Lost Ark not available in your region

lahnmir

As I was ready to buy a nice founder pack for Lost Ark I found out that the game will not launch in Belgium and the Netherlands due to their/our gatcha/lootbox policy. it is an understatement when I say I was a bit disappointed about that. Supposedly Amazon is looking at other options in the future but for now, no Lost Ark.

I also found out that there aren’t any publishing rights for the Australia/New Zealand region so the game won’t launch there at all. VPN might solve these issues but not a fan of that route tbh.

I am sorry if this has already been posted before, if not, here’s a heads up for those as excited as me living in the same region(s)….

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

MaxBacon

If Genshin Impact is allowed and that game is the wet dream of loot boxes-money-printing-machine-in-the-shape-of-a-game, Amazon can very well manage it by having specific updates on how they work.


The points that cause friction:
- Disclosing the %'s of chances on that type of cash store item.
- Items obtained via such CAN'T be transferable from player to player, sold on markets, etc.


The reason why I say this is temporary bases more on what I read on how EU law does not allow such geoblocks of specific EU countries.

Dragnelus

lahnmir

Dragnelus said:

Thanks for that one! I am a bit more hopeful now, its probably a matter of disclosing the odds and content of the lootboxes and not the boxes themselves. Still, I am tempering my enthusiasm just in case.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

Kyleran

MaxBacon said:

If Genshin Impact is allowed and that game is the wet dream of loot boxes-money-printing-machine-in-the-shape-of-a-game, Amazon can very well manage it by having specific updates on how they work.


The points that cause friction:
- Disclosing the %'s of chances on that type of cash store item.
- Items obtained via such CAN'T be transferable from player to player, sold on markets, etc.


The reason why I say this is temporary bases more on what I read on how EU law does not allow such geoblocks of specific EU countries.

I think companies are not allowed to geoblock or prevent keys from being activated in any of the European countries, due to laws they can temporarily do it but the EU demands then that in case work to be done to resolve it to then continue services in those countries. 

I wonder though, since the issue apparently is Belgium's/Netherlands lootbox policy which is unique to their specific countries and not universally adopted by the rest of the EU perhaps it does not have to be made availabile in order to respect their laws?

Of the two clauses mentioned the first is an easy fix, but the 2nd might not be possible.

I recall in the finance industry Belgium passed a lawca few years ago regarding data security in transit/at rest which was unique to themselves and really not possible for the industry as a whole to accomplish for several reasons.

Eventually the entire industry pushed back hard and said if they insisted on enforcing it there would be no choice but to cut them out of the banking system completely.  Yeah...they backed down.

Not the same thing here but still, the world doesn't always agree to cooperate just because one country decides to be different.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out long term.

MaxBacon

Dragnelus said:

That update is older and ended up retracted by public staff afteryards.

As of days ago their statement is:

"This is something that is still up in the air, and we will provide an update when there is concrete information to share.

For some additional context, regions including the Netherlands and Belgium have laws in place that directly prohibit certain pieces of the Lost Ark game from being legally allowed in those regions, so there isn't really much to negotiate on. While we would love to release in those regions, the ability to be able to do so would likely require significant dev time spent reworking these systems to ensure that they comply completely to any and all region-specific laws."


he hinted some detail to what's the problem
"I can't speak to other games, but from my understanding one of the big parts of it with Lost Ark has to do with the way substats are applied to certain items in game"

MaxBacon

Kyleran said:

I wonder though, since the issue apparently is Belgium's/Netherlands lootbox policy which is unique to their specific countries and not universally adopted by the rest of the EU perhaps it does not have to be made availabile in order to respect their laws?

It's not a ban loot boxes is the specifics, on the previous post I quoted the dev from 2 days ago he referred 

"I can't speak to other games, but from my understanding one of the big parts of it with Lost Ark has to do with the way substats are applied to certain items in game"

So their issues seem to require some redoing, not the lootbox type of item but more nitpicky to its specifics. If it is code updates then it's on the hands of the developer itself Smilegate.

Dragnelus

MaxBacon said:

Dragnelus said:

That update is older and ended up retracted by public staff afteryards.

As of days ago their statement is:

"This is something that is still up in the air, and we will provide an update when there is concrete information to share.

For some additional context, regions including the Netherlands and Belgium have laws in place that directly prohibit certain pieces of the Lost Ark game from being legally allowed in those regions, so there isn't really much to negotiate on. While we would love to release in those regions, the ability to be able to do so would likely require significant dev time spent reworking these systems to ensure that they comply completely to any and all region-specific laws."


he hinted some detail to what's the problem
"I can't speak to other games, but from my understanding one of the big parts of it with Lost Ark has to do with the way substats are applied to certain items in game"

Sucks Guess I also need to use VPN like bless unleashed 

MaxBacon

Dragnelus said:

Sucks Guess I also need to use VPN like bless unleashed 

Bypassing Lost Ark region lock is a bit more trickier than that.

Because you need a steam account on the correct region, if you fake regions steam tends to ban your account so you need an alt on the proper region when loading up.

Dragnelus

MaxBacon said:

Dragnelus said:

Sucks Guess I also need to use VPN like bless unleashed 

Bypassing Lost Ark region lock is a bit more trickier than that.

