Farewell to Steam's Local Currency Market

[King Halal]

Dear Steam Community,

It's with a heavy heart that I share the news that Steam is converting to USD on November 20th. As an Argentinian student, this hits close to home, as it makes games significantly more expensive for us.

However, let's not forget the wonderful journey we've had. Steam's local currency market made gaming accessible and affordable for many. We formed bonds, shared experiences, and made lasting memories. While we say goodbye to this era, we hope for future solutions to keep gaming inclusive.

For now, let's celebrate the good times, share gaming memories, and make the most of the time we have left. Steam, thank you for being part of our gaming story. The flame of our gaming spirit will keep burning.💔

[Свети Отац Сава]

Yeap lucky for us Epic Games Store doesn't implement this STUPID idea so we have hope at least!

[King Halal]

Originally posted by Свети Отац Сава:

Yeap lucky for us Epic Games Store doesn't implement this STUPID idea so we have hope at least!

I think this is the end for us third world country gamers they may also result to this kind of ban hopefully they won't!

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by King Halal:

Steam's local currency market made gaming accessible and affordable for many.

And for others it made prices higher by 30 to 60% -- of course those markets are still using local currencies.

But, yes, it sucks that low income regions are being punished because Valve and other stores allowed easy access to region hopping for far too long. While Valve stamped out the vast majority of loop holes on their end, it seems it was too little, too late.

Then again, if this is a publisher driven change (which it very well could be with prices rising around the world), you might want to prepare yourself for when other sites implement similar moves. =/

[WOUBZY]

Please learn to read. It clearly says you will be changed to Steam's regional version of USD (LATAM-USD), your wallet will not be changed to "United States Dollars". Games will still be cheaper (though we are not sure by exactly how much).

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/2720-4EC7-B95A-1D2A

[Chika Ogiue]

Originally posted by WOUBZY:

Please learn to read. It clearly says you will be changed to Steam's regional version of USD (LATAM-USD), your wallet will not be changed to "United States Dollars". Games will still be cheaper (though we are not sure by exactly how much).

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/2720-4EC7-B95A-1D2A

You do understand that USD stands for United States Dollars, right? Yes, the currency is changing to the American currency. LATAM-USD is the name Valve are giving to the region band that will now apply to those countries. It is not a special currency in itself, but a name for developers an publishers to understand that pricing should be adjusted for that region.

And as it says right at the top of the link you posted:

Starting on November 20th, Steam will change the currency used for sales in Argentina and Turkey to USD.

FYI, Steam has two other similarly named regions because they, too, are charged in USD:

CIS - U.S. Dollar
South Asia - USD

In fact, after this change there will be four such named regions, as there will also be:

MENA - USD

Originally posted by WOUBZY:

your wallet will not be changed to "United States Dollars"

What will happen to my Argentine peso or Turkish lira Steam wallet balance?
On November 20th, 2023, any balance in your Steam wallet will be converted to USD at the day's exchange rate.

[nullable]

Originally posted by Свети Отац Сава:

Yeap lucky for us Epic Games Store doesn't implement this STUPID idea so we have hope at least!

Yet. The status quo today may not project into the future indefinitely.

[Skeletor]

Big developers are already aware of the currency issues. Steam will sell garbage indie games for double prices. Maybe this one is better. People will not get garbage, fraud early access games from Steam. They will only buy high quality games and they will spend their money wisely. You can also find these games on Epic Games Store, Ubi Store, etc. Ubi Store also gives 20% discount for 100 coins. It is so easy to earn coins in the games. They also make the best games in the world nowadays.

[Chompman]

Originally posted by Свети Отац Сава:

Yeap lucky for us Epic Games Store doesn't implement this STUPID idea so we have hope at least!

Other stores will follow this or not sell in these regions.

When a currency becomes this devalued they want another option and had steam implement this change not to mention the regional abuse that happened.

Eventually more and more stores will do the same.

[Skeletor]

Originally posted by Chompman:

Originally posted by Свети Отац Сава:

Yeap lucky for us Epic Games Store doesn't implement this STUPID idea so we have hope at least!

Other stores will follow this or not sell in these regions.

When a currency becomes this devalued they want another option and had steam implement this change not to mention the regional abuse that happened.

Eventually more and more stores will do the same.

