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Steam: New Pricing Needed For Argentina and Turkey by November 20th (steamcommunity.com)

submitted 8 months ago by mounderfod@lemmy.sdf.org to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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I suspect piracy will become increasingly popular in these countries

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[-] Terramaris@lemmy.dbzer0.com 77 points 8 months ago

At first when I saw the title, I thought this was done to stop people who VPN swap stores. The article however paints a different picture: Developers do not want Lira or Pesos since they are too unstable. Doesn't make sense to price a game at X Argentine Peso if next month X is now 30% less valuable. If you have too much inflation, no one wants your currency. Even the Argentine government or presidential candidates said something along the lines of wanting to swap to the USD too.

[-] anzo@programming.dev 33 points 8 months ago

There's a running candidate that said that, but that's the same candidate that said so many crazy shit and lies. So, you can take it with a grain of salt. Even if that candidate won the upcoming elections, I hope that dissolving Argentina's central bank is not going to happen because of many reasons, but also because the country has a parliament... They shouldn't allow it.

[-] Alisu@hexbear.net 3 points 8 months ago

Which wouldn't help much, because then they would depend on the dollar, the properties of which are developed for the US economy, not Argentina's. But for steam? Whatever, charge in dollars, it's easier.

[-] green_square@yiffit.net 3 points 8 months ago

Trust me it’s better than depending on the peso

[-] deanne@iusearchlinux.fyi 45 points 8 months ago

turkish here, piracy is already a big thing for any kind of media/games here, but steam almost ended piracy for gaming. i've not pirated a game since like 4 years, but i suspect i'll go back to it after this change, i'd like to support the devs but i just can't afford it,sorry.

[-] iso@lemy.lol 13 points 8 months ago

Same. I guess we will both install the game and also listen some cool music 😄

[-] wahming@monyet.cc 5 points 8 months ago

The prices are still regionalised, they’re just in USD/Euro instead of the equivalent local currency

[-] botorfj@lemdro.id 2 points 8 months ago

same, I can no longer buy a game from steam at this point.

[-] lupec@lemm.ee 25 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

As someone from a developing country, I'm painfully aware of how most big publishers choose to ignore recommended prices and just go with a straight USD conversion most of the time so I can only hope this doesn't screw them even further.

I really wish it was viable for Valve to enforce a ceiling on suggested prices or something along those lines, it's about the only way I see that ever changing. Well, that, or everyone just becoming a full-time sailor, I suppose!

[-] WeLoveCastingSpellz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

As a Turkish person this fucking sucks. I was a pirate anyway but guess I will never get to buy games

[-] Paradachshund 4 points 8 months ago

Forgive my ignorance, but what does it do to your experience practically speaking? Are the prices going up? Is it difficult to purchase things in USD because of having to convert currency?

[-] WeLoveCastingSpellz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 8 months ago

The game prices are scaled to our "purchasing power" to some extent before the change, meaning they're still expensive but steam is making the games more affordable for us to some extent, the change to USD means the scaling is not up to steam, there is recommended prices and if companies abide to those some games might even get cheaper but big studios tend to not do that meaning we almost get games at the price of a cheaper gaming PC before our economy went to shit.

[-] Paradachshund 2 points 8 months ago

Ah I see. Sorry to hear that! Thanks for explaining.

[-] Lojcs@lemm.ee 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I hope they don't expect people to actually pay in usd and instead offer the conversion themselves. Because I can't imagine people maintaining usd credit cards just to purchase games from steam.

Otherwise, this could be a positive change as publishers can now set prices without the "what if the currency loses half its value tomorrow" insurance margin.

Edit: steamdb has a chart of the new regional pricing. It's 50% higher than the current one for tl and 150% higher for peso.

[-] Alisu@hexbear.net 6 points 8 months ago

You can purchase in foreign currency with any international card, there's a bit of a fee though.

[-] XTornado@lemmy.ml 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I mean... If the currency is that unstable... I would expect people doing that and having accounts with dollars or euros, saving money in a currency that moves more than a rollercoaster it's not great.

[-] Lojcs@lemm.ee 3 points 8 months ago

They have savings accounts in dollars or pinned to the dollar, not spending accounts. But looking it up it seems tl credit cards can pay in usd + maybe a conversion fee so I guess it wouldn't be such a deal breaker

[-] catsup@lemmy.one 7 points 8 months ago

Please login to Steamworks to add your USD pricing for your game(s) in the new LATAM-USD and MENA-USD pricing section of the Price Management Tool before November 20th, 2023. If you do not add a USD price to these columns for your game before November 20th, we will default to the standard USD pricing you already have in Steamworks.

Los precios de steam se están por ir a la recontra mierda.

[-] Kurante@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

La concha de la lora

[-] Shardikprime@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Massa la puta que te remil pario

[-] jherazob@beehaw.org 7 points 8 months ago

It's understandable why they did this, but now on all those countries game piracy will start anew, people won't buy legally if they can't afford it

[-] wahming@monyet.cc 3 points 8 months ago

The prices are still regionalised, they're just in USD instead of the equivalent local currency

[-] Luisp@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 8 months ago

Wow fuck them

6000 is the cost of a aaa game on sale = 5 usd, 80 dollars is almost half of a salary, no more original games I guess

[-] ollie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 8 months ago

whats steam to do? adjust the price every week?

[-] 131sean131@lemmy.world 21 points 8 months ago

Yeah idk why people are salt at steam. It should be fuck my government for not being able to run a economy and currency.

[-] CosmicGrizzly@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

We are implementing this with two new pricing regions: LATAM-USD (which includes Argentina) and MENA-USD (which includes Turkey)

The prices will be denominated in USD. But unique to the region. Unless the developer is lazy and doesn't set a price for the newly created regions.

[-] mounderfod@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 8 months ago

It's still a big increase in pricing iirc

[-] CosmicGrizzly@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Depends on what price the developer chooses and how stable the exchange rate between USD & the local currency is. If the currency gets weaker and weaker compared to the dollar, then the real price that locals are paying will go up.

And, I'm pretty sure that local inflation rates are the primary driver of this change. So, yeah, games will likely get more expensive as inflation continues & developers don't constantly update the USD list price.

[-] 520@kbin.social 1 points 8 months ago

Not Steam's fault. They got fucked by the EU for having regional pricing.

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[-] csolisr@communities.azkware.net 2 points 8 months ago

Expecting Colombia, Peru, Chile and South Africa to be next on the pumping

[-] simon574@feddit.de 1 points 8 months ago

This doesn't necessarily increase prices, if anything it makes it easier for publishers to offer games in these regions.

[-] Gorgeous_Sloth@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago

Meh idk. Heard everyone say piracy was going to increase after Netflix increased its prices. Well guess what, it may have a little (but I quite doubt it), but clearly not enough as it’s doing it again. They know what they’re doing.