Steam euro rip off for games

[Deleted]

Hey,

So more and more i am angry about that, since dollar and euro doesn't have the same value. 1 euro is around 1,25 dollar at least in my country.

i live in europe so when i buy games on steam the prices on steam i usually 25% higher then if i would buy in US.

I am wondering if this difference goes to developer or just steam is taking it for itself ?\

For example banished in gog costs 20 dollars and on steam it costs 19 euros which isn't the same price. The dollar price is cheaper so i am wondering if they are donating the price to developer or just keeping it for themself.

I am personally fed up with this kind of bs.

Are you guys with me on this or are you okey with steam overcharging guys in europe like me for games ?

Cheers,

Sew

[Deleted]

snip

trade for games.. and its not that bad with paying full price. which game are you talking about?

[Stir]

I don't know if Steam doesn't convert the prices. It may very well be that GOG is simply cheaper (everywhere) when it comes to older games. It wouldn't surprise me if it was.

[Lagwin]

UK get it worse...same idea but the pound is a bit stronger than the euro it's currently $1.67 to the pound and they generally just swap the $ with the £ and keep the numbers the same...some of the money goes to the cost of import and taxes but you are still paying extra over that which as far as i know goes to the companies, as for digital goods i would assume that it all goes to the companies.

[Vespian]

I don't know if Steam doesn't convert the prices. It may very well be that GOG is simply cheaper (everywhere) when it comes to older games. It wouldn't surprise me if it was.

No, the prices are indeed USD = EURO in many cases. The question is, is this the fault of Steam, or the fault of the publisher.

[Deleted]

So if you think it's to expensive don't buy it (no I'm not talking about piracy so don't bann me plz). Valve and the publisher/developer are free to agree on whatever price they want. If they think it's a good idea to sell a game for 1000 euro they can do that.

[Vespian]

So if you think it's to expensive don't buy it (no I'm not talking about piracy so don't bann me plz). Valve and the publisher/developer are free to agree on whatever price they want. If they think it's a good idea to sell a game for 1000 euro they can do that.

But wouldn't make it a legal business practice. But you make a good point. Perhaps we need another case against Valve, through Germany.

[Deleted]

dont know where you live but here is what you can do if you live in the UK

steam price comparison

if you dont like the prices.. then go trade.

steam trade

most games are RoW or region free (make sure you ask or check) and trade games for items, keys, or even paypal.

[Deleted]

UK get it worse...same idea but the pound is a bit stronger than the euro it's currently $1.67 to the pound and they generally just swap the $ with the £ and keep the numbers the same...some of the money goes to the cost of import and taxes but you are still paying extra over that which as far as i know goes to the companies, as for digital goods i would assume that it all goes to the companies.

Since it is digital download, there is no shipping involved.

Taxes who knows, but since the price in the whole europe is the same ( in western and central europe is the same ; in eastern is cheaper ), i take it, that it isn't the case. It is like in us your would ride to another state.

Example the games costs 30 $ in your state, you ride to a state west of you, it costs 40 $ for the same game, then you ride east and the same costs like 20$.

That is BS that we have to deal with when you leave in europe. Totally unfair if you ask me. Regional locking i hate it.

Example

[Eats Compost]

Erm...petrol costs less in poland and Slowakia than in Germany. Yet it is the same product. A burger at Mc D costs like 7 times as much in Norway than China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

Why would a game have to cost exactly the same in every single EU country and America? Already in the EU you cannot compare ..say...Greece and England.

Because digital products =/= physical products.

A particular slap in the face for Australians is that Steam charges them in USD anyway, but still adjusts pricing and hikes it up. Whether or not that's Valve or the publishers' doing is another question, but it's happening and for no good reason.

http://www.steamprices.com/au/app/20...-enemy-unknown

There's adjusting for whatever taxes and whatnot apply, and then there's that.

[Deleted]

Since it is digital download, there is no shipping involved.

Taxes who knows, but since the price in the whole europe is the same ( in western and central europe is the same ; in eastern is cheaper ), i take it, that it isn't the case. It is like in us your would ride to another state.

Example the games costs 30 $ in your state, you ride to a state west of you, it costs 40 $ for the same game, then you ride east and the same costs like 20$.

That is BS that we have to deal with when you leave in europe. Totally unfair if you ask me. Regional locking i hate it.

Example

so trade then!

