Make updates for regional pricing automatically. Hear me out.

[Flocc]

Valve promised to update regional pricing suggestions on an annual basis. And they don't deliver (at least for some countries).

Please consider adding a feature to recalculate prices automatically (daily/weekly/monthly).

The current pricing system for developers is flexible and convenient. No doubt. You can set regional prices manually or just use Valve's suggested pricing.

But there is one problem with the latter. There are some regions whose currency exchange ratio hasn't been updated in ages. This is not fair.

Let's be honest, most of the developers just use Valve's suggestions because it requires no research.

===

Suggestion: Add an option for developers to use some kind of automatic conversion for regional pricing if they want to follow Valve's suggestions (ideally on a weekly/monthly basis).

===

I speak for Poland. The latest update on our regional pricing suggestion was during Covid. Our currency was the weakest "ever" at this time. As a result, Poland has the 2nd highest prices on Steam.

We have to literally ask every developer/publisher to lower a price a bit.

===

About price fluctuations. I wouldn't mind if the price is 59.89 zł one month and the next month is 62.12 zł as long as I know it is equivalent to a certain amount in USD/EURO.

It worked kinda the same way when we didn't have regional pricing (just currency exchange was on the bank side).

[Ettanin]

Valve would set itself up for publisher withdrawals and lawsuits if they alter the prices without the publisher's consent. Automatic pricing updates would fall under the same category and would even be an antitrust case in the U.S. because Valve would dictate the market conditions to the detriment of the rightsholders of the content sold.

It's not a step that can be automated because Valve has to ask for consent for every single change that is not covered by the Steam Distribution Agreement. It is not their intellectual property, they are simply the broker.

Unilateral price changes by Valve cannot be covered by the SDA for legal reasons (see above).

The publishers have to fix their prices, not Valve. And yes, Valve has to respect a "I don't care to what I have set the price to in the past" answer or absence of an answer as well.

[peppermint hollows]

Originally posted by Ettanin:

Valve would set itself up for publisher withdrawals and lawsuits if they alter the prices without the publisher's consent. Automatic pricing updates would fall under the same category and would even be an antitrust case in the U.S. because Valve would dictate the market conditions to the detriment of the rightsholders of the content sold.

It's not a step that can be automated because Valve has to ask for consent for every single change. It is not their intellectual property, they are simply the broker.

The publishers have to fix their prices, not Valve. And yes, Valve has to respect a "I don't care to what I have set the price to in the past" answer or absence of an answer as well.

I don't believe the OP is asking Valve to change the prices but the price suggestions automatically.

[Ettanin]

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

I don't believe the OP is asking Valve to change the prices but the price suggestions automatically.

Even if they meant just an automatic updating of the suggestions, it won't change anything because a suggested price, if it changed, would still require consent by the publisher for updating within the respective game(s). It would only affect games yet to be released and then only once (with no further updating of the prices after it has been set initially).

[peppermint hollows]

Originally posted by Ettanin:

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

I don't believe the OP is asking Valve to change the prices but the price suggestions automatically.

Even if they meant that, it won't change anything because a suggested price, if it changed, would still require consent by the publisher for updating within the respective game(s). It would only affect games yet to be released and then only once (with no further updating of the prices after it has been set initially).

To my knowledge Valve does not need consent just to update their suggested prices...because they are only suggestions. Yes, it's true that there are publishers and developers who set their own prices regardless (especially when it comes to AAA publishers/devs) but many indie and smaller devs rely on Valve's pricing suggestions.

[Ettanin]

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

Originally posted by Ettanin:

Even if they meant that, it won't change anything because a suggested price, if it changed, would still require consent by the publisher for updating within the respective game(s). It would only affect games yet to be released and then only once (with no further updating of the prices after it has been set initially).

To my knowledge Valve does not need consent just to update their suggested prices...because they are only suggestions. Yes, it's true that there are publishers and developers who set their own prices regardless (especially when it comes to AAA publishers/devs) but many indie and smaller devs rely on Valve's pricing suggestions.

what i mean is that a change in the suggested prices cannot cause a change in the prices of the games that use the suggested prices without the consent of that single change by the publisher.

