Digital Purchases on XB1 Using VPN

LKoreanChicken on 04/03/2016 - 12:08
Last edited 04/03/2016 - 12:09

How many people do this? Is it a grey area?

I admit that I've been doing it for a long time, and I encourage my friends/relatives to do so as the prices you can get are MUCH cheaper than anything on the NZ marketplace.

I had a chat with Microsoft support about it, and they said that it was OK but in certain countries it's possible it could cause a few problems.

Some people I've talked to scream that you'll get banned, but Microsoft support told me they haven't had any cases were a user got banned for this.

Thoughts?

Poll Options

  • 3
    I think it's fine, but I don't do it.
  • 5
    I think it's fine, and I do it.
  • 0
    I think it's wrong, and you're a bad person.
  • 0
    It's illegal and you're going to jail!
General Discussion

Comments

  • Kiwi on 04/03/2016 - 12:10

    I don't have an Xbone, but I did this for a while with Steam, before I "moved" to Malaysia, and now enjoy Ringgit pricing on everything :)

    • KoreanChicken on 04/03/2016 - 12:25

      Ah, I didn't realize Steam had regional pricing too (I don't PC game). I always thought it was just based off the US pricing.

      • Kiwi on 04/03/2016 - 12:37

        Yea, they actually have very strict regional pricing, even banning accounts from time to time for people who try to circumvent these. Which may be why you get the kinds of reactions you do when you bring up your actions, even if it's for a different platform.

        SteamDB gives a good overview of the comparative pricing (Minus AUD for some reason), as you can see in this example.

        • KoreanChicken on 04/03/2016 - 12:53

          Ah, interesting. You may be right.

          Judging by a few quick searches on that site, looks like NZ is pretty hard done by on steam too.

  • Dunno on 04/03/2016 - 12:14

    The worst that can happen is them refunding your money..

    • KoreanChicken on 04/03/2016 - 12:24

      Yeah that's probably true. Over the past two years I've made somewhere between 30-50 digital purchases with this method. The two main reasons are a) Prices of physical games (especially in NZ) are often 1.5x - 2x the cost. b) Digital copies allow for game sharing.

  • Toddy47 on 09/03/2016 - 15:36

    I've been doing this for about 18 months:

    • Buy a $50 prepaid Xbox download code from Amazon
    • Redeem on your account
    • Buy item via US Xbox marketplace

    I've bought atleast a dozen games without issue.

    There are lots of people that do this and the only ban/suspension that has ever been proven (user complains "I was banned") was for cheating/modding.

  • Sam91 on 09/03/2016 - 18:45

    I prefer to buy games second-hand and then sell them once I'm done with them. If I buy smart, I can usually break even or profit on the sale. Much better than Digital Downloads imo.

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