Why can't I buy Football Manager 2015 in China?

Today I was greeted with the words: "This item is currently unavailable in your region"

I am very very angry as this is NOT fair at all, I have supported FM since the early days of Championship Manager and owned ALL the games since now.

I had no problem with buying FM12, 13, and 14 on steam but why now I cant buy FM15 on steam as normal? this really does make me angry and hate steam

all the more, can someone please explain to me why I can not spend my hard earned cash on FM15?

This is ridiculous.

Edit: Yes I have made a steam support ticket and as per usual heard nothing.

not sure if there's been any change from FM14, but FM05 was banned for including Taiwan and Tibet (which apparently poses a threat to China)

It may be down to licensing rather than them just deciding not to sell it, It won't be steams fault (Although you appear to have decided they are to blame)

The site I'm looking to buy from has this warning attached:

This product (FM15) is region locked and CAN'T be activated in: Brazil, Turkey, India, Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Republic of Korea,

I blame steam yes because on a steam discussion thread others have told me that you can buy it different ways by getting the KEY sent to you or gifted to you and that way it works

but not through steam, other sites let you by pass that way, THOUGH I have no way of doing this so its really frustrating - I also cant remember FM05 was banned? that was a disk version

at that time and I have only ever since bought 3 versions through steam: 12, 13, and 14 and they all worked, so why now would it just be banned, its stupid.

By the way, I am an ex pat working over here from the UK, I even tried a VPN located from Holland, USA, and the UK, None at all worked for me :'(

Edit: as you see here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/295270/discussions/0/619569341078886323/ people in Japan has already bought it, though its not allowed.

I don't see Japan in my list provided, however I do see China in it

which means that you cannot start playing until the actual release date (oh these 2 weeks are going to suck for you)

I'd wait for clarification from SI, but I'd dare say that that holds true (unable to be activated until Nov 7th in those countries)

The site I'm looking to buy from has this warning attached:

This product (FM15) is region locked and CAN'T be activated in: Brazil, Turkey, India, Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Republic of Korea,

That is strange. I live in Singapore and have no problems purchasing FM 2015 from Steam.

I've comfirmed that you'll have to wait until the 7th November. Pre-release has never been available in that region, so was the same for FM14.

Great news, was worried that it would be never available over here, I don't mind the extra 2 weeks, thanks for confirming it for me anyways

I've comfirmed that you'll have to wait until the 7th November. Pre-release has never been available in that region, so was the same for FM14.

I'm an expat from Australia living in South Korea, and I can't buy FM15 either. I don't think it's a pre-release issue either, because I still can't buy FM14.

FM14 I don't think can be purchased via Steam any more, so wait until the 7th November and FM15 should be available then.

FM14 wasn't available at all in Korea for all of last year, I think, besides the boxed Korean language version, which I heard couldn't be switched to English. Will this be the case this time around for FM15?

I've comfirmed that you'll have to wait until the 7th November. Pre-release has never been available in that region, so was the same for FM14.

Do you mean ALL the countries in the region (in my case Cambodia)?

If so that's terrific news - I'm not bothered about the beta anyway so can wait.

No problem with purchasing and playing the BETA in Singapore myself. Quite odd!

Do you mean ALL the countries in the region (in my case Cambodia)?

If so that's terrific news - I'm not bothered about the beta anyway so can wait.

Yeah, this is really great news if true. I haven't been able to play FM since FM '12, so I'm looking forward to it.

The only problem is that I don't have a CD drive on my laptop -- wonder if I can just use the key on the boxed version to get it on Steam.

wonder if I can just use the key on the boxed version to get it on Steam.

Yes you can, in fact the disc is superfluous really.

Yes you can, in fact the disc is superfluous really.

Great, thanks for the help!

Looking forward to getting back into FM.

Okay! game was released now, but I still cant buy it in China! this sucks! why I can not buy it?

Okay! game was released now, but I still cant buy it in China! this sucks! why I can not buy it?

Same here (Taiwan), bought key from play-asia, got key. But Steam still says NO, not available in region

Im in hong Kong and i am unable to buy it from the official website, I haven't tried Steam yet but I will when I get home from work.

Not keen on shelling out 30 quid and then finding out it wont work, can anybody let us know when we can actually get the game in these regions.

Thanks

Me too! It doesn't work! (I'm also in Taiwan). I'm very sad. Please provide us with solution if possible. Thanks!