[Start_Running]

Originally posted by Ettanin:

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

To my knowledge Valve does not need consent just to update their suggested prices...because they are only suggestions. Yes, it's true that there are publishers and developers who set their own prices regardless (especially when it comes to AAA publishers/devs) but many indie and smaller devs rely on Valve's pricing suggestions.

what i mean is that a change in the suggested prices cannot cause a change in the prices of the games that use the suggested prices without the consent of that single change by the publisher.

Yeah that's not gonna happen. Ever. That would be illegal and set Valve up for a cascade of lawsuits they'd lose.

[peppermint hollows]

Originally posted by Ettanin:

Originally posted by peppermint hollows:

To my knowledge Valve does not need consent just to update their suggested prices...because they are only suggestions. Yes, it's true that there are publishers and developers who set their own prices regardless (especially when it comes to AAA publishers/devs) but many indie and smaller devs rely on Valve's pricing suggestions.

what i mean is that a change in the suggested prices cannot cause a change in the prices of the games that use the suggested prices without the consent of that single change by the publisher.

Ah ok, my bad, I misread. Yeah, you're right.

[Mad Scientist]

While it would be nice to see at least annual price suggestions, what's stopping a Developer from just looking up the currency exchange and deciding a price point for their product?

Originally posted by Flocc:

I speak for Poland. The latest update on our regional pricing suggestion was during Covid. Our currency was the weakest "ever" at this time. As a result, Poland has the 2nd highest prices on Steam.

We have to literally ask every developer/publisher to lower a price a bit.

Nothing wrong with asking a Dev as that sometimes works, but if they put no thought into the price for certain regions, one would ask if that region can afford the product compared to the targeted regions or if the region buys much compared to the targeted regions.

There is a point where a Dev should consider what price to sell their product on a per-region basis, which requires the absolute minimum effort before submitting their prices.

[Nx Machina]

Ask your government to join the Euro. Inflation rate: Eurozone 2.4% - Poland 4.7%

FREE POINTS - Thank you.

[Flocc]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

Ask your government to join the Euro. Inflation rate: Eurozone 2.4% - Poland 4.7%

Now look at Argentina's inflation. Compare their prices with ours. Do I need to say more?

[Nx Machina]

Originally posted by Flocc:

Now look at Argentina's inflation. Compare their prices with ours. Do I need to say more?

Irrelevant. You earn more than Argentinians.

Secondly Poland is a member of the EU and your inflation is 4.7% while the Eurozone is 2.4% hence why you have higher prices.

You are not obviously struggling for money with 974 games.

As a sidenote i live in the UK and pay more than you.

Example product Civ 7:

£59.99 while you pay £59.71 a saving of 0.46%.

FREE POINTS -Thank you.

[☠ Povi^]

+1

Oh well I see the usual responses. Steam discussions never disappoint!

I still believe Valve has the most influence here. They were supposed to update price suggestions, after all. So far, as a community with varying game libraries and budgets, we've managed to lower the prices of some games, but it's a slow and tedious process. Valve could make things much easier with a simple change that wouldn’t even require much effort on their part.

[Flocc]

Originally posted by Nx Machina:

Originally posted by Flocc:

Now look at Argentina's inflation. Compare their prices with ours. Do I need to say more?

Irrelevant. You earn more than Argentinians.

Secondly Poland is a member of the EU and your inflation is 4.7% while the Eurozone is 2.4% hence why you have higher prices.

You are not obviously struggling for money with 974 games.

As a sidenote i live in the UK and pay more than you.

Example product Civ 7:

£59.99 while you pay £59.71 a saving of 0.46%.

My game count is totally irrelevant. Really?!

Besides, I have no idea where your numbers come from (inflation). Some sources say that the Netherlands and Belgium have both higher inflation rates than Poland. And what?

To be honest, I don't really need your response anymore.

[nullable]

It's never quite clear if users understand that updating the suggested prices would only impact new releases.

At any rate if Valve wanted to manage prices on their store it's something they would have angled for over the last twenty years. And if they don't, rambling on about influence and trying to make Valve responsible for prices might just be bored mental gymnastics.

[salva早晨享用的咖啡]

mega no