Steam games prices in different regions

[Mr. L]

Hello people of the forums!

I know that this has been discussed quite a few times but I would like to refresh everyones memory about the steam games prices.

Note: I'll throw a lot of numbers, statistics and sources so prepare.

Also note: I'm not educated in neither economics nor politics so I might make uneducated guesses and/or stupid asumptions. I might also use sources that are not trust-worthy. Point out my mistakes.

Let's get started.

This has been an issue not just on steam but also on other online games stores like indiegala, gog, origin, battlenet etc.

I'll get this out of the way, I live in Lithuania (Tier 2) a second world country. Throughout the years I've noticed on steamdb[steamdb.info] that most of the time europe suffers from increased game prices. Most of the time as in 80% of the time. Also, Europe is listed into 2 tiers which basically split Europe into (Tier 1) rich countries and (Tier 2) not-so-rich-countries.

Now, naturally Tier 2 countries should have cheaper games but that's not the case. In fact, sometimes games are even more expensive. Just to paint the picture here are a few statistics of average wage in various countries/regions.

• USA's: 3700€.
  
• Europe Tier 1 from 2000€ to 4000€.
  
• Europe Tier 2 from 300€ to 800€.
  
• Russias from 300€ to 450€.

Sources:

• Europe's wage Wiki stats 2014[en.wikipedia.org]
  
• USA's wage mybuget360.com stats 2012[www.mybudget360.com]

Russians get games cheaper because their economy isn't in the best position as of now.
US gamers almost always get new games for 60$.
EU gamers, despite being split into 2 completely differend tiers, most of the time get new games for 60€.

But did you notice that even though EU's Tier 2 countries and Russia have almost the same average wage? Yet most of the time Russia is where the games are the cheapest and Europe is where the games are the most expensive. Not to mention, Tier 1 and Tier 2 EU's countries have a ~1200€ average wage difference.

Here are some links from steamdb.info which show some of the most popular games prices:

Payday 2[steamdb.info]

Skyrim[steamdb.info]

The Witcher 3[steamdb.info]

GTA V[steamdb.info]

The binding of Isaac: Rebirth[steamdb.info]

[/table]

I know that average wage isn't the only factor in economy but it's one of the most important ones. Also, I'm not saying that Europe never gets cheaper games but in the long run we suffer the most. So, could anyone educate me on this matter?



P.S. I'm just stating my opinion. I do not mean for this post to sound like complaining. I'm here to learn.

[PlusSize]

You've definitely put alot of thought into this thread, and i found it quite interseting to see the economic differences between the countries of various "tiers". I just wish the economy could pedal back to 7 years ago, around the release of the xbox360 and PS4, where games had an average cost of £30 or whatever the local currency is.

[Mr. L]

Originally posted by the_armed_mad_man:

You've definitely put alot of thought into this thread, and i found it quite interseting to see the economic differences between the countries of various "tiers". I just wish the economy could pedal back to 7 years ago, around the release of the xbox360 and PS4, where games had an average cost of £30 or whatever the local currency is.

Well, as technology advanced so did the games. New hardware allows for more possibilities and so the standard rises just like game development costs.

That also explains why indie games are a lot cheaper then AAA games- they aren't as expensive to make.

Sadly, new games prices will only rise as time goes on.

[PlusSize]

Originally posted by Mr. L:

Well, as technology advanced so did the games. New hardware allows for more possibilities and so the standard rises just like game development costs.

That also explains why indie games are a lot cheaper then AAA games- they aren't as expensive to make.

Sadly, new games prices will only rise as time goes on.

As will the AAA industries attempts to suck money from peoples pockets.
The most corrupted example would be Destiny, that released a year ago for £60, then charged £20 for the first DLC, £15 for the second and now the third one this year is going to cost another £40.
The future is in the Indie market, which is something i look foward to when it grows and attracts independent developers who break free from the AAA industry

[Mr. L]

Originally posted by the_armed_mad_man:

Originally posted by Mr. L:

Well, as technology advanced so did the games. New hardware allows for more possibilities and so the standard rises just like game development costs.

That also explains why indie games are a lot cheaper then AAA games- they aren't as expensive to make.

Sadly, new games prices will only rise as time goes on.

As will the AAA industries attempts to suck money from peoples pockets.
The most corrupted example would be Destiny, that released a year ago for £60, then charged £20 for the first DLC, £15 for the second and now the third one this year is going to cost another £40.
The future is in the Indie market, which is something i look foward to when it grows and attracts independent developers who break free from the AAA industry

Right now publishers milk money by making premium currencies to get various mirco-content just like you said. Micro-transactions basically. 10 Years ago we had that same thing except we called it cheat codes and they were free.
Yeah, indie game market is probably my favorite. I just love great/unique ideas put into games. We got to a point in the gaming industry where graphics isn't what everyone looks forward to. And I'm really glad for us gamers :)

[PlusSize]

Originally posted by Mr. L:

Right now publishers milk money by making premium currencies to get various mirco-content just like you said. Micro-transactions basically. 10 Years ago we had that same thing except we called it cheat codes and they were free.
Yeah, indie game market is probably my favorite. I just love great/unique ideas put into games. We got to a point in the gaming industry where graphics isn't what everyone looks forward to. And I'm really glad for us gamers :)

There are always alternatives to games that milk money from you.
For example:
Instead of world of warcraft / guildwars 2
Instead of Destiny / any other FPS ever
Instead of Evolve / Gmod

These games are neither high budget nor graphics focused yet are still able to update and carry massive communities on their shoulders.