Other stores do not have to follow this. The world does not spin around Steam. For example, Epic Games Store won't follow this and they will get so many customers. Steam is not like the old days. They lost so many customers and Counter Strike addicted mad people are leaving as well. Ubisoft left Steam and they still make so much money. They are making the latest Avatar and Star Wars games. The games look amazing. They put their old works here to make some extra budget.

[Brian9824]

Actually the pricing isn't changing at all, the only difference is they will convert the game price from Lira to the USD equivalent of what it would be.

This change is so as the Lira fluctuates the base price the dev's set remains constant. They don't want to get 10% of what they listed it at if the Lira drops 90% in value. Now if your currency strengthens you will pay less actually.

[Chompman]

Originally posted by Breakpoint:

Originally posted by Chompman:

Other stores will follow this or not sell in these regions.

When a currency becomes this devalued they want another option and had steam implement this change not to mention the regional abuse that happened.

Eventually more and more stores will do the same.

Other stores do not have to follow this. The world does not spin around Steam. For example, Epic Games Store won't follow this and they will get so many customers. Steam is not like the old days. They lost so many customers and Counter Strike addicted mad people are leaving as well. Because they were using old PCs. Ubisoft left Steam and they still get so much money. They put their old works here to make some extra budget.

When game devs / publishers request it they will follow suit just like steam did.

The companies that sell their product has more say then a customer in this case and they either get this changed so they can use a currency with a value or will simply no longer sell games in those regions as some have already stopped.

As for ubisoft you may need to relook at that as they have listed more of their games back on steam because they are having serious issues.

Blaming steam for this when it's not their fault but these countries currency devaluation that caused it is the reason.

[Skeletor]

Originally posted by Chompman:

Originally posted by Breakpoint:

Other stores do not have to follow this. The world does not spin around Steam. For example, Epic Games Store won't follow this and they will get so many customers. Steam is not like the old days. They lost so many customers and Counter Strike addicted mad people are leaving as well. Because they were using old PCs. Ubisoft left Steam and they still get so much money. They put their old works here to make some extra budget.

When game devs / publishers request it they will follow suit just like steam did.

The companies that sell their product has more say then a customer in this case and they either get this changed so they can use a currency with a value or will simply no longer sell games in those regions as some have already stopped.

As for ubisoft you may need to relook at that as they have listed more of their games back on steam because they are having serious issues.

Ubi got contracts for the latest Avatar and Star Wars games. They don't put their games on Steam. Because they don't need Steam. Big developers care putting the same prices on different stores. Because they have agreements with so many different distributors and this is actually not about Steam. They also sell physical copies. Indie developers do not care prices like this.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Breakpoint:

Originally posted by Chompman:

When game devs / publishers request it they will follow suit just like steam did.

The companies that sell their product has more say then a customer in this case and they either get this changed so they can use a currency with a value or will simply no longer sell games in those regions as some have already stopped.

As for ubisoft you may need to relook at that as they have listed more of their games back on steam because they are having serious issues.

Ubi got contracts for the latest Avatar and Star Wars games. They don't put their games on Steam. Because they don't need Steam. Big developers care putting the same prices on different stores. Because they have agreements with so many different distributors and this is actually not about Steam. They also sell physical copies. Indie developers do not care prices like this.

They will also release it on their own store, and get 100% of the sales from all the early adopters, then when sales die down they can always release it on other stores to get the holdouts.

[Skeletor]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by Breakpoint:

Ubi got contracts for the latest Avatar and Star Wars games. They don't put their games on Steam. Because they don't need Steam. Big developers care putting the same prices on different stores. Because they have agreements with so many different distributors and this is actually not about Steam. They also sell physical copies. Indie developers do not care prices like this.

They will also release it on their own store, and get 100% of the sales from all the early adopters, then when sales die down they can always release it on other stores to get the holdouts.

They are working with Epic Games Store. They put their new games there. Epic Games Store get lower cuts and they also pay some developers to support their games.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Breakpoint:

Originally posted by brian9824:

They will also release it on their own store, and get 100% of the sales from all the early adopters, then when sales die down they can always release it on other stores to get the holdouts.

They are working with Epic Games Store. They put their new games there. Epic Games Store get lower cuts and they also pay some developers to support their games.

Nope, those 2 games are NOT being released on EPIC's store atm, JUST Ubisoft's store. They figure hype is enough that people will buy from them. Fair odds of it being released on Steam/EPIC later though