Two important pieces of info today for both players and game developers, as it will affect both quite a bit with release date changes and pricing changes.
Firstly, prices! Valve announced to developers various updates to how they handle multi-currency. Developers and publishers are still free to set their own pricing but now Valve are giving developers a new tool to make it easier, along with adjusting their recommendation on prices across seemingly all currencies on Steam. This may result in price increases across many games on Steam in many different regions, as Valve said "with purchasing power and foreign exchange rates constantly evolving, we needed to make significant changes to those conversion recommendations to stay current".
SteamDB, as always, keep tracking changes on Steam and did their own blog post to highlight the changes. According to SteamDB the only currencies not changing have so far been CIS - U.S. Dollar, Costa Rican Colon. Israeli New Shekel, Kuwaiti Dinar, Singapore Dollar, South Asia - USD and U.A.E. Dirham. They included various tables, showing the changes against the dollar at various price points with this one showing just how big an increase it can be:
$59.99 USD difference:
| Currency | Old | New | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Pound | £46.49 | £49.99 | +8% |
| Euro | 49,99€ | 58,99€ | +18% |
| Russian Ruble | 1085 ₽ | 1900 ₽ | +75% |
| Brazilian Real | R$ 109,99 | R$ 162,00 | +47% |
| Japanese Yen | ¥ 6290 | ¥ 6500 | +3% |
| Indonesian Rupiah | Rp 249999 | Rp 449999 | +80% |
| Malaysian Ringgit | RM95.00 | RM133.00 | +40% |
| Philippine Peso | ₱1219.95 | ₱1670.00 | +37% |
| Thai Baht | ฿699.00 | ฿1100.00 | +57% |
| Vietnamese Dong | 480000₫ | 705000₫ | +47% |
| South Korean Won | ₩ 61000 | ₩ 63000 | +3% |
| Turkish Lira | ₺92,00 | ₺510,00 | +454% |
| Ukrainian Hryvnia | 699₴ | 1125₴ | +61% |
| Mexican Peso | Mex$ 527.99 | Mex$ 614.99 | +16% |
| Canadian Dollar | CDN$ 68.99 | CDN$ 77.99 | +13% |
| Australian Dollar | A$ 84.95 | A$ 87.95 | +4% |
| New Zealand Dollar | NZ$ 76.49 | NZ$ 85.99 | +12% |
| Norwegian Krone | 412,00 kr | 670,00 kr | +63% |
| Polish Zloty | 214,99zł | 274,99zł | +28% |
| Swiss Franc | CHF 57.50 | CHF 65.99 | +15% |
| Chinese Yuan | ¥ 163 | ¥ 198 | +21% |
| Indian Rupee | ₹ 1299 | ₹ 2400 | +85% |
| Chilean Peso | CLP$ 22500 | CLP$ 28500 | +27% |
| Peruvian Sol | S/.102.00 | S/.115.00 | +13% |
| Colombian Peso | COL$ 82500 | COL$ 130000 | +58% |
| South African Rand | R 329.00 | R 499.00 | +52% |
| Hong Kong Dollar | HK$ 258.00 | HK$ 365.00 | +41% |
| Taiwan Dollar | NT$ 858 | NT$ 898 | +5% |
| Saudi Riyal | 89.95 SR | 114.95 SR | +28% |
| Argentine Peso | ARS$ 649,99 | ARS$ 3800,00 | +485% |
| Kazakhstani Tenge | 7100₸ | 14000₸ | +97% |
| Qatari Riyal | 114.99 QR | 119.99 QR | +4% |
| Uruguayan Peso | $U1199 | $U1700 | +42% |
Thanks SteamDB.
Another big change is how release dates are presented on Steam. Soon, gone will be the days of developers setting whatever format they wish for their dates, along with some including funny messages instead of an actual date. Instead, Valve will have a standard way to present dates that can be correctly formatted to your region so there will be no more confusion on days and months too.
