fr3d3r1ck Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 PC gamers mostly rely on Valve's Steam digital distribution platform when purchasing games. But while the platform's reach is global, it does not support the payment methods or currencies available in various countries. However, this may soon change. According to an email from Valve, it is not only adding more payment methods and currencies to its gaming platform, it's also making games crazily cheap in some regions. In an email sent to developers, Valve has announced that it is introducing a new logical region, called the South Asian Pricing Region, which consists of the countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. These countries will receive reduced prices in accordance with their respective economies. The change has already started to roll out and is even been reflected in some brand-new games such as Middle-Earth: Shadow of War (pictured below), which now bears a $29.99 price tag, significantly less than the $59.99 tag it carries in other regions. Other titles include Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice ($10.49, instead of $29.99), Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 ($5.49, instead of $9.99), and even unreleased games such as WWE 2K18 ($19.99, instead of $49.99). It is also important to note that, for now, a person residing in a South Asian Pricing Region may purchase games at a reduced price and then gift them to others outside of the region too, which means that the titles aren't region-locked. The full list of current games with the new pricing can be seen below (courtesy of PakGamers): Quote Lords of the Fallen - From 29.99 to 10.49 USD WWE 2K18 - 49.99 to 19.99 USD Shadow of War - From 59.99 to 29.99 USD Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - From 29.99 to 10.49 USD Darksiders 2 Deathinitive Edition - From 29.99 to 10.49 USD Darksiders Warmastered Edition - From 19.99 to 9.99 USD Redemption: Saints And Sinners - From 1.99 to 1.29 USD RWBY Grim Ecplipse - From 19.99 to 8.19 USD Plastiland - From 7.99 to 4.49 USD Dying Light - From 39.99 to 19.99 USD Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 - From 29.99 to 10.49 USD Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 - From 9.99 to 5.49 USD Blue Reflection + Nights of Azure 2 Bundle - From 119 to 39.98 USD ELEX - From 59.99 to 24.99 Entire Gothic Series - 19.99 to 8.19 Blue Reflection and Night of Azure 2 Bundle - From 119.98 to 39.98 USD Space Engineers - From 24.99 to 8.49 USD Colony Survival - From 19.99 to 8.19 USD Warhammer 40K Dawn of War 3 - From 39.99 to 12.99 USD Supreme Commander Gold Edition - From 19.99 to 8.19 USD Analogue: A Hate Story - From 9.99 to 5.49 USD Entire NovaLogic Pack - From 69.99 to 34.99 USD Road Redemption - From 17.99 to 8.19 USD Elder Sroll Online (Standard) - From 19.99 to 8.19 USD Wallpaper Engine - 3.99 to 2.49 USD Foxhole - From 19.99 to 8.19 USD Factorio - From 20.00 to 8.00 USD What Remains of Edith Finch - From 19.99 to 8.19 USD Earth Defense Force 4.1 Shadow of New Despair - From 49.99 to 15.99 USD Crystalline - From 19.99 to 8.19 USD White Day Labyrinth Named School - From 29.99 to 10.49 USD Entire GRISAIA Visual Novel Series - From 50-60% off their original price. Mushroom Wars - From 9.99 to 5.49 USD Tabletop Simulator - From 19.99 to 8.19 USD Redout - From 34.99 to 11.99 USD Battle Chasers: Nightwar - From 29.99 to 17.99 USD Syberia 3 - From $29.99 to $10.49 USD EVERSPACE - From $29.99 to $10.49 USD Ashes of Singularity: Escalation - From 39.99 to 12.99 USD The Curious Expedition - From 14.99 to 6.99 USD Airport CEO - From 15.99 to 7.29 USD More titles from Steam's vast catalog will likely be added to this list, with Valve recommending developers to update their prices from time to time in order to achieve decent sales, in accordance with the respective country's economy. Prices will be updated solely at the discretion of the developer. Additionally, Valve has also added support for 10 more currencies, bringing the total to 39. The full email from the company can be seen below: Quote As part of our continuing efforts to make Steam better for players around the world, we are now accepting game pricing in 10 new currencies and 1 new region. Please enter pricing for the following new currencies with launch planned for later this year:• Argentinian Peso (ARS)• Costa Rican Colón (CRC)• Israeli New Shekel (ILS)• Kazakhstani Tenge (KZT)• Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD)• Polish Zloty (PLN)*• Qatari Rial (QAR)• Ukrainian Hryvnia (UAH)• Uruguayan Peso (UYU)• Vietnamese Dong (VND)• South Asian Pricing Region (USD discounted pricing for Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka)In addition