We've been holding off mentioning this new direction for Steam and Valve, but now that it's out of beta and no longer optional, I felt compelled enough to give you the viewpoint of someone who does live in Europe -- since anybody else probably doesn't care anyway. You see, all digital distribution platforms have been very convenient for people like me. We already pay often ridiculous prices for games on retail shelves, and the chance to pay the same price as our American friends was met with excitement, perhaps more than any other benefit such a platform brings with it.
With the current conversion rates for every 1€ being $1.44 USD, you can easily do the math and figure out how much we used to save on every purchase, when instead of handing 59.99€ ($86.38 USD) to a given local store, we paid Valve exactly the same amount as you. Considering Valve has the exact same cost to serve customers abroad, as they do within your own nation, this obviously served all parties involved very well.
Why does this have to change now then? Some were excited to see certain games, like BioShock (19.99€), were given a lower price for the European side, but that didn't last; it now costs $19.99. Even if the price cut was still applied, it would only be an exception to the rule; now, most games' prices simply convert the $ symbol into a € and leave the number intact. There's nothing exciting about this, unless of course you are Valve Software.
I should perhaps mention they went as far as making Left 4 Dead cheaper, as it costs 44.99€ instead of the American $49.99 USD. Of course, that still makes the European price about $64.78 USD so you can see who's the winner in cases like this also. You might say that Europeans usually have better wages, but the truth of the matter is that, Europe is even more diverse than the United States. Many countries included are rich, yes, but many are rather poor also. I wish I could say I live in one of the former, but like me, millions of people simply do not.
Digital distribution has always been exploited a little the way I see it, since there's no reason to pay the same price as on store shelves, when you get less of a product. Those pretty plastic boxes, shiny discs, and often wonderful extras like printed maps and full-color multi-page manuals have to cost something, along with the various shipping fees. That's one reason that European retail prices are kind-of justified, sometimes anyway. Why then, do we all have to pay the same price as on store shelves when we get none of this content?
One could perhaps understand — even though I still think it’s inexcusable — why the games ended up with the same price they might have in expensive European retail stores, sans any potential local discounts, but another equally grand issue becomes apparent. Why do download-only games also get the same kind of price conversion? Aquaria was just added on Steam and, barring the small discount available until Dec 31st, it’s listed as a 19.99€ game.
When its own developers, bit-blot, sell Aquaria world-wide for the same price of $19.99 -- at the time of writing 14.33€ -- how can Valve proclaim its price is instead almost $30 for us? The same is done to more titles, like 2D Boy's World of Goo and all the indie games I browsed through. How can this be justified when they originate in America, have no extra delivery cost, and no European retail publisher that might have decided on the higher price?
In the end, Steam's digital distribution seems to bet on the convenience it offers, in order to exploit its customers instead of serve them as best as is possible. What can one disgruntled user do? Perhaps create a Steam group as some fans have done. Me? I'll just say, thank you for the years of kind-of-good business, but as far as I'm concerned, this is one (more) reason to use alternative platforms, like Stardock's Impulse or CD Projekt's Good old Games.
Of course, even those should only be used when getting a better deal in stores -- for the extra physical content you get for the same price -- is not an available option.
If anyone wants to check the exchange rates, try http://www.xe.com as it's what I used throughout this article. Rates might have changed a little by today.
You will notice that British pound has fallen flat, therefor with Steam's flat pricing they end up getting games cheaper than any region, even America. It probably won't last, but it still shows another flaw in the system.
In my opinion, pricing should be done n the originating region, remaining flat for that region, and with a real-time exchange rate applied to all other regions.
American games would always be in USD essentially, and European games always in Euros, with the corresponding amount for other regions changing daily.
What I find especially puzzling about the $:€ pricing thing are claims on the Valve forums that Steam has *ever* been cheaper for a direct download.
I near-exclusively bought new games from Play.com and Amazon.co.uk. They were *always* cheaper than Steam by a few quid. I recently moved from the UK to work in Ireland, and now, it's exclusively Play.com that gets my business, since they don't charge delivery to Ireland (Amazon does) and they remain cheaper than Steam either way.
I live in Austria (20% VAT, Currency is Euro) and up to now bought (especially Valve-) games over Steam, not because they were cheaper than local retail stores or online shops (in fact, they had about the same price when VAT and currency conversation were applied), but because I wanted to support VALVE - the game producing company - with my money directly (no reselling/shipping -> more money where it belongs imho).
I guess that time is over, because paying 20-50% more per game compared to "traditional" online shops and retailers, well, lets say: Being nice and supportive has boundaries.