Of all the years I've followed Championship Manager and now Football Manager I have never had such crap, very disapointed here guys, you really need to sort this out for your Asian fan base.

Feel sorry for you lads especially as it's early hours back in the UK & nobody around to help from SI

thankfully it's good here in North America I would have been disappointed if it hadn't been able to be downloaded from steam here!

Have you tried using a VPN to do the activation?

Same here. Beta worked but it's stuck on Beta and won't activate the full version. Worked in previous years but not this time. Any fix? VPN's to circumvent region blocked games on Steam gets your account banned so be careful.

Steam appear unwilling to help either.

Just to make it clear, these are the region locks http://www.sega.co.uk/regions/ and they are decided by Sega, NOT Steam and NOT SI, any complaints/queries should be addressed to Sega.

There's no point in complaining here, it is nothing to do with SI.

VPN's do not work with steam, if throws up a currancy error when you try it, I tried and it still doesnt let me.

Steam support can suck my balls! sorry but they have really made me angry, Like I said on steam support - explained everything to them, and they then wanted me to prove my residence

of which country I am in, I finally after many posts debating to them sent them my passport copy and residence permit THEN they just changed the f**king subject altogether - I said I seriously

cant believe you guys are being so unhelpful and the next minute I got a notification from steam saying my support topic had been closed, haha.

The first thing I do when I am back in the UK is go to see my solicitor about suing steam as they have my money in my so called steam wallet BUT I can not spend it how I like, I can only spend it

on what they limit me to spend it on! This is seriously ****ed up and this is why many people hate using steam!

I have bought all the FM games in the past with no problems, with me moving around a lot because my job and now living and working in China the best thing for me to get anywhere near footy is

by playing this game, but now even that has been taken away from me by some burocratic *****! seriously this is wrong.

I hope SI can sort this out because first I was told this: "I've comfirmed that you'll have to wait until the 7th November. Pre-release has never been available in that region, so was the same for FM14."

In which I patiently waited for only to be told on the 7th that I still cant buy it, very very angry!

Just to make it clear, these are the region locks http://www.sega.co.uk/regions/ and they are decided by Sega, NOT Steam and NOT SI, any complaints/queries should be addressed to Sega.

There's no point in complaining here, it is nothing to do with SI.

Why is it all the other games are able to buy then? why only this newer release? its really so wrong - I am sorry but the only thing I can do is download a cracked version yes? (of course I dont want to do it this way, I was prepared to pay my money on buying your product). I cant even buy a god damn disk version or can I?

Also if that is the case, why did: Neil Brock state this: "I've comfirmed that you'll have to wait until the 7th November. Pre-release has never been available in that region, so was the same for FM14." further up in the thread?

I am done with steam!

Just got mine started (Thanks SI and Steam ) oh and Sega as you noted above. No point buck-passing when you're in a partnership

I got someone in another country to initiate the download on my account. I used the guys at WOCK (the website I bought the code from) and they were more than happy to help. Hope this helps and I hope SI starts to address the concerns of their Asian market in the future.

Just got mine started (Thanks SI and Steam ) oh and Sega as you noted above. No point buck-passing when you're in a partnership

I got someone in another country to initiate the download on my account. I used the guys at WOCK (the website I bought the code from) and they were more than happy to help. Hope this helps and I hope SI starts to address the concerns of their Asian market in the future.

Eh? your in Wuhan CHINA!!! lol man please send me a pm to exactly how you got it working, thank you

Edit: and yes, its funny how the companies pass on the buck - very nice support that is, its as if no one cares about us.

Just got mine started (Thanks SI and Steam ) oh and Sega as you noted above. No point buck-passing when you're in a partnership

I got someone in another country to initiate the download on my account. I used the guys at WOCK (the website I bought the code from) and they were more than happy to help. Hope this helps and I hope SI starts to address the concerns of their Asian market in the future.

I'll say it again for the hard of hearing region locking is SOLELY a Sega decision, Steam give them the option and it's up to them whether or not they use it. Nothing to do with SI, all they can do is moan about it like we do.

Eh? your in Wuhan CHINA!!! lol man please send me a pm to exactly how you got it working, thank you

Edit: and yes, its funny how the companies pass on the buck - very nice support that is, its as if no one cares about us.

