at the time of checkout (or at least this is how it worked the last time I did it a few years ago). After this, you will be locked to that region until using a payment method from another country, which will again give you the option to change to that country. For this reason, I’m not sure if it’s possible to buy a Japan-only game straight off the bat without buying something else first to change your region (because you can’t see the game and add it to your cart until your region is Japan).
Anything you buy remains on your account and is downloadable and playable regardless of what your region is set to. I think they sometimes crack down on people who change temporarily to some regions like Russia, but this is because games are so much cheaper there. Games are more expensive in Japan compared to the US, so I think that’s very unlikely to be an issue.
I think I used to use a VPN at the time of a region change, but I never used one otherwise. Figured that it couldn’t hurt to appear to be in the US when changing my region there.
Just to note, using VPNs (or other means?) to make purchases outside of your region could get your Steam account banned, according to their ToS:
“You agree that you will not use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the place of your residence, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on game content, to purchase at pricing not applicable to your geography, or for any other purpose. If you do this, Valve may terminate your access to your Account.”
Though my understanding is that enforcement of this policy is pretty relaxed, so it’s not likely to be an issue on that front.
It sounds like it’s more based on your payment method’s country of origin (or something of the like) now. Triarag (comment above) seems pretty familiar with this process.
Cool. I logged out, turned on a VPN, then went to the store page for the game to buy it. When it prompted me to login it let me use my US account brought me to the payment page, but I got scared and backed out at that point. Your post is very reassuring. I’ll give it another try. I’ll tell you if I get banned or something.
Oddly enough, the auto moderator immediately deleted the thread. Apparently it’s inappropriate for the Steam sub.
Good luck! If you have an actual Japanese credit card and address, I can’t imagine that they would have any reason to ban you.
damn did you have a japanese payment method?