Recent changes to the Steam Store have seen the addition of more local currencies for customers in different regions. Expect to get more bang for your Peso or Dinar.
Originally tweeted by the excellent SteamDB, it would seem that customers in different regions will be able to buy from the Steam Store using their local currency. This usually means lower prices and no fiddling about with conversion rates for currency and prices are also adjusted for regional standards. The changes went live earlier and users in the affected countries have gotten emails telling them about the new changes to the Steam Store.
Below are the new currencies and region:
New additions
- Argentinian Peso
- Costa Rican Colón
- Israeli New Shekel
- Kazakhstani Tenge
- Kuwaiti Dinar
- Polish Zloty
- Qatari Rial
- Ukrainian Hryvnia
- Uruguayan Peso
- Vietnamese Dong
- South Asian USD Region
As someone who has moved around a lot and has lived in all sorts of countries, local currency and regional pricing makes sense to me. The purchasing power around the world varies wildly and brick and mortar stores sometimes have prices that reflect the reality on the ground closer than digital retailers. This kind of thing is a good way to make sure your digital store will remain competitive if you allow your customers to pay what they're used to and not have to waste precious money on conversion fees to USD or EUR. It'd also be nice if Valve added local payment methods while they're at it. They've done so in the past in other regions but as I'm not in one of the above affected countries, I can't confirm either way.
Do also note that while the changes should be live, there may be teething problems with not all prices yet updated to the corresponding equivalent in the local currency. Except that to be sorted out as time goes by.
With thanks to the original submission from Faalagorn!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
hardpenguin 14 Nov 2017
Some games are not available for purchase at all in new currency regions due to the change. I hope this will be fixed soon!
2 Likes, Who?
Some games are not available for purchase at all in new currency regions due to the change. I hope this will be fixed soon!
Yes. The problem is that the developers have to set the prices themselves. While it will hopefully get ironed out, it will prove troublesome for games that no longer get active care from developer/publisher.
1 Likes, Who?
This is wonderful news.
The fact that publishers/developers set new prices themselves is particularly interesting. I have taken a look at two Linux games that cost exactly the same in euros (FM 2018 and F1 2017) and in my local currency the difference in price between these two titles is quite substantial (around 9% = over 5 euros). Football Manager is even more expensive than in euros but I imagine FM is probably one of those games with inelastic demand.
Still, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time so I'm glad it finally happened. I can't wait for winter sale now :)!
The fact that publishers/developers set new prices themselves is particularly interesting. I have taken a look at two Linux games that cost exactly the same in euros (FM 2018 and F1 2017) and in my local currency the difference in price between these two titles is quite substantial (around 9% = over 5 euros). Football Manager is even more expensive than in euros but I imagine FM is probably one of those games with inelastic demand.
Still, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time so I'm glad it finally happened. I can't wait for winter sale now :)!
0 Likes
Pricing on Steam is related to two factors.
First : Local sellers.
In my country ( Turkey ) a bitch ass company called named Aral is have the rights publishing some companies games. Most notable one is Bethesda , others are EA and Ubisoft.
This company sells boxed games and because of them Steam is setting these games prices to equal their pricing.
Some times it become visible too obviously. A game is came to Steam ( Prey 2017 ) with pre order at 78 TL and few hours later (because of that Aral ) it bumped up to 180 TL.
Valve has a good policy about not killing local sellers but they're abusing it.
Second : Your currency value against US dollar.
If a game is not contracted to a local seller and dev or publisher didn't do re pricing for that region , Steam converts price to your regions price with a fixed ratio.
That ratio is usually much more lower than actual currency ratio.
First : Local sellers.
In my country ( Turkey ) a bitch ass company called named Aral is have the rights publishing some companies games. Most notable one is Bethesda , others are EA and Ubisoft.
This company sells boxed games and because of them Steam is setting these games prices to equal their pricing.
Some times it become visible too obviously. A game is came to Steam ( Prey 2017 ) with pre order at 78 TL and few hours later (because of that Aral ) it bumped up to 180 TL.
