Changing region on Steam
The most popular and really useful way to buy games on Steam is to create a new account in a different region. This will allow, among other things, to purchase games from developers and publishers leaving Russia. Russians tend to choose Kazakhstan or Turkey – each region presents a number of advantages and challenges that must be considered before creating a new profile. They have low prices compared to the EU or the USA, but for them the ways to replenish the Steam wallet are different.
Often times, users turn to specialized sites such as Plati.Market to create a “foreign account”. Account creation service will cost an average of 100 rubles.
Such services provide services for transferring an account from the Russian region to Kazakhstan and others. However, some users complain that their profile is subsequently blocked. This is because Steam prohibits changing regions using a VPN, and that’s how the process usually works.
Therefore, the easiest and fastest way is to buy a new Kazakh or Turkish account. Or, if you have the appropriate connections, you can ask a friend from one of these countries to open an account for you and transfer the account to you.
To open a new account, at least on the first purchase, you will need a valid bank card of the country whose region will be selected. A purchase from him will be required to confirm the “move”, that is, change the territory. In addition, you can use the ways to replenish the Steam wallet, which will be discussed below.
Regional differences
Russians are recommended a Kazakhstan account, primarily due to the huge variety of ways to replenish the wallet on Steam, including standalone under quite favorable conditions. The second and main advantage of this choice is the absence of very high markups on charge cards and other services.
In the case of a Turkish Steam account, there are more ways to replenish the balance on third-party sites, but they all take a commission. There is no independent replenishment as in Kazakhstan. In addition, the cost of the services of artists, as a rule, is higher.
In essence, using Steam from another region is no different from the usual Russian region, except in the currency in which the calculation is made.
Selection and payment of games
As soon as the user receives a Kazakhstan account to be used, he can buy any game without any restrictions after replenishing his wallet. Since Russian bank cards are not suitable for this, you can use different payment methods: through an intermediary or through QIWI.
It will be more expensive to replenish the account through an agent in the same Plati.Market. For example, a user who replenishes a wallet with 1000 rubles will receive, on average, the equivalent of about 800 rubles. Funds will be credited to the balance in tenge.
To replenish your wallet on Steam yourself, you need to register with QIWI and open an account on tenge. Then go to the replenishment page Steam Kazakhstan, specify your login details and enter the amount you want. The money will be credited to the user’s balance in tenge.
Conditions may vary depending on the course. As of April 13, 10 thousand tenge in QIWI costs 1875 rubles. 10 thousand tenge at the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation costs 1829 rubles. That is, the overpayment is less than 50 rubles.
QIWI takes its own commission from the operation, but not exceeding 1% and depends on the deposited amount.
The replenishment method above also works for a Russian account. True, the conversion there will be doubled – in the end, tenge will be converted back to rubles. You should also remember that you cannot buy a “sanctioned” game with money from your Russian Steam account.
For Turkish profile users, there is no Kazakhstan account and no direct payment method like QIWI. However, you can turn to third-party sites. For example, at the beginning of April, YuMoney introduced the possibility of replenishing the Turkish Steam wallet. for 2.6 thousand rubles. A payment card of 300 TL is offered. At the exchange rate of April 13, 300 lira costs 1278 rubles. Thus, the margin for such a service is almost doubled. The overpayment is even higher for cards with a smaller denomination.
Game Keys
Users have the ability to purchase keys for games on third-party sites. Most of them can be activated, including Russian accounts. You can buy keys from Plati.Market, Gabe Store, Steam Buy and others. Keys can also be found in the “authorities” – “Buka”, “1C” and others.
Promotions are often made on such sites. Given that the keys can also work with Russian accounts, for some users this method of purchasing games will be more convenient, as they will not have to give up their main profile, where purchases have been made for years.
However, this method also has a significant disadvantage. First, the supply of keys is not unlimited and there is a chance of not finding the right game. Secondly, as a rule, the key will cost you more than if you bought the game from the same Kazakhstan Steam.
Also, many scammers working in this area offer keys that are no longer active, whose performance you cannot check before paying.
To activate the received Steam key, you need to open the official client, select the “Games” item in the menu, and then select the “Activate on Steam” option. After reading the Steam Subscription Agreement, you need to enter the purchased code, after which the download of the game will begin.