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:
- 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.
orochi_kyo Nov 16, 2017
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoThey 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...
Quoting: Segata SanshiroQuoting: Comandante ÑoñardoThey 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.
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoThey 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.
Comandante Ñoñardo Dec 8, 2017
Quoting: gorlokDebit 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.
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