I wonder how many European customers they will alienate, and why they bother. They must have seen this coming, especially with concerns over the beta. Was there publisher pressure to raise the prices or something?
One reasoning I could see for raised prices (if there was publisher pressure like Sean asked) could be to get people to stop buying games cheaper on Steam and buy physical copies or directly from the developers. I don't know the exact numbers, but I'm sure an indie game sold on Steam gets a percentage cut from the total. So the higher price could either negate that (giving the company their full selling price) or drive consumers to buy directly from them, as Alex mentioned with Aquaria.
This is a terrible move on Valve's part. And I warn everyone not in the US, don't think this can't happen to you. This is only the start. Valve will certainly do this for all regions and you can bet that they will take the opportunity to further jack up prices.
I will just start buy games from conventional stores where i get shiny box some bonuses and most importantly lot lower prices 43,12 eur for GTAIV tax incluided
I will stop buying games from STEAM. Even if the game is not sold in a store. In that case (like Defense Grid) I'm sorry for the developers, but I'm not giving my money to STEAM as long as this goes on.
I know, but some people don't bother clicking things when they read an article. I thought it important enough to link to it down here where people will see EXACTLY what the link is
I understand your complaints but what happens next year or the year after if the Euro is weaker than the dollar? Then you would be paying more per game instead of less. You guys are all getting paid in Euros right? I think this is only a problem because of the current exchange rates, though there is no telling how long things will stay this uneven.
I'm not sure of your point. We're already paying more, that's the complaint. The Euro will likely never be worth less than the USD unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong and I guess at that point we'll have worse things to worry about than game prices. Its lowest value so far has been about $1.25 USD while its highest about $1.55 USD, with the usual being around $1.3x or $1.4x USD. It's just a more valued currency overall.
It doesn't mean we're richer either. Many are, obviously, but others might get the same wage you do, since while they might get paid in Euros, they get less of them than you do dollars. There are rich countries in Europe as I mention, but also many poor ones. Besides, since when do richer people pay different prices than poorer people (taxes not withstanding)? Hell, I wish that was the case so many of us would get things we otherwise couldn't afford, but sadly it's not.
When anyone goes to a store, they pay the same price as anyone else for the same product, whether they have the same wage or not. So, I really don't think Valve's choice is good even if we considered that "Europeans are richer, so they can afford paying more" was true for everyone in Europe. Of course, it's totally not the case anyway.
Real-time exchange rates applied per purchase, considering Valve's location, would be the best and most obvious solution. It's what you usually get when purchasing things online, and how it was before Steam changed this. Why change it at all? Even if the Euro fell flat at some point, making us pay more with the real-time rates, at least it would be fair.
This kind of price increase however, is not fair in any way. It's merely a rip off. Especially with the part about download-only games which have absolutely nothing to do with regional publishers, and are also usually sold for much less on the original creators' website than Steam, since they still sell it in USD and the conversion is done on the fly.
I also hate they haven't really commented to at least try and justify it. Instead, it was a hidden change among the holiday offers with almost no word of it other than saying that now you can pay on local currencies. I'm certainly not going to buy anything from Steam if I can get the same product for the same price or often much less on retail, or if a different distribution platform which charges you in USD also carries the game. It could already occur previously, and with this change it will be rare to see Steam offer a game for less than other outlets.
I agree that's it's unfair, I was just trying to figure out what Valve would be thinking other than greed.
However I am no expert on currency values but I don't think anyone can say that the Euro will never be worth less than the dollar, the Euro has only been around since 2002. Has there been any response from Valve on this?
December 17th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
So Euro Steam WAS like reverse Australia?
December 18th, 2008 at 3:34 am
If anyone wants to check the exchange rates, try http://www.xe.com as it's what I used throughout this article. Rates might have changed a little by today.
You will notice that British pound has fallen flat, therefor with Steam's flat pricing they end up getting games cheaper than any region, even America. It probably won't last, but it still shows another flaw in the system.
In my opinion, pricing should be done n the originating region, remaining flat for that region, and with a real-time exchange rate applied to all other regions.
American games would always be in USD essentially, and European games always in Euros, with the corresponding amount for other regions changing daily.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:18 am
What I find especially puzzling about the $:€ pricing thing are claims on the Valve forums that Steam has *ever* been cheaper for a direct download.
I near-exclusively bought new games from Play.com and Amazon.co.uk. They were *always* cheaper than Steam by a few quid. I recently moved from the UK to work in Ireland, and now, it's exclusively Play.com that gets my business, since they don't charge delivery to Ireland (Amazon does) and they remain cheaper than Steam either way.
