Posted on Wednesday, December 17 2014 @ 15:31 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
As we noted earlier today, Apple temporarily halted sales via its Russian storefront due to extreme fluctuations in the value of the ruble. Another tech firm to take action is Valve,
Engadget writes the company has implemented region locks on its Steam platform to protect game publishers against currency issues:
The online storefront is region locking games in an effort to prevent users from exploiting low currency values. For example, you could buy a Russian game on Steam for a few bucks as opposed to, say, $40 - $60 when purchased through the US storefront. Now, that's a little harder to do and it's causing a bit of an uproar because PC games have typically not been subject to region locks the way console games, on the other hand, have. The move is affecting areas outside of Putin's backyard too, with reports that Brazil, Indonesia and their neighboring areas are affected too.