Just as I said above man. I contacted the customer support of my retailer (World of Cd Keys), gave them my login credentials and steamguard and they activated the game. Then I simply log in and the game started downloading. Basically get a retailer/ or a friend in the right region to start the download then everything is a-ok. Just downloading the editor now and the game works BETA free!

I'd like to say few things about this. First of all, i am still very unhappy with the whole situation as it's never been a problem for me in the past. But as pointed out, there's no need to moan to SI about it when it's SEGA's decision. That being said, I'd like to say/ask few things about this whole situation:

1. It seems like the regional block doesn't entertain of the idea of digital download. If i buy an actual CD Rom delivered to my home, will it solve the problem or i still have to connect through steam?

2. According to earlier post, it gives the impression that having a friend abroad to log in to my steam account and download it might work. Will it actually work? Can someone confirm it? I do realize steam might not be so keen to this idea of account sharing, and I myself really don't want to resort to this. But at this point, i'm getting extremely frustrated that i just want to try anything that works.

3. Also on the SEGA's regional lock link, I have noticed few countries listed in there where the game is actually working and not blocked there. At this point, it seems like only areas in China region and maybe Germany unable to access the game. I hope this means that the announcement is not really set in stone.

4. Like an earlier poster, I did notice the moderator's earlier assurance / confirmation that the game would work in November 7th. I'm not try to criticize here, Im just wondering if SI actually expected the game to work, are currently on top of the situation, and can/ will still do something about it. Or should I try not to get my hopes up and just bury the idea that i will play Football Manager this year?

Hope any of you can help with this. Thank you!

I'd like to say few things about this. First of all, i am still very unhappy with the whole situation as it's never been a problem for me in the past. But as pointed out, there's no need to moan to SI about it when it's SEGA's decision. That being said, I'd like to say/ask few things about this whole situation:

1. It seems like the regional block doesn't entertain of the idea of digital download. If i buy an actual CD Rom delivered to my home, will it solve the problem or i still have to connect through steam?

2. According to earlier post, it gives the impression that having a friend abroad to log in to my steam account and download it might work. Will it actually work? Can someone confirm it? I do realize steam might not be so keen to this idea of account sharing, and I myself really don't want to resort to this. But at this point, i'm getting extremely frustrated that i just want to try anything that works.

3. Also on the SEGA's regional lock link, I have noticed few countries listed in there where the game is actually working and not blocked there. At this point, it seems like only areas in China region and maybe Germany unable to access the game. I hope this means that the announcement is not really set in stone.

4. Like an earlier poster, I did notice the moderator's earlier assurance / confirmation that the game would work in November 7th. I'm not try to criticize here, Im just wondering if SI actually expected the game to work, are currently on top of the situation, and can/ will still do something about it. Or should I try not to get my hopes up and just bury the idea that i will play Football Manager this year?

Hope any of you can help with this. Thank you!

1 & 2 are known to have worked for a lot of people, I haven't seen anybody say they don't but it would still be at your own risk.

The SI staffer was responding to a particular query (Hong Kong iirc) which did work that way last year.

I'd like to say few things about this. First of all, i am still very unhappy with the whole situation as it's never been a problem for me in the past. But as pointed out, there's no need to moan to SI about it when it's SEGA's decision. That being said, I'd like to say/ask few things about this whole situation:

1. It seems like the regional block doesn't entertain of the idea of digital download. If i buy an actual CD Rom delivered to my home, will it solve the problem or i still have to connect through steam?

2. According to earlier post, it gives the impression that having a friend abroad to log in to my steam account and download it might work. Will it actually work? Can someone confirm it? I do realize steam might not be so keen to this idea of account sharing, and I myself really don't want to resort to this. But at this point, i'm getting extremely frustrated that i just want to try anything that works.

3. Also on the SEGA's regional lock link, I have noticed few countries listed in there where the game is actually working and not blocked there. At this point, it seems like only areas in China region and maybe Germany unable to access the game. I hope this means that the announcement is not really set in stone.

4. Like an earlier poster, I did notice the moderator's earlier assurance / confirmation that the game would work in November 7th. I'm not try to criticize here, Im just wondering if SI actually expected the game to work, are currently on top of the situation, and can/ will still do something about it. Or should I try not to get my hopes up and just bury the idea that i will play Football Manager this year?

Hope any of you can help with this. Thank you!

