Valve explains international Orange Box deactivations

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 October, 2007

Territory control.

Gamers based in the USA who bought Orange Box product keys from an online retailer in Thailand are having their copies of the game deactivated, and they're not happy about it.

Orange Box developer and Steam operator Valve issued a statement late last week defending its behaviour. "Valve uses Steam for territory control to make sure products authorised for use in certain territories are not being distributed and used outside of those territories," the company said.

"In this case, a Thai website was selling retail box product keys for Thailand to people outside of Thailand. Since those keys are only for use in Thailand, people who purchased product keys from the Thai website are not able to use those product keys in other territories."

More annoying for people who thought they had sneakily saved a bit of cash was the discovery that subsequently purchased domestic copies of Orange Box wouldn't work either. Fortunately Valve is happy to sort that out.

"Some of these users have subsequently purchased a legal copy after realising the issue and were having difficulty removing the illegitimate keys from their Steam accounts," the statement continues. "Anyone having this problem should contact Steam Support to have the Thai key removed from their Steam account."

For more on The Orange Box, check out our PC and Xbox 360 gamepages.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • mkreku #1 4 years ago

    Greedy bastards.

  • Kami #2 4 years ago

    *flush*

  • DonnieDarko333 #3 4 years ago

    mmm, not sure if theres a point to doing that.

    If it's an illegal copy go ahead, but if it's people just trying to save a bit of cash, then i would say it's unfair.

    All this region coded or territory stuff is crap anyway.

    Wanna lose fans? Your going the right way about it.

    I'm pleased i purchased a retail UK Xbox360 version of the game mind, in my own territory, otherwise i might get a knock on the door. (rolls eyes).

  • That_Happy_Cat #4 4 years ago

    Sorry Mkreku, who's being greedy? Valve or the people who were trying to get their already good value product for a little cheaper? I wasn't sure who you meant? ;)

  • Killerbee #5 4 years ago

    The sooner games (and hardware) companies wake up to the fact that we now live in a global market and using technical and legal means to block users in one part of the world using software or hardware legitimately purchased in onother part of the world, the better.

  • mkreku #6 4 years ago

    I was referring to Valve. It's an artificial way of bloating the prices and it really should be illegal. But it isn't.

  • Xerx3s #7 4 years ago

    Sorry Mkreku, who's being greedy? Valve or the people who were trying to get their already good value product for a little cheaper? I wasn't sure who you meant? ;)

    Sorry? It is my fucking right to buy the same product from the cheapest place I can find them. Valve are being greedy bastards on this.
    I see their partnership with EA is rubbing off EA tactics on them.

  • deiseach #8 4 years ago

    "Valve uses Steam for territory control to make sure products authorised for use in certain territories are not being distributed and used outside of those territories"

    We know what they did. An explanation (which is what the headline of the article says we got) would involve them explaining WHY they did it.

    But we know the answer to that one already.

  • Eraysor #9 4 years ago

    I just lot a good amount of respect for them. The only reason for doing this is to force people to pay more, especially considering the game is identical no matter where you buy it.

  • aldo_14 #10 4 years ago

    Valve or the people who were trying to get their already good value product for a little cheaper?

    Valve, obviously. There's no good reason for that (regional control) other than to squeeze as much cash as possible out of customers.

  • azz0r_cod4 #11 4 years ago

    Its Valves system, if you don't like it don't play there games or use there system *steam.

    Simple As really.

  • Crashmasters #12 4 years ago

    Problem with this kind of action is that it encourages piracy.
    Valve should just accept that a very small percentage of their customers try to get their product as cheap as possible.

    Valve's entitled to ask a different price per country, but blocking the product doesn't reward customers who are honest enough to buy your product.
    Still struggling for world domination, ey?

  • smurphs #13 4 years ago

    I can't believe people saved much by buying from Thailand, surely the postage would have closed any margin significantly?

    I have a lot of respect for Gabe, and given the incredible value for money of Orange Box I think it's a bit churlish to condemn them for this.

  • keyboardmonkey #14 4 years ago

    What do valve do if you bought it in Thailand and then happen to move to the US ? Or somewhere else?

    The region control is a the biggest load of bullshit that has ever been thought up.

  • moggsy #15 4 years ago

    Valve deliver an outstandingly good value for money package and still people try to get it for peanuts and then complain when it doesn't work out.

    As for it being a global economy, it is to a certain extent apart from the fact that the same job carried out in different countries would attract far different rates of salary. A weeks wages on Thailand will most likely be a lot different to the average weeks wage in America.

    Hence if you want to sell anything in Thailand you have to adjust the prices accordingly. Also it's cheaper to sell games in Thailand as the shops can run on less return due to salaries being lower.

  • MrFlump #16 4 years ago

    I'm sure as well its about the local taxation though as opposed to valve being "greedy bastards".

    I'm quite sure that the tax laws are to blame here which are enforced by the governments of the countries with regards to this. If Valve don't comply, they might find themselves unable to distribute in certain countries full stop.

