Steam Give Indian store Prices to Pakistan : Steam

[Salahudin35]

Average income in my country is about 450$ per month because of how ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ worthless our currency is ( 1$=105PKR)). You'd have to be out of your damn mind if you expect any of us to be able to pay 60$, which is 13% of our monthly income for one video game not to mention the 40$ season passes and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of DLCs. It's actually much worse than in looks, the average isn't really an accurate representation of our financial state, because about 12% of people are below the poverty line, and the rest earn way less than 450$ per month. The average is that because "those people" that do earn, they earn a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lot of money. In other words, you either struggle or you earn way more than you can ever spend (there's no "middle" point).

The average monthly income for a US citizen was ~3750$ in 2011, in 2015 it was ~4500$ if I'm not mistaken. Now compare a monthly salary of 4500$ to our 450$, they earn ten times the amount of money that we do. So if anything, we should get even cheaper prices than russian. A 60$ game should cost 6$ here since we earn ten times less. That aside, our government is directly against your copyright laws and they/we sell pirated DVDs in our supermarkets 1$ per DVD for anything (movies, games, etc.). No one can really afford to pay for your products here, Valve can see that if they check their data and compare to other countries.

Moreover, pirated DVDs are 1$ each, not only are they legal but also the norm here. I don't have a single gamer friend that knows what Steam is (but I do have a lot of gamer friends), and I don't personally know anyone that pays for original games here. Not even russian prices, even those are expensive AF if you live in my country.

Even if the prices were good, there are way worse obstacles such as ♥♥♥♥♥♥ internet (we're in the bottom 10 and the other 9 aren't even "countries"), great firewall of china (yes, steam is blocked too), at least two decades behind in technology (we still use dial-ups & win xp), etc. But at least FAIR prices would remove ONE of the obstacles...

Just my 2 cents.

Not sure if I can summarize it

[Black Mambo № 5]

Pakistani market isn't probably big enough for Valve to go through the hassle of adding regional pricing to Pakistan. Which would also require creating a facility for local payment options and what not, so even more hassle.
Also 1 INR =/= 1 PKR. So even Indian store prices would be high for you.

[Wulfred]

leave pakistan maybe ?

[999999999]

Originally posted by Salahudin35020:

Moreover, pirated DVDs are 1$ each, not only are they legal but also the norm here. I don't have a single gamer friend that knows what Steam is (but I do have a lot of gamer friends), and I don't personally know anyone that pays for original games here. Not even russian prices, even those are expensive AF if you live in my country.

Just because it is the "norm" to do that in your country does not make it legal.

Please read Discussions Rules and Guidelines

[999999999]

Your country is still not that economically stable enough to warrant this "yet." And the publishers will set the price to whatever they feel like setting it at even if it does happen.

[MajorCow]

Buy from retail, I'm sure it will be cheaper if in a $450 case

[MancSoulja]

Average salary in India is $130 per month, 3 or 4 times less than you. That's why you don't have the same prices.

[Paratweet]

For what it's worth, I'm glad you WANT to pay for stuff rather than pirating it.

[MancSoulja]

Originally posted by Hobojohnny:

For what it's worth, I'm glad you WANT to pay for stuff rather than pirating it.

+1

[Satoru]

Steam evaluates each country and sees if it's financially viable to support that country. That can vary due to a variety of factors such as currency fluctuation, political stability, financial payment methods, etc.

Steam is adding new countries all the time. Hopefully yours might be added in the future

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Hobojohnny:

For what it's worth, I'm glad you WANT to pay for stuff rather than pirating it.

Valve has shown that typical hotbeds of piracy such as Russia and China are actually viable markets if you can cater to their price points. That has its own challenges but they know that there is a viable customer base that is more than willing to buy games if the price is reasonable

[Zefar]

Publishers set the prices for games these days and not Valve.

[Salahudin35]

Originally posted by Happy Ending:

leave pakistan maybe ?

Not an option

[Salahudin35]

Originally posted by Black Mambo № 5:

Pakistani market isn't probably big enough for Valve to go through the hassle of adding regional pricing to Pakistan. Which would also require creating a facility for local payment options and what not, so even more hassle.
Also 1 INR =/= 1 PKR. So even Indian store prices would be high for you.

Nah indian store prices are much more manageable than US store prices if I buy 2 to 3 titles in 6 months.

[propwash]

Adjust retail price for a country that allows the sale of pirated software....Maybe they ask these higher prices for the loss of revenue of pirated software.Steam should just not deal with these type of countries.

[Sergeant slaughter]

stop funding terrorist and ur country's financial condition will improve