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Is it possible to gift a Steam game to a user who is in a locale where the game is not being offered?

For instance, this game has a different release date in different countries. Could I get this game on the 1st day of its release by having someone from an "early" country gift it to me?

This question is similar to (How) Is it possible to get the full version of a game if I can only buy its low violence version?, and indeed I hope there is a similar answer.

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  • Hm. Just a week ago I would've answered with an unconditional yes, but apparently the situation has recently changed and now I'm not sure what's up.
    – a cat
    Apr 7, 2012 at 21:22
  • Also, release date is completely separate from the version you have. I noticed that when I got the NA version of The Darkness 2 from a Game Grant, I couldn't play it until it was released in the EU region.
    – a cat
    Apr 7, 2012 at 21:38

1 Answer 1

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General:

The one who is getting the present, is always getting the version of the country the buyer lives in.

Censorship:

So yes, it is possible to circumvent low violence with trading AND gifting. However, a Publisher might have decided to prevent someone from installing the game when the IP is in a country where the game is blocked. So far this is only true for 1 game from Capcom so far, where I know about. The Game was Dead Rising 2 : Off the Record. That one for example is not installable in Germany, even if you get it gifted or traded, but the store gives me a warning if I visit it via cc=us.

Example: Dead Rising 2 Off the Record

It is also possible to gift it to someone where it is not available in the store at all. For example, I gave Space Marine to a British friend on Steam, because it was not available in his country on Steam store before release and a while after. ( wave @ Game )

Release Date:

That is still governed where you live at. For example, a friend gifted me Deus Ex HR Preorder. While the game was already out in the US where he lives, I had to wait the 3 extra days to play it.

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    Doesn't fully cover the question, though; if a game is not available at all in, say, Australia, can a US user gift it to them? I believe the answer is yes (absent the Capcom game caveat) but I'm not 100% sure.
    – technophile
    Apr 8, 2012 at 1:10
  • Dead Rising. Was it 1 or 2? I worked on the localization tools for DR2 and I'd be saddened if they enforced it with IP checks. Though of course the real problem is silly laws.
    – Matthew Read
    Apr 8, 2012 at 1:20
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    I have updated the answer, to be more clear on the matter when a game is not available. Since I am german, I use the gift-feature a lot an so far I always got the games uncut and could install them, even if not available. @Matthew Thanks, it was Dead Rising 2. It is the only game on Steam I know where it does not work. But if I visit the games page on steam with cc=us, it warns me about it.
    – user12190
    Apr 8, 2012 at 10:18
  • Excellent and comprehensive answer, thank you! (though I think it's better if you would give the paragraph after the screenshot a header of its own, since it deals with a different scenario)
    – Oak
    Apr 8, 2012 at 11:28

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