More expensive than simply giving the money. Why buy the game at, say, twice the price for a fellow person in your own country?

Because giving away money isn't the same as giving someone a gift. You know it often is about the surprise and the gesture of gifting and not about money.

But besides that your argument doesn't work for the EU and in many cases also not for australia. They normally pay the same or even more than people from the US. So gifting a game to fellows in your own country wouldn't cost them more than giving the same person the money.

We (those who are experiencing this issue) found a simpler solution a long time ago.

Add something in your cart and try to checkout. Regional prices should return. Always works for me.

I'm just saying, if there's a discount in your own country, you'd be hesitant to spend the extra money, especially if it's expensive. 2 or 3 bucks, maybe, but, hey, look at the topic. Maybe instead of getting X, which my friend really wants, i'll get Y, 'cause my friend can buy X at a cheaper price, but Y isn't regionally priced. I don't know the regional prices, so i'll come up with a figurative example. Let's say that in Poland, The Witcher 3 is 30% cheaper than everywhere else, 'cause there's no export tax or something, but like 10% more expensive in the US 'cause the ESRB suddenly started charging that kind of tax on the sale of video games that they rate. Now, do you think a pole, who would normally buy it for himself for 132.86PLN, will pay an extra 56.93PLN (for a total of 189.74PLN, if we go by steam's price for the GOTY since i already have it from GOG), just so they can be like "yo, dude, have this game!" Or are they more likely to buy Rimworld for the same price they would buy TW3 for themselves and give them that code (assuming this friend likes both genres)? No one wants to throw 56.93PLN (15USD, 1000RUB, or 13EUR) away just to please regional pricing that normally wouldn't have to be paid.

I've had European prices on and off. It's all been weird.

thank you, that worked!
I logged in today after clearing cache and my regional prices are back to normal. I had no idea about gifts tho (never used this system to gift anything).

thank you everyone for suggestions and for general feedback!