big cost difference by region

[Hindz]

i recently changed regions and i have been comparing the price of games with my friends in the old region and the differences are HUGE, sometimes 80% higher. the same game in the same region is being offered at much lower price (no sale) in a different online store.
why??? anyone else noticed similar things?

[Yasahi]

Because developers/publishers set the prices and can use regional pricing to set prices that they think are appropriate for the region. Buying power differs from region to region. For me, buying a 60€ game or two every month would not be an issue at all. For someone in a different region buying one game at 60€ would be a large investment, not something they can do often.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by hindz87:

i recently changed regions and i have been comparing the price of games with my friends in the old region and the differences are HUGE, sometimes 80% higher. the same game in the same region is being offered at much lower price (no sale) in a different online store.
why??? anyone else noticed similar things?

Well that's 2 different scenarios. Is it a different price in a different region or a different price in a different store same region?

Region pricing can vary because not all regions make the same money. Developers know hey won't sell many games priced at $60 for instance in a region when the average take home salary is $2000 a year vs 50000 a year for instance.

Its not unique to games and effects all items.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by hindz87:

i recently changed regions and i have been comparing the price of games with my friends in the old region and the differences are HUGE, sometimes 80% higher. the same game in the same region is being offered at much lower price (no sale) in a different online store.
why??? anyone else noticed similar things?

Partners on Steam are responsible for setting and managing pricing for their products.

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/pricing

For price references, use this site... https://steamdb.info/

[gurdion]

a 60 cost makes me to smile, when in border country it halves, with the same salary, sometimes it makes no sense, i hope, someday they will make normal regional cost

[JVC]

Originally posted by gurdion:

a 60 cost makes me to smile, when in border country it halves, with the same salary, sometimes it makes no sense, i hope, someday they will make normal regional cost

AFAIK the EU demands internet stores to charge the same amount to all their EU customers, nomatter if the customer is from Greece or from Germany. Which doesn't make much sense in cases like video games.

[wuddih]

Originally posted by JVC:

Originally posted by gurdion:

a 60 cost makes me to smile, when in border country it halves, with the same salary, sometimes it makes no sense, i hope, someday they will make normal regional cost

AFAIK the EU demands internet stores to charge the same amount to all their EU customers, nomatter if the customer is from Greece or from Germany. Which doesn't make much sense in cases like video games.

It does not demand it. by EU legislation it allows customers to pick a price if there are multiple available within EUR zone.
Obviously everyone would pick the cheapest.
Instead of implementing that insanity of confusion, most companies go the easy road and just do a unified price tag for Europe. Might be unfair to some countries but it is not like you don't get blasted with discount opportunities on Steam or other platforms on PC.
even "full price" 60 EUR games should become affordable by the average bloke with a 50% discount, which for many fresh released games will happen 2-3 month after release.

Before that EU legislation, there were at one point 4 different EUR prices possible to set on Steam, which were tier'd by how poor a country is. it created confusion and a complaints like "my country is actually not doing that well, it should be in a poorer tier". it was sad to look at.