Thursday, July 30th 2020
Steam Updates Pricing Restrictions to Combat VPN-based Exploitation of Regional Pricing
Steam has updated their purchase and pricing restriction in wake of continued abuse from users exploiting regional price-differences via VPN. You may have read about this recently following the availability of PS4-exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn on the PC platform, with the release being priced differently by the publisher according to the purchase region of its respective users. However, one way users found to circumvent these restrictions and purchase games at a lower price was to use a VPN service and appear as if they were connecting from one of the lower-priced regions. This prompted a price-hike for Horizon: Zero Dawn in those exploited regions - sometimes by as much as 389%. Such was the case for Argentina, where the game, which was originally being sold for ARS$539,99 ($7,47) got its price hiked to ARS$2100 ($29,06). The game was being sold in US-based stores for $39.
Now, Steam is forcing currencies used on the purchase to match those of the country where the purchase is (apparently) being made. This means you can't pay in dollars a game that is priced in Argentinian pesos or any other currency. This move by Steam aims to keep pricing fair according to users' and countries' purchasing power, and aims to protect users with lower purchasing power from price-hikes derived from the exploitation of regional pricing. An Argentinian user, where the country's minimum wage is set at $233,55, now is protected from users with higher purchasing power being responsible for game price hikes that mean it costs them 10% of their minimum wage to get a single game from the Steam store. You can replace Argentina with any other country that saw its regional pricing being abused via VPN-hidden users who wanted to take advantage of the price difference. I can hear some Game of Thrones bells ringing in the distance.
Sources:
KitGuru, Guru3D
Now, Steam is forcing currencies used on the purchase to match those of the country where the purchase is (apparently) being made. This means you can't pay in dollars a game that is priced in Argentinian pesos or any other currency. This move by Steam aims to keep pricing fair according to users' and countries' purchasing power, and aims to protect users with lower purchasing power from price-hikes derived from the exploitation of regional pricing. An Argentinian user, where the country's minimum wage is set at $233,55, now is protected from users with higher purchasing power being responsible for game price hikes that mean it costs them 10% of their minimum wage to get a single game from the Steam store. You can replace Argentina with any other country that saw its regional pricing being abused via VPN-hidden users who wanted to take advantage of the price difference. I can hear some Game of Thrones bells ringing in the distance.
63 Comments on Steam Updates Pricing Restrictions to Combat VPN-based Exploitation of Regional Pricing
If nothing else, the minimum wage cited here is technically correct, since it's set at AR$ 16875 right now, or 233.56 US dollars [EDIT: This is a monthly amount, not weekly) at the official exchange rate. Heck, it might be lower if you consider a different exchange rate (like the black market's, which is nearly double the official one) or the real-life official exchange rate that includes a 30% tax on foreign currency...
EDIT: The Steam Store in Argentina only accepts VISA or MasterCard credit cards, so you can't use anything else, unless you have funds in your Steam Wallet... I'm not sure if whatever funds you had before are converted to your new country's currency or not, but I imagine it is not the case.
My guess is that at this point it is unlikely. Maybe they will cut back a bit, but not much more.
The game publishers decide regional prices according to the buying power of each region. It's not just a matter of revenue, but also of presence.
Imagine if spell checks were a thing oh wait.
pricing is so inconsistent . 60$ is about 205NIS, but on steam you can find $60 games that range from 210NIS which is totally OK, up to 270NIS where its almost 80$, and even 320NIS which is $90 (death stranding for example).
I mostly play AAA Single player titles on release, and its mostly from greenmangaming.com or other sites, just because of that.
steam blames the high prices on the publishers as "they are the ones that decide the pricing for that specific region", but that's just BS because they benefit from every cent, 30% cut from $90 is higher than $60.. and its like that for a "while" now.
Well, if vpn is not an option and the 'fair' pricing is bound to average regional income rather than personal circumstances, well there are still other means of getting games...
Btw Horizon Zero Dawn will release without DRM...
Then again, they are that cheap in poor countries and players still make a greater effort to buy them than you.
so yeah, game should be way way cheaper like 29.99 do to having PAID ADDON Content months to every year after OG Release of the games??? wtf!!! not paying 120 or more for max editions cuz the WONY Expansion was another 30 fucking bucks, that didn't really add a whole lot to the division 2 and raids are useless to me, Not a 8 player/4 player group match making gamer
also the fact that the First "The Division" Was a"MASSIVE" Disappointment, LOL that was a sarcastic crack at Massive Entertainment" them and UBISOFT ALWAYS DOWNGRADING PC VERSIONS OF GAMES THAT WOLD HAVE NO ISSUES RUNNING THE OG e3 2013 Demo of the Division, which is what made me want the game so fucking BAD in the first place, RELEASE VERSION WAS NOT WORTH $60USD let alone $120 fukking bucks,, IM DONE!! with UBISOFT
@Raevenlord you have typo in your title.