Kovach_ Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 Probably regional, i see it just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 29, 2011 Report Share Posted March 29, 2011 I see it now. Silly orangey/black box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 AG: One of the big things then, that has come as a result of the selling side is regional pricing, which we happen to take a bit of a punch in the face in Australia over. Obviously, it’s a digital distribution platform, so you’re not really buying physical copies of anything. How do you guys work that pricing system out, because some games are 40 dollars here in the US but even with our dollar as strong as yours it’s still 80, 90 dollars in Australia. Doug: It’s something that’s just really hard to navigate. The value of currencies, especially in today’s market are going up and down. When we launched Steam, the Canadian dollar was about 60 cents to the American dollar; today it’s flat even. And there’s just tonnes of currencies around the world and we’re constantly trying to match that and work with the third-party publishers and how they want to price their games in what territories and when they want to release. So it’s constantly something that there’s a big army of people downstairs on the Steam team that are trying to manage, to give the best possible results to gamers and publishers for their games. There’s a balancing act there. Some places we get it more accurately on than we do in other places, but we’re trying to listen to people and adjust things to make sure that it’s a level playing field and that folks are getting a higher service value at the right price for their games. And folks vote with their dollars. If we’re getting it really, really wrong, that territory or that country will turn off and we have to stop and scratch our heads and say “well where did they all go and what happened? Was it a pricing issue and we need to resolve it?” But it’s something that we’re aware of and we’re constantly trying to manage, but I think it’s going to be one of those things where it’s always going to be an ongoing effort, because markets and currencies are always changing. We’re never just going to get it right, freeze it, and it’s always going to be okay. That's Doug Lombardi. And to that I say: Bullshit. I imagine folks who pay in € ain't happy with it either. http://www.ausgamers.com/features/read/3037280 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kovach_ Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) Ongoing effort my ass. That basement team of theirs is prolly sitting and playing games all day long not doing anything. According to Steam, i still live in Yugoslavia, so i'm not expecting them to care about exchange values or anything. Besides, this way they get more money, why should they. I guess we kinda got used to the whole $=€ thing over time, but it still sucks. You UK guys have equal pricing, right Dean? Luckily for me, i get my stuff from the US Steam, due to some weird thing with Steam and credit cards. Edited March 31, 2011 by Kovach_ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel_excel Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 ANGER RISING....what a load of crap. That big army of people obviously don't seem to give a shit about fair pricing > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 To be really fair, it's steam and digital pricing won't be the same till there's a proper digital distro competitor launched from a different territory with that country as a base. For that, that particular region needs a good DD system, favourable markets and connections. Honestly GoG would have been in a good spot to do it, but they've gone with pricing it in USD though they are trying to keep it fair. All steam needs is a non-US based competitor really. Also if you really want to buy stuff at a cheaper rate, form a network of people and ask someone in the cheapest region to steam gift it to you. Trust me when I say this but sometimes EU prices are lower, sometimes UK and sometimes AU for the same percentage drops because someone at Valve is bad at math. Soo don't fret too much really. The system maybe broken, but you can take advantage of it. All you need is a group of trust-worthy friends in a network that are in different parts of the globe and paypal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Part of the problem from what he said though is that Steam doesn't have complete control over the prices, the publishers have to agree too. So maybe Steam would like to lower prices in Europe/Australia/wherever to get better parity (I can't say if they do or not) but the pubs won't let them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kovach_ Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Yeah, afaik publishers have complete control over pricing of games on Steam, even Steam sales. So far, i've only seen Valve and a few publishers price games according to the currency values. Also if you really want to buy stuff at a cheaper rate, form a network of people and ask someone in the cheapest region to steam gift it to you. Trust me when I say this but sometimes EU prices are lower, sometimes UK and sometimes AU for the same percentage drops because someone at Valve is bad at math. Soo don't fret too much really. The system maybe broken, but you can take advantage of it. All you need is a group of trust-worthy friends in a network that are in different parts of the globe and paypal. Yeah, that's what i do with a couple of friends. Best way to save money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Part of the problem from what he said though is that Steam doesn't have complete control over the prices, the publishers have to agree too. So maybe Steam would like to lower prices in Europe/Australia/wherever to get better parity (I can't say if they do or not) but the pubs won't let them. You're quite right in the case of bigger publishers, though it's different for the smaller guys. That's why we have ridiculous prices for the indie bundles. I think they just get them to sign a contract as sales period approaches to see if they are willing to have their titles in for the sale in exchange for lower rates but greater visibility and in the long run it helps the little guy so most don't refuse. I remember something to this extent from last year. Also I don't think the devs know of what effect steam's