  • Wite_Noiz #17 4 years ago

    As moggsy stated, this isn't so that they can fleece the western countries more; if they did a 1:1 + tax transfer from USA/UK to Thailand, no one over there would ever be able to afford to buy the game.

    I realise people always want the best deal, but OB contained 5 games (3 new) for a fraction of the price you'd normally pay... I didn't have a problem with paying what they asked. Portal alone was worth it, and TF2 double.

  • keyboardmonkey #18 4 years ago

    Also it's cheaper to sell games in Thailand as the shops can run on less return due to salaries being lower.

    It's even cheaper if you sell it over the internet :p


    It is very true though that what you get for your money (i paid 70€) is still outstandingly good value. Playing HL 2 yesterday and realised that they could have just released that as a single game and charged the full amount.

  • skillian #19 4 years ago

    Playing HL 2 yesterday and realised that they could have just released that as a single game and charged the full amount.

    Huh?

    They did, 3 years ago :/

  • Machetazo #20 4 years ago

    What I found objectionable in all this, is how Valve's statement implies that the original purchase was illegal. "Some of these users have subsequently purchased a legal copy" WTF, Are you joking?! If anybody should have been said to be in the wrong, it surely ought to have been the Thailandish retailer, who fully knowledgeable of the terms of the product in their possession was regardless selling it out-of-license to US importers.
    Not criminals, nothing illegal, just IMPORTERS.

    Valve should just FRO. With all this sort of protection racket, it's the consumer that suffers. The one who's trying to buy the game, and support the creators, and that's what they get for it.
    Regarding your suggestion, azz0r_cod4, of not using Steam, I wouldn't dream of having that system installed on my machine.
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/07 @ 11:24

  • Skeletor #21 4 years ago

    As much as I love HL2 I really despise Valve for being the most unfriendly bunch of arseholes in the industry. Their attitude is even worse than EA's...They force German customers to buy censored products although it would be perfectly legal not to do so and now they use their "region-control" to squeeze as much money out of their western customers as possible. Imo they truely deserve to get their shit pirated. Valve = Combine;-)

  • alimokrane #22 4 years ago

    WTF! Since when regional locking was an issue for PC gaming hah ha ???
    This some serious fucked up shit. my heart goes to those poor gamers.

  • ilmaestro #23 4 years ago

    I like how they're making out that importing games is illegal.

  • keyboardmonkey #24 4 years ago


    @skillian

    Huh?

    They did, 3 years ago :/

    /Sorry console mode was on, yes they did release it on the PC (i have a copy). Which reminded me Valve are full of shit, they didn't seem to mind me buying HL2 premium pack (or whatever it was called) in dollars over Steam even though i was living in the UK.

    Is it actually legal for Valve to deactivate the copies of the game? It seems a little strange that Games and DVD's have special laws. If i bought a book in Thailand and brought it back to the UK with me no one would really give a shit about it. But if it's a game/dvd then i am an illegal importing pirating terrorist supporting scumbag.

  • Daikon #25 4 years ago

    Have laptop. Will travel.

    Seriously Valve, will my Steam account be canceled if I try to play Half Life from a hotel in Australia?
    You suck (in general, not at making games).

  • Machiavel #26 4 years ago

    Region-locking eh? Perhaps if consoles/software/etc. was forced to manufacture their products in each relevant region they wish to lock-in, instead of producing in the dirt-cheapest location for price and economies of scale.

  • Nithron #27 4 years ago

    Steam is such an utter pile of wank.

    Honestly, i actually bought Orange Box from Steam legitimately, and it *still* screwed up and now wont let me play it. Even though I, you know, paid for it.

    Future of game distribution indeed

  • UncleLou #28 4 years ago

    I love Steam as such, but if they introduce more region-locking than they already do, Valve can f**k right off. As a German, I have to import boxed copies from the UK or US because Valve are too lazy to try and understand the German law, and unnecessarily self-censor their own games for anyone who has a German IP address when you buy them.
    Edited by 1 at 29/10/07 @ 10:48

  • Tonka #29 4 years ago

    Mmmmmm Thai food... ggaaarrrghhhh... Number 7 with chicken yuuuummm

  • Retroid #30 4 years ago

    A legal copy is a legal copy.

    They can shove their reasoning up their arses so far as I'm concerned; the fact is, whether people were wanting a cheaper version or not, people *were* buying it, not pirating it.

  • El_MUERkO #31 4 years ago

    silly valve

  • AhrimaaN #32 4 years ago

    Australians from my home forum buy lots of games from the website in question including me.. postage isn't an issue because they will easily just email us the serial key and we either download the cache from steam or an iso from bittorrent no worries.

    The postage from said website is usually the same as the cost of the game itself... yet still comes out rediculously cheap.

    Aus retail price for average game: 80-100 AUD. Thai shop price (zest) 18-25 AUD

    Valve are being total pricks about this.