Take Dwarf Fortress for example:
What is changing is that developers will need to put an exact date that only they and Valve can see, and then pick between these types of public views:
- The exact date. “Aug 24, 2023”
- Month-and-year. “August 2023”
- The quarter of the calendar year. “Q3 2023”
- The year. "2023"
- No date at all. “Coming Soon”
This change makes sense, and was a long time coming.
With this change, it will also affect how developers have their games shown in upcoming lists on Steam. Valve will position games "at the last possible date of that time range", so if developers pick to have just a month and year they will appear as if they select the last day in that month. Hopefully this will also help fix the issue of some developers repeatedly changing their date to keep bumping their game in the upcoming lists.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I'm from Argentina, have 900+ games since I have been loyal to Steam and only Steam for -I can't even remember how many years, so this is a nice chance to clear some of the immense backlog I have, but... games like The Return of Monkey Island, I played the 2nd when I was a child and sparked something very special in me, I couldn't NOT play such a perfect game, also, it keeps appearing first on the list of games recommend to me... feels bad.
So I ended up pirating it -I say to myself it's ok because it's a games about pirates after all tho...
Dribbleondo Oct 28, 2022
Quoting: M@GOidWell, Steam became a success and did much to reduce piracy in countries where it was endemic (like here in Brazil), because it was a cheap way to buy games. You can bet your furry ass that game piracy will increase a lot in the coming months, in places where the price increased in the high double-digits.
Also, now is time to Epic to put their wallets where their mouths are, and start offering lower prices than Steam, after all, they said in court the market needs competition... But we all know how this gonna end.
Certain indie games on EGS are actually lower in price, Hades comes to mind, but it's usually only by less than a (currently useless) english pound; it's £18.99 on EGS vs £19.49 on Steam. This WILL vary by country.
So they're already doing it, they just need to do it to bigger release games.
Last edited by Dribbleondo on 28 October 2022 at 9:41 am UTC
Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: x_wing1,2% seals taxes (almost sure this one is federal).Geeze. What if you don't even own a seal?
I wonder if there's any valid excuse for not owning a seal, though.
Quoting: EikeSeals eat penguins, and I prefer penguins.Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: x_wing1,2% seals taxes (almost sure this one is federal).Geeze. What if you don't even own a seal?
I wonder if there's any valid excuse for not owning a seal, though.
Gaming is great, but it's not a god-granted human right. Enjoy as much as you can, but if/when you cannot, ffs don't mess with other people (be it devs or people in countries with less robust economies)!
This makes my blood boil.
Quoting: syylkIn a way, it's also the fault of rich countries spoiled brats using VPNs to fake buying from overinflated ones, so to have a colossal, undeserved, screw-you-all discount on something that's absolutely, positively leisure-only.
Gaming is great, but it's not a god-granted human right. Enjoy as much as you can, but if/when you cannot, ffs don't mess with other people (be it devs or people in countries with less robust economies)!
Imagine fucking over a whole country or two just because you wanted to feel better about yourself (rather than just pirating the damn game).
Quoting: SmeallanNormal price for AAA title in Turkey was 5$ ?! That's insane. Even after the rise its less then half of the USD price. Same for Argentina. I guess it sucks for them, but its still massive discount.
Just to illustrate what @acrophobic, @m@goid and @pb tried to express before:
The yearly minimum wage on Brazil today stands at the equivalent of US$5114,28, whereas USA's own minimum wage stands at US$15080,00... that means if a game costs the same amount in dollars here and in the USA.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/minimum-wage-by-country
That's 1/3 the purchasing power after convertion to the same currency, and argentina is even worse off!
If purchase power is 3 times lower while prices are similar, people don't just buy 1/3 the amount of everything... they meet their basic needs first and then hope there is something left for superfluous things.
This sort of exchange-rate price equalization can severely damage Steam's capilarity in less economically favoured countries.
Sure, some rich folk in europe may try to buy games in argentinean pesos using VPNs, but there are ways to minimize this without murdering most the argentinean gaming scene
Last edited by Marlock on 28 October 2022 at 11:59 pm UTC
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