[Deleted]

One of the problems of virtual products is that they are the same product worldwide at different prices based on location. Sometimes unfairly, sometimes fairly (please remember, that a +20% tax rate applies in a great deal of EU countries, meaning if the price is 20% higher, that is 100% fair and legitimate).

Banished was £14.99 which is $25 and a few cents.
The game was $19.99 in the USA. That is the exact correct conversion for the regular rate + the 20% VAT we pay here in the UK. Most digital-only games have a fair conversion rating when factoring in currency fluctuation & tax differences.

Sometimes though, the price has been as much as double here in the UK on a few titles - it's not valve that sets these prices, it's the publisher/developer. If the game has a physical release, the publisher will often match the digital and physical prices in order to keep people continuing to shop from stores. Now in some countries, the physical prices can not just be bolstered by taxes, but obviously by different manufacturing and distribution costs... meaning the digital prices can seem quite out of whack because of physical prices which is unfair to digital people. The developers also have their hands tied in some cases because some physical distributors will not renew contracts if the price of digital games do not match the physical products.

If it's a developer that publishes a lot of console games, they really need these physical contracts so it then flows over onto the PC game market and to steam.

[Nelfatron]

I see this across the board for software. It's even worse if you want to buy Autodesk Maya for 3d animation. "Hey US citizen want to buy Maya? 3500 dollars." "Hey EU citizen want to buy Maya? 5000 Euros" it's just stupid and they do it because they can.

[Deleted]

snip.

will use XCOM: Enemy unknown as an example.. price £29.99 / $29.99 / €39.99 overall massive rip off in europe.

trades for 5-6 keys and 1 key = £1.10 if bought with paypal, or about £1.45 if through steam (marketplace). Even at the worst trading price its £8.70 ($14.54)

[Eats Compost]

will use XCOM: Enemy unknown as an example.. price £29.99 / $29.99 / €39.99 overall massive rip off in europe.

trades for 5-6 keys and 1 key = £1.10 if bought with paypal, or about £1.45 if through steam (marketplace). Even at the worst trading price its £8.70 ($14.54)

That doesn't make the pricing practice any better, and going through a trading process to buy a game is more than a little inconvenient and unconventional. It also depends on how readily you can find someone to trade the game for that price.

If I want to circumvent regional pricing, I'll use a VPN.

[Deleted]

It's called VAT (value added tax) and it's around 20% in most european countries (19% in Germany, the "Mehrwertsteuer"; 19,6% in France, the "Taxe sur la Valeur Ajouté" and 20 in GB, the Value Added Tax). It applies to almost everything you buy...

Don't ever buy directly on steam, there are a lot of resellers (Green man gaming, G2A, ...) or wait for a steam sale. I bought Thief for 18€ yesterday (~25$), a game that's selling for 50€ on steam at the moment - and I'm sure I would have found an even better deal if I'd invested more time.

Use a VPN when accessing resellers, there are a lot of free services, just use your google-fu ...

[Deleted]

Erm...petrol costs less in poland and Slowakia than in Germany. Yet it is the same product. A burger at Mc D costs like 7 times as much in Norway than China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

Why would a game have to cost exactly the same in every single EU country and America? Already in the EU you cannot compare ..say...Greece and England.

And if this about different sellers taking different prices..well...I can buy my beer in 5 shops and the exact same brand costs between 0.85 and 1.10 per bottle. Same city, same beer, different shops.

Unfortunately you are wrong since it is all digital so the server to download stuff can be even in Zimbabwe. No offence to Zimbabwe intended, it is an example.

So you do not have to deal with all the issues that normals shops, restaurants have to deal with, that is why i am saying the price should be identical.

Since downloading the game from New Zeland and Italy isn't different.

- - - Updated - - -

so trade then!

I am not saying i am doing it, i am saying that it is bs that we have resolve to trading to pay decent price for a game, that is all.

[Zindai]

You can get more for 20 dollars in the US than you can in Europe (it's called purchasing power, right?), so I wouldn't say the price difference is completely off.

I guess you could argue that they wouldn't need to charge us extra if they're based in the US, but I have no idea if there are taxes that make it more expensive, or if they're just trying to keep the price level (which also means they won't destroy European competition with the price alone, edit: or be unaffordable in poorer countries).

[Thotor]

steam price comparison

Thanks for the link. This is very interesting. Seeing some product with a 60% price difference between EU and US is just insane.

[Vankrys]

game prices in the US, are they tax free on steam? for instance a game at $50, you pay $50 + tax right? (i recall tax being about 8% in LA)