    Regioning anything does not have a place in a global market. Luckily I bought my copy from steam... to give valve more money than any alternative i thought... (still at least $20 AUD cheaper than retail here)

    But yeh if I go on holiday to Thailand I guess I won't be allowed to play TF2 :(

    Anyway apparently the ACCC (aussie consumer rights body) is receiving a few complaints from people about this and might be making a legal case against...(somebody?) ultimately a futile idea imo... clearly it wasn't meant to be sold overseas...

    On a side note apparently there is a workaround circulating that lets us activate non-activated thai keys in australia for use on steam.

  • PeterM #33 4 years ago

    I can't believe people in the USA are bitching about their prices!

    But to be honest I'm also of the opinion that Valve should honour the prices that their customers paid.

  • BadBoyBonner #34 4 years ago

    Valve are full of shit, they didn't seem to mind me buying HL2 premium pack (or whatever it was called) in dollars over Steam even though i was living in the UK.

    +10

    I find the whole situation very disappointing. Regional lock out on PC gaming - Never thought I'd live to see the day.

  • login_name #35 4 years ago

    @keyboardmonkey
    It came out on the original XBox as well. Pretty good conversion too.

    This is nothing more than Valve being greedy. Admittedly the Orange Box is one of the better value products out there and to buy it via an online shop in Thailand is a bit tight but it's still wrong to shut down their games. It's not like they pirated it.

    Does this mean if anyone moves to another country they have to re-buy all their old games again? Or does it only apply if you paid less than the country you're moving to? If that's the case, do I get a refund if I move to Thailand?

  • ElCapitano2145 #36 4 years ago

    Wow, the blatent money grabbing with no attempt to cover it up just doesn't stop.

  • skillian #37 4 years ago

    Does this mean if anyone moves to another country they have to re-buy all their old games again

    Not just any country I'd imagine. Average income in Thailand is about £3,500 a year, so obviously games have to be much cheaper if you want to make any legal sales.

    I've never really thought about this before, but do other games companies "lock-out" these regions too? If not, why doesn't everyone buy all their games from places like Thailand?

  • kangarootoo #38 4 years ago

    There are several issues at play here, one of which is a free global market. Now a free global market is something I am favour of, but in this instance its just not that simple.

    Anyone who bought a game has signed up to a user license agreement. Regardless of what you think of global markets, if you say yes to a user license agreement and than contravene it, you can't complain when that license is revoked.

    Example. If you sign up to an MMO you agree certain rules of use. One of those rules might be to not grief other players. Griefing isn't illegal, its not something that can be enforced outside of the game, it is simply that agreeing not to do so is one of the requirements of use. If you break the agreement, the vendor can ban you.

    So, if you don't like the way that Valve sell software, write to them to tell them this and boycott the game. If you circumnavigate their rules and get caught, you get what you ask for.

  • Skeletor #39 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE
    Well, this very much depends on your point of view...generous package on one hand but supershort (or multiplayer only) games and a rather dated engine on the other. They're not generous, just realistic.
    The real problem here is that while Valve is praising Steam as the platform of the future with lots of advantages situations like this show clearly that the advantages are on their side only. The consumer doesn't even own a product, all he has is the purchased right to use it until Valve decides for whatever reasons to terminate his right. No refunds, no rights and since Valve is sitting in America you can't even sue them. They can basically do whatever they want to people outside of the US. Yeah, distribution platform of the future...not a very pleasant future imho.

  • mooseman721 #40 4 years ago

    Thats naughty, pretty spiteful actually.

  • AOFanboi #41 4 years ago

    <em>territory control</em>

    Aka. total violation of WTO free trade principles (same as DVD regions) and would be soundly bashed if the WTO weren't so busy fighting stuff like European export subsidies which wreck economies in the Carribean and Africa.

  • Aurifex. #42 4 years ago

    Have laptop. Will travel.

    Seriously Valve, will my Steam account be canceled if I try to play Half Life from a hotel in Australia?
    You suck (in general, not at making games).

    Blimey that is exactly what i need to know as i am in Oz with my UK laptop. I already have paid for it in the UK. If i buy it here in Oz can i use it in the UK on another machine. I hope so as my first copy was a NZ one. Hmmmm.

  • hbunny #43 4 years ago

    Welcome to globalisation, where companies can manufacture their goods using slave-labour around the world, but you will be penalised (or charged with a crime) if you try and buy something cheaper from abroad.

    This is a bigger issue and ALL international companies follow similar practices. CD Wow were taken to court because they sold CDs from the Far East to the UK, Levi Strauss tried to stop Tescos from sourcing jeans cheaply (I think Tescos might have won this one), There's a whole bunch of stuff that Amazon US won't sell to the UK now.

    Just remember, globalisation is for the companies not the little people.

  • zimzu #44 4 years ago

    this article doesnt explain the international deactivation - it states it. explaining it would actually have to involve the spokesperson admitting that its all about maximising profit margins. and that would just have people up in arms. kinda like whats happening now...