contests can have - like last year's treasure hunt did on shatter and I believe the guy from Sidhe wished it wasn't set x score but at the end of the day it brought decent sales and interest and he didn't complain too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Also if you really want to buy stuff at a cheaper rate, form a network of people and ask someone in the cheapest region to steam gift it to you. Trust me when I say this but sometimes EU prices are lower, sometimes UK and sometimes AU for the same percentage drops because someone at Valve is bad at math. I have kinda tried doing that here/steam group. Don't always not what games folks are getting though. And can be shady with paypalness n such. And apparently Impulse get the price conversions down to pat. Also they're saying how conversions change has gone from 60cents to a straight dollar. That's over a period of 3 years. They just need to balance the prices like every 6 months and I think folks would be happy. Not keep the same conversion from 3 years ago when the first enabled local currency. And it's not just a currency conversion thing. The digital games will quite often come out more than the physical version. And that's down right shady. And sod publishers setting the prices. Publishers say an RRP. The stores are up to them on following it or not. Tesco clearly doesn't give a shit, why does Valve have to release at RRP? Oh want to know a bonus? Largest chunk of pc gamers is in Europe (with Germany being the home of PC gamers pretty much) so slightly higher European prices means vast returns on their end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Digital Games being priced more than the physical is pretty much upto the publisher. Most companies prefer to keep the retailers happy at the cost of digital consumers since they part-pay/take care of advertising and marketing and thus help regular people be more aware of the game. Once physical retailers relent we'll see prices change. Of course that could take time (or if HMV's current indication is anything can happen sooner than we think). As for the group thing, you really need to have a group of people you'd trust to get it to work. I've been involved in some good ones and some bad ones. But currently I'm not involved in any. Some can be shady but it depends on the people and if you've been friends with them for a long time you can judge their character though sometimes people are shady. It depends, but if you have one reliable person then it'll be nice. There are a few such folks really and it really depends on the community . I know some communities are good with it. Also it's better to deal with things like that through a forum rather than through steamchat since for some reason people seem to only remember their words are recorded on a forum even though they can be and are in most cases in a chatroom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel_excel Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Part of the problem from what he said though is that Steam doesn't have complete control over the prices, the publishers have to agree too. So maybe Steam would like to lower prices in Europe/Australia/wherever to get better parity (I can't say if they do or not) but the pubs won't let them. I don't buy that. If that was the case Valve's games would have good pricing in Europe. Portal is a whopping €45 on Steam, yet I can get it for €30 on amazon. I get that there is different pricing structures and all that stuff, but c'mon. A digital copy for 1.5 times the price of a physical copy is ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kovach_ Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Uhm, Portal 2 is 35€. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umfk Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Uhm, Portal 2 is 35€. What? Where? From Germany on Steam it's 45€ or 80€ for the two-pack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kovach_ Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Without the preorder discount, it's 37,99/75,99€ twopack. I'm from Serbia, or Yugoslavia as Steam puts it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Yea, I bought it for 35 euro a few days ago. <-is from Serbia I think the email I sent Gabe worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel_excel Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Uhm, Portal 2 is 35€. ITS 45 HERE ARGH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyber Rat Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Uhm, Portal 2 is 35€. ITS 45 HERE ARGH Serbia 1 Rich Westerners 0 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel_excel Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Uhm, Portal 2 is 35€. ITS 45 HERE ARGH Serbia 1 Rich Westerners 0 I AIN'T RICH! *sips serbian coffee out of a golden teacup* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umfk Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) Without the preorder discount, it's 37,99/75,99€ twopack. I'm from Serbia, or Yugoslavia as Steam puts it My numbers where both including the pre-order bonus... Edited March 31, 2011 by umfk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excel_excel Posted April 17, 2011 Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 Ok now this is an interesting little deal, we have http://store.steampowered.com/sale/rockstarweekend which is Grand Theft Auto 1, 2, 3, Vice City and San Andreas all together for €7.50. Just got Vice city and San Andreas separately for €5 together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 17, 2011 Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 I'm so tempted cause it's so cheap, but I would probably never play any of those games (I already played the crap out of GTA III, VC, and SA on Xbox). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted April 17, 2011 Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 I might get VC and SA. I played VC but never realy touced SA. Can't say I'm interested in 1, 2 and 3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted April 17, 2011 Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 3 was better than VC though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted April 17, 2011 Report Share Posted April 17, 2011 Fine. I can get all of them then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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