Community MetaSteam | February 2021 - We Don't Do Regional Pricing in This House

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lashman

lashman

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Wait, so which is the mistake, price drop in some regions or the opposite? The price is also dropped in my region.
it's not a mistake either way ... both are intentional

it's just that Ori had the volvo-recommended regional pricing until they decided to lower it to $5 in the US ... and then they changed their regional pricing to this fucking bullshit they're doing nowadays (basically: fuck poor people is their new regional pricing strategy ... as with all big publishers)
 

texhnolyze

Child at heart
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Indonesia
it's not a mistake either way ... both are intentional

it's just that Ori had the volvo-recommended regional pricing until they decided to lower it to $5 in the US ... and then they changed their regional pricing to this fucking bullshit they're doing nowadays (basically: fuck poor people is their new regional pricing strategy ... as with all big publishers)
I've been thinking about writing a long rant about this, the continuation of my previous thread.

Are we really going to ignore how publishers are pushing gamers from poor countries out of their hobby?


But I highly doubt people will care, even more so gaming journalists to bring this issue to light.
 
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lashman

lashman

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I've been thinking about writing a long rant about this, the continuation of my previous thread.

Are we really going to ignore how publishers are pushing gamers from poor countries out of their hobby?

But I highly doubt people will care, even more so gaming journalists to bring this issue to light.
you're right ... people generally don't care until it affects them directly ... unfortunately :(

even on much bigger forums (or reddit) - regional pricing threads always die almost immediately :negative-blob:

and yeah, journalists absolutely don't care ... not even one bit

they only cared ONCE - when EA bumped the prices of their old shit on steam in the EU and UK as well ... and even then no one bothered to go digging deeper than just saying they did it, and saying they asked EA about it ... and of course EA just completely ignored everyone asking .... and the journalists never follwed up on it anyway
 

Swenhir

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you're right ... people generally don't care until it affects them directly ... unfortunately :(

even on much bigger forums (or reddit) - regional pricing threads always die almost immediately :negative-blob:

and yeah, journalists absolutely don't care ... not even one bit

they only cared ONCE - when EA bumped the prices of their old shit on steam in the EU and UK as well ... and even then no one bothered to go digging deeper than just saying they did it, and saying they asked EA about it ... and of course EA just completely ignored everyone asking .... and the journalists never follwed up on it anyway
Reddit overall is hugely US-centric. Even the EU/CA/NZ/UK getting completely ripped off is not brought up. Then there's the other side-effect of the US gaming crowd, which is either a distinct Hail Corporate culture or a deep astroturfing of the gaming subreddits, meaning anyone complaining about price should pull themselves up by their boostraps so that Bobby Kottick can buy himself another private jet and fire a few more QA testers.
 

Ascheroth

Chilling in the Megastructure
Nov 12, 2018
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Little Dragons Café :blobeyes:
Is it good?
The reviews are mixed. It looks really cute though, so I'm curious.

I'm debating grabbing the 2 game tier for Death Mark + The Missing, or the 3 game tier with Dragons Café added :thinking-face:
 

Ascheroth

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Or alternatively I could also buy nothing and wait until they (inevitably) get rebundled instead of throwing it straight into the backlog. :thinking-face:
 
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Wildebeet

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Reddit overall is hugely US-centric. Even the EU/CA/NZ/UK getting completely ripped off is not brought up.
I admit I don't fully understand the regional pricing issue because in the US I never have to encounter it and consider it. I don't understand what valve does about it, or why a publisher would choose to price people out of buying anything intentionally.
 
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Panda Pedinte

Best Sig Maker on the board!
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you're right ... people generally don't care until it affects them directly ... unfortunately :(

even on much bigger forums (or reddit) - regional pricing threads always die almost immediately :negative-blob:

and yeah, journalists absolutely don't care ... not even one bit

they only cared ONCE - when EA bumped the prices of their old shit on steam in the EU and UK as well ... and even then no one bothered to go digging deeper than just saying they did it, and saying they asked EA about it ... and of course EA just completely ignored everyone asking .... and the journalists never follwed up on it anyway


Too bad I couldn't mark your country there :(
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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I need input for kitty :cryblob:
A little comfort wouldn’t be bad either.

 

Tomasety

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I admit I don't fully understand the regional pricing issue because in the US I never have to encounter it and consider it. I don't understand what valve does about it, or why a publisher would choose to price people out of buying anything intentionally.
I've been trying for many years to promote fair regional pricing across all regions. I used to post regional pricing for some new games on this forum after I registered on this forum a few months ago.
I live in an European first world country and my economy isn't exactly enough to make a living and yet I try to think on people who are in worst conditions than myself in poorer countries.

I believe in fair regional pricing as a proper ethical practise. Unfortunately there's no solution to unfair regional pricing because you can't force pubs to set an "X" price. Valve can't enforce it either since its not their business and they are not a regulatory authority to begin with.

So, in the end, regional pricing is set on the good will of publisher to follow Valve suggested price but we know well it doesn't happen and if it does it's a miracle.

I also have to add that promoting and abusing from regional pricing (users) gives pubs a "reason" to not take action on the matter. It's a two side coin of the story.
 
Reason: typos etc.

Swenhir

Spaceships!
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I admit I don't fully understand the regional pricing issue because in the US I never have to encounter it and consider it. I don't understand what valve does about it, or why a publisher would choose to price people out of buying anything intentionally.
It's okay to not understand. Basically, Valve has suggestions for "fair" pricing according to the region (which is sometimes skewed because it doesn't take tax into account). In practice, publishers and studios alike are very happy to completely disregard it and rich tax the hell out of gamers everywhere.