It will definitely work you just have to ensure you hand your account over to someone trustworthy or someone who would have no interest in its contents. Just get them to initiate the download and the file will automatically start when you log-on to your account. It's now working 100% for me now editor an all. VPN's could also potentially work but Steam frown upon them and it's very difficult to find a working one (For me in China anyway) without paying for a subscription.

It will definitely work you just have to ensure you hand your account over to someone trustworthy or someone who would have no interest in its contents. Just get them to initiate the download and the file will automatically start when you log-on to your account. It's now working 100% for me now editor an all. VPN's could also potentially work but Steam frown upon them and it's very difficult to find a working one (For me in China anyway) without paying for a subscription.

Thank you. It makes me feel a bit better. My only worry is that Steam prohibits account-sharing just as much as they prohibit VPN and I'm afraid that my friend's IP will banned for good in accessing steam in the future.

I'd like to say few things about this. First of all, i am still very unhappy with the whole situation as it's never been a problem for me in the past. But as pointed out, there's no need to moan to SI about it when it's SEGA's decision. That being said, I'd like to say/ask few things about this whole situation:

1. It seems like the regional block doesn't entertain of the idea of digital download. If i buy an actual CD Rom delivered to my home, will it solve the problem or i still have to connect through steam?

2. According to earlier post, it gives the impression that having a friend abroad to log in to my steam account and download it might work. Will it actually work? Can someone confirm it? I do realize steam might not be so keen to this idea of account sharing, and I myself really don't want to resort to this. But at this point, i'm getting extremely frustrated that i just want to try anything that works.

3. Also on the SEGA's regional lock link, I have noticed few countries listed in there where the game is actually working and not blocked there. At this point, it seems like only areas in China region and maybe Germany unable to access the game. I hope this means that the announcement is not really set in stone.

4. Like an earlier poster, I did notice the moderator's earlier assurance / confirmation that the game would work in November 7th. I'm not try to criticize here, Im just wondering if SI actually expected the game to work, are currently on top of the situation, and can/ will still do something about it. Or should I try not to get my hopes up and just bury the idea that i will play Football Manager this year?

Hope any of you can help with this. Thank you!

2 works.

Now playing the game with "Europe" key bought from Play-Asia. Friend in UK helped activate. You need to provide him with the "steamguard" key sent to your email to notify you of weird login

Ok, just got a friend in the UK to try for me, he got the same error! then I got another friend in the US to try and he too got the same error. I did exactly how some of you have done here ie: gave the steam guard code etc

and still, I CAN NOT purchase! seriously guys - fix this problem please, this is seriously not fair - I sound like a big kid moaning about not getting my sweets but this is not about that now, its about I am angry that I can not

spend my own money on WHAT I WANT!!!!

This really is a joke

Kriss you keep saying its a sega issue, like somebody said earlier it is a partnership and accountability needs to be taken instead of just passing the buck and saying its not our fault. The demo hasnt been available in the regions that are having difficulties so there was plenty of time to investigate the situation and find out why before the release date but this has obviously not been done. Now there are numerous previous loyal customers to the SEGA/STEAM/SI product/brand that have been let down by incompetent and lazy action that has left alot of people upset, many of whom have paid 30 quid for the privelige. I suggest people start putting their heads together and start producing a solution to this error that doesnt involve VPN's or asking somebody thousands of miles away to log into an account to download a product that should be readily available on the release date that was provided previously. Especially when the companies involved have been happy to accept payment for this game and many previous versions.

I look forward to this situation being resolved soon.

This really is a joke

Kriss you keep saying its a sega issue, like somebody said earlier it is a partnership and accountability needs to be taken instead of just passing the buck and saying its not our fault. The demo hasnt been available in the regions that are having difficulties so there was plenty of time to investigate the situation and find out why before the release date but this has obviously not been done. Now there are numerous previous loyal customers to the SEGA/STEAM/SI product/brand that have been let down by incompetent and lazy action that has left alot of people upset, many of whom have paid 30 quid for the privelige. I suggest people start putting their heads together and start producing a solution to this error that doesnt involve VPN's or asking somebody thousands of miles away to log into an account to download a product that should be readily available on the release date that was provided previously. Especially when the companies involved have been happy to accept payment for this game and many previous versions.

I look forward to this situation being resolved soon.

I'll say it again, SI have no input into region locking they are NOT a partner of Sega they're a subsidiary which means they aren't in any way involved in distribution of the game.

