A Developer’s Guide to Region Locking Game Keys

Region locking Steam game keys helps studios protect global revenue and prevent the regional pricing gaps that give rise to gray market activity.

It is also simple to do. And yet despite that, the true value of locking down your keys is often underestimated. In this guide, we’re going to spell out exactly how to region-lock your keys.

On the whole, the region-locked process is handled directly from the Steamworks partner account:

1. Head to your game’s landing page within Steamworks.
2. Under ‘Technical Tools’, you’ll see the option ‘Request Steam Product Keys’. 
3. From there, you want to opt for ‘Default Release Keys’ if you plan to make them available to consumers.
4. Next, when you request keys, you can set a specific region. Note that region locks are tied to specific packages, so you may need to create specific packages for each region – and be sure to label and tag packages by target region; you’ll thank yourself later.
5. You also need to think about how you break down regions. If you don’t have a dedicated sales and release manager, established regional groupings might be most realistic for you, meaning MENA, CIS, LATAM, EU, SEA, ROW, (Rest of World), and so on. We’d also recommend splitting out the China region from the rest of Asia - you can read more about China’s games market here.
6. Consider releasing your game to different regions at distinct times, especially when regions have significantly varied prices. This will let you focus on your marketing and release efforts in manageable sections. Equally, consumers may be disappointed or less inclined to make a purchase if they see players in neighbouring regions getting what they perceive to be a better deal.

Finally, a quick note on how to set your regional prices. Within Steamworks, your game’s ‘Package Details’ page (as seen below) lets you set the current price in your local market, and can suggest appropriately adjusted prices for other currencies.

Ready When You Are
Ultimately, the KMS delivers insights you can understand and act upon, letting you do even more than track keys, manage pricing and sales, and project revenue. The KMS can guide your understanding of your biz-dev roadmap and even inform the planning of your next game project. It can help you adapt marketing strategies for different regions to lift sales, and better understand how future games may perform in the global store ecosystem.

If you want to speak to Rokky about what the Key Management System can do for you, get in touch.