Because you need a steam account on the correct region, if you fake regions steam tends to ban your account so you need an alt on the proper region when loading up.

Pretty easy tbh, just use as factuuradres Germany and vpn Germany:

MaxBacon

Dragnelus said:

MaxBacon said:

Dragnelus said:

Sucks Guess I also need to use VPN like bless unleashed 

Bypassing Lost Ark region lock is a bit more trickier than that.

Because you need a steam account on the correct region, if you fake regions steam tends to ban your account so you need an alt on the proper region when loading up.

Pretty easy tbh, just use as factuuradres Germany and vpn Germany:

idk on specifics but I saw steam getting accounts suspended when the geolocation of a single account fluctuates on known region-locked titles.

This because people loved to exploit the regional pricing too

cheyane

You can only buy the game on Steam? Isn't there any other way to get it? Can't you buy it on Amazon and do away with the danger of getting your account banned on Steam

Edit it requires a Steam account to play even if you buy it on Amazon. Ahh I see okay.

Dragnelus

MaxBacon said:

Dragnelus said:

MaxBacon said:

Dragnelus said:

Sucks Guess I also need to use VPN like bless unleashed 

Bypassing Lost Ark region lock is a bit more trickier than that.

Because you need a steam account on the correct region, if you fake regions steam tends to ban your account so you need an alt on the proper region when loading up.

Pretty easy tbh, just use as factuuradres Germany and vpn Germany:

idk on specifics but I saw steam getting accounts suspended when the geolocation of a single account fluctuates on known region-locked titles.

This because people loved to exploit the regional pricing too

I use it for pso2, kurtzpel, bless unleashed, lost ark. Germany is our neighbour. So I don't see the problem to have both Germany and Netherlands as factuuradres. 

MaxBacon

cheyane said:

You can only buy the game on Steam? Isn't there any other way to get it? Can't you buy it on Amazon and do away with the danger of getting your account banned on Steam

Edit it requires a Steam account to play even if you buy it on Amazon. Ahh I see okay.

Yep that's the problem, Steam is more efficient at blocking people from changing regions without consequences, it became an huge issue with people abusing regional pricing, even on lost ark itself buying it a fraction of the cost then reselling. 

it's tricky one this to safely work around

lahnmir

From what I have understood switching regions through VPN isn’t problematic for STEAM. Region hopping for cheap prices and constantly switching back and forth will get you noticed and banned though. 

You will also need a payment method located in chosen country, I guess you could circumvent that with Steam cards and/or Paypal.

/Cheers,
Lahnmir

Wizardry

Any policies in place to keep cash shop gaming in check is a huge two thumbs up from me so kudos to Belgium and or Netherlands.

It is simple,people are seldom in control of themselves,hence why we have the long known alcohol addiction,smoking addiction people are EASILY addicted and coerced by businesses.

VPN is basically like an illegal act to get around a system set in place for a reason.It is not the same as playing on private servers because nobody should be bound to added expenses after buying a game.

The problem with the modern day monetization systems is that devs learned they can offer free games with cash shops and seems much more lucrative meaning people are proving how dumb hey are when comes to over spending a games value.

Of course someone is going to say a games value is in the eyes of the beholder,not true anyone with common sense knows what the market value of a game is "within reason".If your spending more than 100 bucks on a game your a dumbass and further feeding the system so devs will keep doing it.

As long as their are fish in the sea devs will keep throwing their fishing rod in the water.

Wizardry

The fact soooooooo many people just don't "get it" is truly astonishing.

I could just use an example like Wow since so many peopel are familiar.If Blizzard came along oen day and just took let's say 500 items out fo the game of which you migth very well of owned 200-300 of those and said,ok if you want them back it'll cost you 5 bucks each,there would be a massive outcry.

However do that PRE GAME,before a gamer gets invested and they are easily fooled into thinking it is anything different.

The trend within gaming the last 10 years has been to find new methods to deceive people,new addictive measures to scam money out of dummies.We are going to see new ones arrive all the time,hence of late the new cryto gaming idea.

QUIT supporting these garbage game studios that are infesting gaming with BS monetization ideas.

KnightFalz

Wizardry said:

The fact soooooooo many people just don't "get it" is truly astonishing.

I could just use an example like Wow since so many peopel are familiar.If Blizzard came along oen day and just took let's say 500 items out fo the game of which you migth very well of owned 200-300 of those and said,ok if you want them back it'll cost you 5 bucks each,there would be a massive outcry.

However do that PRE GAME,before a gamer gets invested and they are easily fooled into thinking it is anything different.

The trend within gaming the last 10 years has been to find new methods to deceive people,new addictive measures to scam money out of dummies.We are going to see new ones arrive all the time,hence of late the new cryto gaming idea.

QUIT supporting these garbage game studios that are infesting gaming with BS monetization ideas.

It is different. Taking something away and only returning it for money is extortion. Offering something people don't have for money is commerce.

FrodoFragins

MaxBacon said:

he hinted some detail to what's the problem
"I can't speak to other games, but from my understanding one of the big parts of it with Lost Ark has to do with the way substats are applied to certain items in game"

Hmm.  I don't even know what that means.