The prices of games on Steam store isn’t the same across the world. Depending on your country’s currency, games may cost you more or less when bought from another country. These price variances can sometimes be dramatic, which has led many players to resort to using VPNs to buy games for cheap from other countries.
This method was in practice for years by players who were looking to save up a bit on video games, but with the recent Steam update it appears like this method has been patched out.
From now on, if a player wishes to change his country in Steam, he has to complete a purchase using a payment method from that country first. This will hinder the players using VPNs to buy games from a different country for cheap, since that process would require the player to get access to a payment method from that specific country.
As mentioned in the Steam update, “If you have moved to a new country, or are living abroad for an extended period of time, you can update your Steam country settings when you complete your first purchase using a payment method from that country.”
From the initial looks of it, there can be no possible way for players to circumvent this system to buy cheaper games unless they manage to gain access to a payment method from that country.
This problem had also previously affected the community marketplaces for games like CSGO, where a recent event dropped the price of case keys drastically when players started using Argentinian VPNs to buy keys for cheap. The exploit was soon patched out by Valve, but the price change persisted for a while.