Valve has a good policy about not killing local sellers but they're abusing it.
Second : Your currency value against US dollar.
If a game is not contracted to a local seller and dev or publisher didn't do re pricing for that region , Steam converts price to your regions price with a fixed ratio.
That ratio is usually much more lower than actual currency ratio.
0 Likes
Comandante Ñoñardo 14 Nov 2017
They removed Paypal in Argentina, by the way...
but that is not a problem because they added local payments systems like Rapipago and pagofacil, so people without credit or debit cards now can buy games and Steam wallet credit just using cash.
This is an excellent method for to fight against the bad called piracy, because now, a game on sale will be more cheapest than the illegal copy available on the street.
but that is not a problem because they added local payments systems like Rapipago and pagofacil, so people without credit or debit cards now can buy games and Steam wallet credit just using cash.
This is an excellent method for to fight against the bad called piracy, because now, a game on sale will be more cheapest than the illegal copy available on the street.
4 Likes, Who?
Segata Sanshiro 14 Nov 2017
I did notice when looking at Steam through the browser, games are now considerably cheaper. They were always displayed in Argentine Pesos, but it seems it's no longer a direct conversion, but they have country-specific pricing. I pay with everything in GBP and my Steam account is displayed in that currency though, so it's of little significance to me, but it's cool that people in Argentina will be able to buy games for less.
It would really be easier if everyone in Argentina just got a bank account and debit card like in every other country on earth instead of always making everything needlessly complicated, just saying. I can't see why anyone would want to physically go to Rapipago every time they want to pay their electricity bill or buy a game on Steam, it's absolutely insane and time consuming. The only explanations I've ever gotten for not having a bank account has been "blah blah, 2001, blah blah, they're all crooks, blah blah" - as if it's the only country on earth which has had recessions and this therefore justifies the hysteria and necessitates having all your money in cash under your bed.
They removed Paypal in Argentina, by the way...
but that is not a problem because they added local payments systems like Rapipago and pagofacil, so people without credit or debit cards now can buy games and Steam wallet credit just using cash.
It would really be easier if everyone in Argentina just got a bank account and debit card like in every other country on earth instead of always making everything needlessly complicated, just saying. I can't see why anyone would want to physically go to Rapipago every time they want to pay their electricity bill or buy a game on Steam, it's absolutely insane and time consuming. The only explanations I've ever gotten for not having a bank account has been "blah blah, 2001, blah blah, they're all crooks, blah blah" - as if it's the only country on earth which has had recessions and this therefore justifies the hysteria and necessitates having all your money in cash under your bed.
0 Likes
Not only I can no longer buy like half of games on my wishlist, as they have no prices in Polish zloty, but also some bundles disappeared, even though games in these bundles are available and bundles are published by the same publisher.
To add insult to injury, quite a few games are now more expensive than before. Perhaps publishers didn't realise that Polish zloty purchasing power is lower than Euros, not higher...
To add insult to injury, quite a few games are now more expensive than before. Perhaps publishers didn't realise that Polish zloty purchasing power is lower than Euros, not higher...
0 Likes
I got an email from Steam last week saying that I will be paying with Kuwaiti Dinar soon. Does that mean no fees for currency exchange to dollars?
0 Likes
I got an email from Steam last week saying that I will be paying with Kuwaiti Dinar soon. Does that mean no fees for currency exchange to dollars?
Yes. ...but as it seems, the new prices might not always be better than the exchange price. :-/
(I wonder if average wages in Kuwait are above or below in say the US, though?)
0 Likes
Comandante Ñoñardo 15 Nov 2017
I got an email from Steam last week saying that I will be paying with Kuwaiti Dinar soon. Does that mean no fees for currency exchange to dollars?
Yes. ...but as it seems, the new prices might not always be better than the exchange price. :-/
(I wonder if average wages in Kuwait are above or below in say the US, though?)
The truth is in the SteamDB entry of each game.
