How to Change Your Steam Region with a VPN
So you’re moving, and maybe you’d like to get Steam set up for your new region before you actually get there. That’s smart! Way to be proactive. Well, changing your region before you get there isn’t as simple as going to your Steam settings and clicking a button, but it’s not difficult to do.
With a few minutes to spare, and an account with Private Internet Access, you can quickly and easily get your Steam account prepared for your new life elsewhere. Here’s how to make that happen:
Quick Guide: How to Change Regions in Steam with a VPN
- Get PIA VPN.
- Connect to a VPN server in your new country.
- Create a new Steam account.
- Start playing new games, in a new place!
Table of Contents
What You Need to Know Before Changing Regions on SteamHow to Change Your Region in Steam
How to Change Steam Region Without a VPN
Why Choose PIA as Your Gaming VPN
FAQ
What You Need to Know Before Changing Regions on Steam
- Changing your account region is something that Steam will only allow every three months. This makes it impossible to change your account region too often.
- You’ll need a payment method from whatever country you are changing to, and a billing address. Buying game keys from resellers can also work, if you want to buy some games before you move.
How to Change Your Region in Steam
Get a VPN
The first step is to sign up for PIA VPN and set it up on your device. Signup only takes a minute or so, and there are native apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, and even the Steam Deck available. Just pick the one that’s right for your platform, install it, and log in with your account credentials.
Every subscription comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, so you can try it out risk-free.
Choose a Server Location
Once you’re logged into the app, search for the country you will be moving to. For example, if you’re moving to South America and need to change your Steam region to Argentina, choose a VPN server in Argentina.
If the country has multiple server locations available, you can pick the one with the lowest ping to get the best speed.
Mind you, once you’re actually playing the game you want, you should pick the server that’s closest to the game server that you want to play on to get the best possible results. This will help to resolve network issues like bad signal routing, and overcrowded networks between you and the game server.
But for the region-changing process, it just needs to be in the right country.
Buy a New Game or DLC
From here, the best way to change your account region is just to try buying something. With your VPN connected to the country you’ll be moving to, grab a new game, a DLC, some currency for your current favorite online game, or what have you.
During the checkout process, Steam will detect the country associated with your IP address, and ask you if you want to change your region. Choose to do just that. Remember to have a payment method for the country in question on hand, whether that be a credit card, debit card, or gift card.
For example, if you’re moving to Turkey, first connect to a VPN server in Turkey. Then, purchase your chosen content on Steam. When you’re asked if you want to change your Steam region to Turkey, click Yes.
Alternative: Create a New Steam Account
Another way to play games in another Steam region is to create a whole new account just for this purpose. Why would you do this? If you spend a lot of time hopping between countries, you may want to have an account for each region, or there might be games you can only play in one of the countries you spend time in. Either way, this is an option to explore.
Here’s how it works: while your VPN is connected to the country in question, open up your browser, go to the Steam website, create a new Steam account, and select that country during the signup process. You won’t need to enter any billing information just yet.
Just use a new email address, come up with a strong new password, pick the country, and go. When it comes to actually buying games on that account, remember that you will need a payment method from the country you chose, and a billing address.
The billing address will be optional if you buy keys from a third party vendor. Just make sure that those keys are listed as working in your new account’s country/region, and don’t trust just any third party seller. Some of them can be a little sketchy.
Start Playing Your Games
Once your new account has been set up, make sure that the Steam app on your PC is logged out of your regular account. Then, with your VPN still connected, sign in to Steam with your new account. Download your games, start playing, and enjoy!
For best results, and just to be safe, make sure that the VPN is connected to the right country every time you log in to that particular Steam account. When playing on your regular account, just pick a server in your normal, everyday region.
How to Change Steam Region Without a VPN
If you’re relocating permanently:
How do you change your region the normal way? That’s easy. Once you’ve already moved, follow the process outlined above: log into Steam, and try to buy something. Steam will detect that you’re not where you were before, and will offer you the choice to change your store region, and add a new payment method to go with it.
It’s easy peasy, and takes only an extra minute or so during the regular checkout process.
If you just want to purchase a specific game in another region:
Steam doesn’t make this easy, since your store country must match your place of residence. If you can’t make purchases for the region you want, then you should look for Steam-compatible CD keys and Steam activation codes from local stores, or third-party online retailers.
If you’re going on a long trip or holiday:
Don’t change your store region. Just keep using the payment method and region that you’d use at home. After all, you’re going back. There’s little point to changing your store region, especially if you’re going home within three months.
If you go back and forth between countries a lot:
Choose your country of primary residence as the region for Steam, and keep an active payment method on hand for that country. It’s a lot more convenient in the long run, and it’s less likely to raise any red flags with Valve.
While you could theoretically change your store region every time you go back and forth, if it takes longer than three months, you’ll still need to manage dual sets of billing information, multiple payment methods, etc. It’s not worth the hassle.
Why Choose PIA as Your Gaming VPN
PIA does a lot more than just help you change your region, but if that’s your top priority, then PIA has you covered with VPN server locations in over 90 countries all over the world. Wherever you want to play, PIA can help you do it.
PIA can also help you bypass network issues, ranging from overcrowded networks to random misconfigured servers in your ISP’s data center. Choose a VPN server that’s close to the game server you want to play on, and PIA will automatically look for the fastest possible route between you and the VPN server. The result? Lower ping and reduced lag spikes.
PIA also masks your IP address and encrypts all traffic between you and the VPN server. These features help to mitigate DDoS attacks, protect you if you play on public Wi-Fi, unblock games at work and school, and bypass ISP game traffic throttling.
Try it risk-free with a 30-day money back guarantee.
FAQ
For general usage in games? No. VPNs are known to be useful in online gaming, and you can freely use a VPN to add a layer of security to your sessions with no trouble. Just play fair, don’t use the VPN to try to cheat or gain any other sort of advantage over players, and Valve/Steam will leave you to your business. It’s all good.
Yes, sort of. All it really does is allow you to change an account’s region – or create a new one in your chosen region – before you actually move there. So in that sense, yes. But a VPN alone isn’t enough to let you buy games from other regions. You also need a payment method for your new region, as well as a matching billing address.
If you just change your account’s region the normal way, after moving, there’s no issue whatsoever. That’s why they make changing regions possible in the first place. However, any technique to change your region to bypass regional pricing can indeed get you banned.
Yes. You should be able to keep playing almost every game in your library without issue, with a few exceptions. There are some games that are simply banned in certain countries, and you probably won’t be able to play those. Games that require a PSN account will also most likely stop working if you go to a country where the PSN is unavailable.
If Steam isn’t allowing you to change your region, you probably changed it already in the last three months. You need to wait a full three months before you’re allowed to change it again. Or, your account might be a “child” account, if you’re part of a Steam Family. Otherwise, you’ll need to contact Steam’s customer support for help, as it might be a bug.
Under most circumstances, the best region is the one where you live. If you want to play games unavailable in your region, then you should probably choose a country that has the game you want, but is as close to your location as possible, especially for online games. The closer it is, the less lag you have to worry about.
PIA VPN has you covered there, with server locations in 90+ countries around the world, powerful encryption, and a full suite of great privacy features to make changing your region as quick and painless as possible. It also supports every OS that Steam runs on, so you’ll always be able to access any region, anywhere.