Steam, the most popular shopping platform in the world of PC video games, wants to put an end to abuse. Present all over the world, the online store, owned by Valve, handles a total of 39 different currencies.
In practice, therefore, developers must enter 39 different prices when they market a game, so to make life easier for video game studios, Steam offers creators to price their titles in dollars. The sales platform then offers a conversion to save companies from having to calculate a price based on all markets and currencies.
Argentina and Turkey, countries of permanent sale
But for several weeks now, a phenomenon seems to have become widespread: many gamers tend to shop abroad, in particular by using a VPN to locate their device in a specific country.
Thus, a European will want to avoid paying for a game in euros and a Briton will prefer a currency other than the pound. With this method, buyers are looking for a conversion advantage. The idea is to pay less for the same game using another currency.
Because some currencies have collapsed in a few months, mechanically melting the real price. In this game, Argentina and Turkey appear as countries with permanent sales, as Eurogamer points out. The Argentine and Turkish currencies have completely tanked since the beginning of the year.
An imbalance between the number of purchases and players
This summer, the French development studio Motion Twin had also revised the prices of its flagship game Dead cells up in both markets. “A significant part of last year’s sales came from these two countries, without corresponding to an increase in players on the site,” the study detailed in a briefing note.
In most cases, the percentage of sales in a country corresponds to the percentage of people playing from that country. However, the French company indicates a percentage of sales in Argentina and Turkey of three to four times higher than the percentage of players in these countries.
$1.50 vs. £15.49
Called “region hopping” (or “region hopping” in French), this practice is not limited to Steam. It recently made the heyday of an indie game on the Nintendo eShop. Released in November 2021 for PC, Let’s build a zoo received a physical version in September 2022. On the occasion of this new release, the publisher was delighted with the large number of pre-orders in the Nintendo online store, explains Eurogamer.
The joy was short-lived. Mike Rose, the founder of No More Robots, the publisher of the game, quickly realized that 85% of the reservations came from Argentina. In a series of tweets, he explains that he initially regretted the massive purchase of Let’s build a zoo at a price of 1.50 dollars thanks to a very advantageous conversion. Against £15.49 in the UK.
The madness was perceived by the algorithms of the online store. With the direct consequence of boosting the game within the purchase recommendations. Thus, Let’s build a zoo it even reached the top 100 best sellers in the US market.
Suggested increases of 485 and 454%
But it’s because endings aren’t always happy for developers that Valve has decided to harden the tone. To combat “region hopping,” the company has decided to update its pricing tool, though this is just a recommendation. Logically, Argentina and Turkey see their conversion corrected. From now on, for a game sold at $59.99, you will have to pay 3,800 Argentine pesos or 510 Turkish liras, an increase of 485% and 454% respectively.
The only problem is that this new price could penalize all players. If development studios and video game publishers were guided by Valve, Europe would see their prices rise between 15 and 25%.
Source: BFM TV
