Steam users are discussing this problem on social networks. Many of them were probably planning to buy gifts now when the winter sale started on Steam. Still, when making a purchase, they received the following message: “Due to regional price differences, the gift you are trying to send cannot be sent to the recipient’s region.”
As some users have noted, this problem has arisen because Steam is trying to prevent players from purchasing games cheaper than they are. Sometimes the prices of games depend on the region in which the user is located and are adjusted based on the currency’s current value.
In the past, this meant that someone could get a game cheaper than expected if his friend in another country gave him the game or if he switched the region using a VPN to get access to a different price. Now, the game cannot be gifted if the price difference between the two regions is more than 10%.
It’s understandable why Valve, game developers, and publishers want to prevent an attempt to buy a game cheaper, but this “solution” has several drawbacks. Users note that they are willing to pay a higher price to give a gift to a friend. However, there is no such option, so players have no choice but to gift cash or a Steam gift card directly.
