Valve closes loophole that made some Steam prices cheaper
Credit where its due.
It's now a lot harder to change your Steam store country and take advantage of cheaper game prices in different regions.
A recent change by Valve, clocked by SteamDB, now requires you to first make a purchase using a payment method from the country whose store you're using.
This closes the loophole where you could use a VPN to fool Steam into thinking you lived somewhere else - somewhere, say, a particular game might be priced a little cheaper.
This has long been against Valve's terms and conditions, and risks a ban - but people did it anyway.
The issue recently hit the headlines when Horizon Zero Dawn launched on Steam and users flocked to buy it cheap from the Argentinian store. This caused the game's local price to then be dramatically increased to match its US dollar price to stop bargain hunters taking advantage, VG247 reported, disadvantaging locals in the process.
If you did move countries or are living abroad for an extended period, you'll now need to get a payment method from that country and make a purchase using it to switch your Steam store location. If you can't do this, you'll need to take your case to Steam support.