to offering local currency pricing in more countries, players in these countries will also be able to use a variety of previously unavailable payment methods. With this update, Steam will support a total of 39 currencies and 80 payment methods, giving your games truly global reach.Pricing should be entered as soon as possible, with display of these new currencies scheduled to go live in time for our 2017 Autumn and Winter Sales. To enter pricing, sign in to the Steamworks Developer Site and select Pricing from the Apps & Packages drop-down. You will see green-colored recommendations filled in for new currencies, based on your selected USD base price. These recommended prices can be accepted or adjusted at your discretion. As a reminder, if you do not have pricing entered for a country after a local currency is set live on the Steam storefront, your game will be unavailable for sale in that country.We have also updated our recommended pricing matrix for new and existing currencies. Our goal is to update these recommendations annually, so as to better help developers succeed in markets worldwide. Pricing decisions on Steam are entirely in the hands of you the developer, and we encourage you to always do what’s best for your players. You can find more information and suggested best practices in the Steamworks Pricing Documentation.*PLN pricing is specific to Poland, but as always any game licenses purchased within an EEA country (either directly or as a gift) can be redeemed by any user within the EEA. All in all, the move is certainly a decent one, especially for gamers in developing countries, who will now find it much more economically feasible to purchase titles. The list of titles featuring these slashed prices in the South Asian Region is only bound to increase once developers determine a reduced price point on which they accumulate satisfactory sales. https://www.neowin.net/news/steam-games-will-become-much-cheaper-in-select-regions-soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodel Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Not region locked either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akaneharuka Posted October 11, 2017 Share Posted October 11, 2017 Quote These countries will receive reduced prices in accordance with their respective economies. For me it does not seem like respective, it seem like value want to tell these country [Because your country is suck, I will reduce the games price for you.] Some thing like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiliarou Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 11 hours ago, Akaneharuka said: For me it does not seem like respective, it seem like value want to tell these country [Because your country is suck, I will reduce the games price for you.] Some thing like that ? It just means that purchasing power is lower in those country, should it be for currency weakness or other factors. This doesn't mean a country is weak or "sucks". This is just fairer price for resident of these countries paid in their currency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trufpal Posted October 12, 2017 Share Posted October 12, 2017 6 hours ago, tiliarou said: ? It just means that purchasing power is lower in those country, should it be for currency weakness or other factors. This doesn't mean a country is weak or "sucks". This is just fairer price for resident of these countries paid in their currency. Exactly! Valve and their partners just doing business as usual. And they want to get more customers. In other hands, more gamers can afford to purchase legit games now since prices are adjusted according to purchasing power of each region. I don't understand why anybody would complain about that. It seems like a win-win scenario to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator DKT27 Posted October 12, 2017 Administrator Share Posted October 12, 2017 Already happening here in India from some time now. Good to see more countries added to it. Developing countries income per capita - if I'm using the term correctly here, is far more smaller than developed countries which makes us impossible to buy anything that is priced at the price suitable to developed countries. Having said, not all the games do that. Especially games from where Akaneharuka comes from, while their games are among the best, they offer no discounts here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sylence Posted October 15, 2017 Share Posted October 15, 2017 This is good move, they are regulating prices among other countries because not all currencies have the same value globally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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