0 Likes
orochi_kyo 16 Nov 2017
They removed Paypal in Argentina, by the way...
but that is not a problem because they added local payments systems like Rapipago and pagofacil, so people without credit or debit cards now can buy games and Steam wallet credit just using cash.
This is an excellent method for to fight against the bad called piracy, because now, a game on sale will be more cheapest than the illegal copy available on the street.
Not only to fight piracy but actually to counter those G2A users which argument is "Steam doesnt accept my debit card".
For my country, many, many games are way much cheaper, while some AAA games are actually more expensive, but since Im indie guy I cant care less for some Ubisoft or Bethesda titles.
LOL, many games are as half of the price equivalent on USD, so Im pretty much happy about this change. I cant even imagine the price of those games on the next winter sale...
3 Likes, Who?
Yup... Poland: half games unavailable, half of the rest cheaper, half of the rest more expensive.
0 Likes
They removed Paypal in Argentina, by the way...
but that is not a problem because they added local payments systems like Rapipago and pagofacil, so people without credit or debit cards now can buy games and Steam wallet credit just using cash.
It would really be easier if everyone in Argentina just got a bank account and debit card like in every other country on earth instead of always making everything needlessly complicated, just saying. I can't see why anyone would want to physically go to Rapipago every time they want to pay their electricity bill or buy a game on Steam, it's absolutely insane and time consuming. The only explanations I've ever gotten for not having a bank account has been "blah blah, 2001, blah blah, they're all crooks, blah blah" - as if it's the only country on earth which has had recessions and this therefore justifies the hysteria and necessitates having all your money in cash under your bed.
In my experience, most people have debit cards and bank accounts but you'll find tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of shops that have no way of accepting credit or debit cards, rendering them useless. And even when they do have it, Internet failures (thanks to a near monopolistic situation in most of the country) can simply render it inoperable.
Even worse the shops that do have functional card readers tend to be more expensive than the ones that don't because all their fees are in USD.
Then you have stuff like what the previous government did, trying to block all imports and simply making it a pain in the ass to buy anything internationally with a credit or debit card by requiring paperwork filled or you would pay more for whatever you got.
Also, Argentines are extremely risk averse simply because the 2001 default was not the first time they got screwed over by a government that did a piss poor job of administering the country. It seems that every 5-10 years they have a internal economic crisis again.
0 Likes
They removed Paypal in Argentina, by the way...
but that is not a problem because they added local payments systems like Rapipago and pagofacil, so people without credit or debit cards now can buy games and Steam wallet credit just using cash.
This is an excellent method for to fight against the bad called piracy, because now, a game on sale will be more cheapest than the illegal copy available on the street.
Indeed. I could pay with PayPal by electronic means. It was inmediate from my home banking since Nubi and PayPal Argentina started operations. But now I must go fisically to a open store in downtown (no near my house BTW), to line up (yeah... you have to line up for EVERYTHING here), and then wait days for the transaction to complete. It's crazy.
I give up. I was checking out on Steam when I discovery that they removed PayPal. I canceled my order. I buy only Linux games. But I will buy on GOG or HumbleBundle with PayPal when I can, but they don't have the same titles :(
This is sad news for me. RapiPago/PagoFacil is good news for people with no banking. But it's bad news for me. It takes a lot of time going fisically to a store... it's 2017 and I can't believe it yet.
Debit cards doesn't work neither, BTW. One step forward and two steps back.
0 Likes
Comandante Ñoñardo 8 Dec 2017
Debit cards doesn't work neither, BTW. One step forward and two steps back.
I think that depends on the card and the bank... I have a VISA Electron Debit card from Banco Patagonia, and it works.
0 Likes
Patreon
PayPal
How to set, change and reset your SteamOS / Steam Deck desktop sudo password
How to set up Decky Loader on Steam Deck / SteamOS for easy plugins
Oh and the name doesn't mean anything but coincidentally could be pronounced as "Buttery" which suits me just fine.
See more from me