Its kind of ironic that 8 bit games like "escapists" are considered unique and incredible and over complicated games like watchdogs are put in the pre-owned bin within 10 days of release

[Satoru]

1) Publishers set pricing

2) Unless your government has set up a command economy, the prices of goods even in the same TOWN ar going to be vastly different for the exact same thing. Ergo why does it 'surprise' anyone that prices of goods are different in different regions. Are you 'shocked' when you travel abroad that a Coke cost more/less in some other region?

3) Unless you forgot you live in the EU, most European countries have VAT. Steam is not exempt from paying VAT. Which means that even under a utopian dictatorship where prices in the EU must be done via a currency conversion equivalent from USD, VAT STILL MUST BE PAID. Which means that games should be 17-25% MORE EXPENSIVE in the EU depending on your country because of VAT.

[PlusSize]

Originally posted by Satoru:

1) Publishers set pricing

2) Unless your government has set up a command economy, the prices of goods even in the same TOWN ar going to be vastly different for the exact same thing. Ergo why does it 'surprise' anyone that prices of goods are different in different regions

3) Unless you forgot you live in the EU, most European countries have VAT. Steam is not exempt from paying VAT. Which means that even under a utopian dictatorship where prices in the EU must be done via a currency conversion equivalent from USD, VAT STILL MUST BE PAID. Which means that games should be 17-25% MORE EXPENSIVE in the EU depending on your country because of VAT.

Thanks Greece :/

[Mr. L]

Originally posted by Satoru:

1) Publishers set pricing

2) Unless your government has set up a command economy, the prices of goods even in the same TOWN ar going to be vastly different for the exact same thing. Ergo why does it 'surprise' anyone that prices of goods are different in different regions. Are you 'shocked' when you travel abroad that a Coke cost more/less in some other region?

3) Unless you forgot you live in the EU, most European countries have VAT. Steam is not exempt from paying VAT. Which means that even under a utopian dictatorship where prices in the EU must be done via a currency conversion equivalent from USD, VAT STILL MUST BE PAID. Which means that games should be 17-25% MORE EXPENSIVE in the EU depending on your country because of VAT.

It's still hard for me to get. So the games have a core price and then depending on your country VAT's applied right?
So 19.99$ = 18.14€. Those 1.85€ is VAT?

And yeah, it does seem as if the price depends on the publisher too because some of the games actually are cheaper here in europe. But cases like these are really damn rare.

It's still ridiculous how I make as much as a Russian gamer and I have to pay 60% more than him. Just mindblowingly amazing. 6 new games for 60$ and there goes my whole month wage.

So basically noone can call me greedy for buying games when they're at their lowest price. Whenever someone does that I'll just punch them in the face

[aiusepsi]

Originally posted by Mr. L:

It's still hard for me to get. So the games have a core price and then depending on your country VAT's applied right?
So 19.99$ = 18.14€. Those 1.85€ is VAT?

No.

They set a single price, but that price is actually the real price + the VAT that's being added. So say you pay €30 for a game, you're in Lithuania, so the rate of VAT is 21%. The price of the game is €24.79 + €5.21 in tax.

If the game is only 10% more expensive for you than it is in the US, the developer is actually making less on that sale than they would in the US.

It's still ridiculous how I make as much as a Russian gamer and I have to pay 60% more than him. Just mindblowingly amazing. 6 new games for 60$ and there goes my whole month wage.

They could add more pricing regions, I guess. An EU tier 3, perhaps, to price games better for your economy. But Russia does have to put up with region restrictions on their games.

[aiusepsi]

Originally posted by the_armed_mad_man:

Thanks Greece :/

I do hope you're not being serious, because the pan-European (almost) harmonisation of VAT predates that whole mess by quite a while.

[Mr. L]

Originally posted by aiusepsi:

No.

They set a single price, but that price is actually the real price + the VAT that's being added. So say you pay €30 for a game, you're in Lithuania, so the rate of VAT is 21%. The price of the game is €24.79 + €5.21 in tax.

If the game is only 10% more expensive for you than it is in the US, the developer is actually making less on that sale than they would in the US..

Alright, now I got it. It still makes no sense since publishers use the 1$=1€ logic to compensate for our damn high european VAT. In the end, the consumer suffers and that's wrong on so many levels.