Sega and Steam aren't partners, they are customer and supplier, Steam give Sega the option to regionalise in various ways and it's entirely Sega's decision on how they implement that.

Forget blaming SI it really is nothing to do with them other than Miles being able to say to some Sega bod "we really don't like region locking" at which point he'd be told to trot along and direct his studio

Does that make it clear?

It will definitely work you just have to ensure you hand your account over to someone trustworthy or someone who would have no interest in its contents. Just get them to initiate the download and the file will automatically start when you log-on to your account. It's now working 100% for me now editor an all. VPN's could also potentially work but Steam frown upon them and it's very difficult to find a working one (For me in China anyway) without paying for a subscription.

I use expressvpn. It does cost but it's worth it for the reliability of their service and the ability to select which country you want to connect through. Especially if you like a bet

I should note that when it worked for me the beta code worked as per normal and the full game code was the one that required a bit of fiddely work. I didn't purchase the code on release day I just had a problem actually using it. To those having problems make sure you find out what kind of region code you purchased and get someone in that region to input the code for you. Not a lot more I can recommend other than SEGA get their act together and fix this.

Not a lot more I can recommend other than SEGA get their act together and fix this.

Believe me a lot of people wish for this.

This really is a joke

Kriss you keep saying its a sega issue, like somebody said earlier it is a partnership and accountability needs to be taken instead of just passing the buck and saying its not our fault. The demo hasnt been available in the regions that are having difficulties so there was plenty of time to investigate the situation and find out why before the release date but this has obviously not been done. Now there are numerous previous loyal customers to the SEGA/STEAM/SI product/brand that have been let down by incompetent and lazy action that has left alot of people upset, many of whom have paid 30 quid for the privelige. I suggest people start putting their heads together and start producing a solution to this error that doesnt involve VPN's or asking somebody thousands of miles away to log into an account to download a product that should be readily available on the release date that was provided previously. Especially when the companies involved have been happy to accept payment for this game and many previous versions.

I look forward to this situation being resolved soon.

I completely agree that it's not acceptable to adopt an "Not our problem guv" attitude when the biggest continent on the planet is shut out - SI ought to be onto Sega's back as a matter or urgency. One point however - here in Cambodia I've just successfully downloaded the demo - wasn't expecting to, to be honest. I'm not going to risk having $50 taken off my VISA card only to be told I can't download or authenticate my game via Steam, so I'll hold off on purchasing until this mess gets sorted out.

I completely agree that it's not acceptable to adopt an "Not our problem guv" attitude when the biggest continent on the planet is shut out - SI ought to be onto Sega's back as a matter or urgency. One point however - here in Cambodia I've just successfully downloaded the demo - wasn't expecting to, to be honest. I'm not going to risk having $50 taken off my VISA card only to be told I can't download or authenticate my game via Steam, so I'll hold off on purchasing until this mess gets sorted out.

I'm fed up with people choosing to misinterpret facts to suit their own agenda so I'll not try again, I'll just assume you're directing as much ire to Sega on their forum?

In this case surely if you order through Steam it'll not let you pay if it's not going to let you download?

All the reports I've seen say the can't purchase message comes first.

Kriss,

To be fair I think the major frustration with this issue is that the demo wasn't available in the region (as phnomphenhandy states the biggest continent on the planet) and this is when alarm bells should have started ringing. People questioned this on this very thread and were given the response from Neil Brock stating I've comfirmed that you'll have to wait until the 7th November. We have now gone past this date and the game is not available, so if this was confirmed then why are people in this region unable to gain access to the game.

I guess the frustrations that people are showing is related to the fact that they would like some answers rather than being brushed off with you need to direct your frustrations at Sega. Surely SI games are just as concerned about this as we are (if they aren't then they probably should be due to the loss of potential revenue) and some signs that something is being done or attempts are being made to find out when the problem will be resolved would be greatly appreciated.

Yes Phil but why can't you understand that it is without SI's jurisdiction, they are just a department of Sega and while Miles might privately express anguish over an issue such as this it's not in his brief to comment on it.

It is purely a Sega decision and purely down to Sega to provide customer satisfaction.

There might be some instances where even Sega are obliged to pursue this policy too don't forget, in some countries governments actually intervene.

I certainly agree it's messy and I'd need convincing it's even necessary in some of these cases but I can't see Sega listening to me either.

But please stop trying to make SI do something they can't