New pricing region: Venezuela (USD)

[xzx]

Like the South Asia or CIS pricing regions.

According to steamspy stats, Venezuela has as many active users (868k) as the (recently added) South Asia region's countries (195k+65k+97k+392k+106k = 855k).

[Black Blade]

They likely get there sooner or later, they slowly adding more and more currencies al the time

[xzx]

Originally posted by Black Blade:

They likely get there sooner or later, they slowly adding more and more currencies al the time

Yeah, but Venezuela doesn't use the US dollar as its official currency.
I'm saying that they can keep using US dollars (avoid Venezuela's hyperinflated currency, so they don't have to hire someone to update the prices of the entire steam library every day) and give them better prices.

[Black Blade]

Originally posted by opm0:

Yeah, but Venezuela doesn't use the US dollar as its official currency.
I'm saying that they can keep using US dollars (avoid Venezuela's hyperinflated currency, so they don't have to hire someone to update the prices of the entire steam library every day) and give them better prices.

So maybe I am a little lost, what prices do you have right now?

Also, why will they have to change prices every day if they set the price in local currency?

[xzx]

Originally posted by Black Blade:

So maybe I am a little lost, what prices do you have right now?

Also, why will they have to change prices every day if they set the price in local currency?

Venezuela doesn't have its own store, so it gets the same prices as the US (a lot higher than neighboring countries like Colombia and Brazil).

There are two big problems that prevent Valve from adding the Venezuelan Bolivar:

1. Currency exchange controls. Very few people/companies can exchange their dollars/bolivares directly from the government, so Valve would have to exchange their bolivares for dollars on the "unofficial"/black market.
2. (A more recent one) Hyperinflation. The "unofficial" dollar's price was listed at 108279 Bs/$ yesterday, 84457 Bs/$ a week ago and 44347 Bs/$ a month ago. That's a 28% increase in a week, and a 144% increase in a month.

As an alternative, they could give Venezuela its own store with its own prices while still using the US dollar, like they did with the South Asian Pricing Region, which has a similar active user count.

[Black Blade]

Originally posted by opm0:

Venezuela doesn't have its own store, so it gets the same prices as the US (a lot higher than neighboring countries like Colombia and Brazil).

There are two big problems that prevent Valve from adding the Venezuelan Bolivar:

1. Currency exchange controls. Very few people/companies can exchange their dollars/bolivares directly from the government, so Valve would have to exchange their bolivares for dollars on the "unofficial"/black market.
2. (A more recent one) Hyperinflation. The "unofficial" dollar's price was listed at 108279 Bs/$ yesterday, 84457 Bs/$ a week ago and 44347 Bs/$ a month ago. That's a 28% increase in a week, and a 144% increase in a month.

As an alternative, they could give Venezuela its own store with its own prices while still using the US dollar, like they did with the South Asian Pricing Region, which has a similar active user count.

Well first want to say if they set the currency to the local one, then if there is a change of its worth they don't need to change the price, as it will keep fitting what the people in the country have, that is after all the point of setting the price in the local currency vs the dollar

Beyond that i don't really understand that sounds messy and completely out of my area, so guess I can't really add much to the discussion sadly

[xzx]

Originally posted by B:

Well first want to say if they set the currency to the local one, then if there is a change of its worth they don't need to change the price, as it will keep fitting what the people in the country have, that is after all the point of setting the price in the local currency vs the dollar

Beyond that i don't really understand that sounds messy and completely out of my area, so guess I can't really add much to the discussion sadly

Yeah, but I doubt they want to cover a 59% loss in value in a month.

A way to buy low denomination gift cards (like $2/$1) could help, since $5 can be too much for a lot of people (one $5 wallet code costs more than the minimum monthly salary, including all bonuses) and you can't buy games with a Venezuelan credit card.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Anything less than the current minimum and Valve would lose money on every transaction due to fees. That is why there is a minimum to add funds.

[xzx]

I'm talking about gift cards that Valve could distribute to Venezuelan online stores, not lower "add funds" options for PayPal or credit cards.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Digital cards? They can request to purchase $5 cards in your region. The SEA region has them.

[xzx]

Valve has finished implementing LATAM-USD and MENA-USD regions, and Venezuela is in the former. This thread can be locked now (I don't know why my previous reply asking for a thread lock was deleted).

[nullable]

Originally posted by opm:

Valve has finished implementing LATAM-USD and MENA-USD regions, and Venezuela is in the former. This thread can be locked now (I don't know why my previous reply asking for a thread lock was deleted).

If you didn't bother necro posting a six year old thread there wouldn't be much reason to lock it.