December 18th, 2008 at 8:55 am
I live in Austria (20% VAT, Currency is Euro) and up to now bought (especially Valve-) games over Steam, not because they were cheaper than local retail stores or online shops (in fact, they had about the same price when VAT and currency conversation were applied), but because I wanted to support VALVE - the game producing company - with my money directly (no reselling/shipping -> more money where it belongs imho).
I guess that time is over, because paying 20-50% more per game compared to "traditional" online shops and retailers, well, lets say: Being nice and supportive has boundaries.
December 18th, 2008 at 10:18 am
I wonder how many European customers they will alienate, and why they bother. They must have seen this coming, especially with concerns over the beta. Was there publisher pressure to raise the prices or something?
December 18th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
One reasoning I could see for raised prices (if there was publisher pressure like Sean asked) could be to get people to stop buying games cheaper on Steam and buy physical copies or directly from the developers. I don't know the exact numbers, but I'm sure an indie game sold on Steam gets a percentage cut from the total. So the higher price could either negate that (giving the company their full selling price) or drive consumers to buy directly from them, as Alex mentioned with Aquaria.
December 18th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
There is error in text. Link to Good Old Games. Should be gog.com
December 18th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
This is a terrible move on Valve's part. And I warn everyone not in the US, don't think this can't happen to you. This is only the start. Valve will certainly do this for all regions and you can bet that they will take the opportunity to further jack up prices.
December 18th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
@piorun:
Apologies. Fixed now.
December 20th, 2008 at 3:47 am
I will just start buy games from conventional stores where i get shiny box some bonuses and most importantly lot lower prices 43,12 eur for GTAIV tax incluided
December 20th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I will stop buying games from STEAM. Even if the game is not sold in a store. In that case (like Defense Grid) I'm sorry for the developers, but I'm not giving my money to STEAM as long as this goes on.
December 21st, 2008 at 6:28 pm
For those of you in Europe upset with the changes, just thought I'd let you know there's now a Steam group to protest them.
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/1e1us
December 21st, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Yeah, it's linked in the article
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:54 am
I know, but some people don't bother clicking things when they read an article. I thought it important enough to link to it down here where people will see EXACTLY what the link is
December 24th, 2008 at 6:19 am
I understand your complaints but what happens next year or the year after if the Euro is weaker than the dollar? Then you would be paying more per game instead of less. You guys are all getting paid in Euros right? I think this is only a problem because of the current exchange rates, though there is no telling how long things will stay this uneven.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:53 am
I'm not sure of your point. We're already paying more, that's the complaint. The Euro will likely never be worth less than the USD unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong and I guess at that point we'll have worse things to worry about than game prices. Its lowest value so far has been about $1.25 USD while its highest about $1.55 USD, with the usual being around $1.3x or $1.4x USD. It's just a more valued currency overall.
It doesn't mean we're richer either. Many are, obviously, but others might get the same wage you do, since while they might get paid in Euros, they get less of them than you do dollars. There are rich countries in Europe as I mention, but also many poor ones. Besides, since when do richer people pay different prices than poorer people (taxes not withstanding)? Hell, I wish that was the case so many of us would get things we otherwise couldn't afford, but sadly it's not.
When anyone goes to a store, they pay the same price as anyone else for the same product, whether they have the same wage or not. So, I really don't think Valve's choice is good even if we considered that "Europeans are richer, so they can afford paying more" was true for everyone in Europe. Of course, it's totally not the case anyway.
Real-time exchange rates applied per purchase, considering Valve's location, would be the best and most obvious solution. It's what you usually get when purchasing things online, and how it was before Steam changed this. Why change it at all? Even if the Euro fell flat at some point, making us pay more with the real-time rates, at least it would be fair.
This kind of price increase however, is not fair in any way. It's merely a rip off. Especially with the part about download-only games which have absolutely nothing to do with regional publishers, and are also usually sold for much less on the original creators' website than Steam, since they still sell it in USD and the conversion is done on the fly.
I also hate they haven't really commented to at least try and justify it. Instead, it was a hidden change among the holiday offers with almost no word of it other than saying that now you can pay on local currencies. I'm certainly not going to buy anything from Steam if I can get the same product for the same price or often much less on retail, or if a different distribution platform which charges you in USD also carries the game. It could already occur previously, and with this change it will be rare to see Steam offer a game for less than other outlets.
January 6th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I agree that's it's unfair, I was just trying to figure out what Valve would be thinking other than greed.
However I am no expert on currency values but I don't think anyone can say that the Euro will never be worth less than the dollar, the Euro has only been around since 2002. Has there been any response from Valve on this?