In some cases, fair regional pricing just means proper currency conversion, for instance 60$ translates into a 60€ game, because while the dollar is weaker, Europe has 20%-ish tax (proper math is about 61.5€). Still doesn't prevent MS from selling FS2020 at 70€ for instance.

In most cases, regional pricing means prices scaled down according to the country's purchasing power, so that people can actually buy your game. Of course, that means that tons of people use that to circumvent the regular price and buy keys en masse to resell, but that has started to be circumvented by Valve more and more. The sad reality is that publishers and studios alike don't seem to like the idea of discounting their games for poor populations entirely, and seem to see it as leaving money on the table or something to that extent.

I wonder what they think about sales and giving games away, something to ask Sergey about.
 

BlueOdin

Dec 3, 2018
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Since I can’t locate the problem in my PC on my own I gave it to a store. Will be without a PC for a bit and play some stuff on my laptop. Which of course led to me buying Loop Hero and Valheim which I won’t play on my laptop.
 

Amzin

No one beats me 17 times in a row!
Dec 5, 2018
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So I've never really looked into Curators on Steam, is there a good way to actually... find one that specializes in something? Off the top of my head, I'd love to find a curator that reviews 18+ games from a perspective of valuing things like consent, no lolis, representation, etc. I can always try and read the reviews for a particular game but most people don't talk about that stuff.

:lewdblob:[UWSL]:photoblobheart:[/UWSL]
 

inky

🤔
Apr 17, 2019
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I see Rami went on a "yeah, let's rank racism online" tirade. Everything I hear from him has to do with his inability to separate 140 character takes with the reality of how you need to engage with people. I hope his self imposed exile let's him breathe a little and take a step back. Dude used to be an important voice for indie games before he turned into a takes machine.
 

Shahem

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I see Rami went on a "yeah, let's rank racism online" tirade. Everything I hear from him has to do with his inability to separate 140 character takes with the reality of how you need to engage with people. I hope his self imposed exile let's him breathe a little and take a step back. Dude used to be an important voice for indie games before he turned into a takes machine.
Was he intoxicated by chance ? It looks like he was not himself, or perhaps he is much younger and immature than he looks.
 

manchego obfuscator

MetaMember
Jan 23, 2020
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I see Rami went on a "yeah, let's rank racism online" tirade. Everything I hear from him has to do with his inability to separate 140 character takes with the reality of how you need to engage with people. I hope his self imposed exile let's him breathe a little and take a step back. Dude used to be an important voice for indie games before he turned into a takes machine.
dunno what he said since, but I agree with his overall take earlier today on the pervasiveness of liberal Islamophobia. hope he comes back soon

EDIT: nm, I saw Gita Jackson's tweets in response to him and I get the criticism now
 
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fantomena

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Dec 17, 2018
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The leak for those interested, confirmed by Zhugex.

Project Triangle Strategy, NeonWhite, SaGa Frontier, World's End Club, Fall Guys, Legend Of Mana, Stubbs , No More Heroes 3, Mario Golf, Apex Legends, Ghosts and Goblins Resurrected, Tales from Borderlands, Ninja Gaiden , Miitopia, Samurai Warriors 5, TLOZ Skyward Sword HD, Age of Calamity DLC

Im hoping for more stuff, because that list is boring.
 
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crimsonheadGCN

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Jan 20, 2019
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www.resetera.com
The leak for those interested, confirmed by Zhugex.

Project Triangle Strategy, NeonWhite, SaGa Frontier, World's End Club, Fall Guys, Legend Of Mana, Stubbs , No More Heroes 3, Mario Golf, Apex Legends, Ghosts and Goblins Resurrected, Tales from Borderlands, Ninja Gaiden , Miitopia, Samurai Warriors 5, TLOZ Skyward Sword HD, Age of Calamity DLC

Im hoping for more stuff, because that list is boring.
The leaker said it's only a partial list and there are more titles to be announced.
 

Wildebeet

First Stage Hero
Dec 5, 2018
798
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So, in the end, regional pricing is set on the good will of publisher to follow Valve suggested price but we know well it doesn't happen and if it does it's a miracle.

I also have to add that promoting and abusing from regional pricing (users) gives pubs a "reason" to not take action on the matter. It's a two side coin of the story.
So, how does that work? Why would the publisher put a too high price on something and not correct it when they saw it was crazy? Also, how do users abuse the regional pricing? Like VPN into a country with a low price and buy it there?

In some cases, fair regional pricing just means proper currency conversion, for instance 60$ translates into a 60€ game, because while the dollar is weaker, Europe has 20%-ish tax (proper math is about 61.5€). Still doesn't prevent MS from selling FS2020 at 70€ for instance.

In most cases, regional pricing means prices scaled down according to the country's purchasing power, so that people can actually buy your game. Of course, that means that tons of people use that to circumvent the regular price and buy keys en masse to resell, but that has started to be circumvented by Valve more and more. The sad reality is that publishers and studios alike don't seem to like the idea of discounting their games for poor populations entirely, and seem to see it as leaving money on the table or something to that extent.
Holy shit. 20% tax on digital games.

Just thinking aloud, could valve use the USD as a cap, and then allow publishers to go lower as needed, but not higher than the exchange rate?
 

Shahem

R7 7800X3D I RTX 4080
Jan 26, 2020
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What I want is to kill this sexy ass natively on my PC.

I can't see your image but I'd hazard a guess, are you talking about the very first "boss" ?

Just like you are counting the days to a Bloodborne PC announcement, I too wish I could fast-forward to the day where God of War has a PC trailer.....
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
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I can't see your image but I'd hazard a guess, are you talking about the very first "boss" ?

Just like you are counting the days to a Bloodborne PC announcement, I too wish I could fast-forward to the day where God of War has a PC trailer.....
Vicar Amelia.
 
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