Valve’s New Steam Pricing Tool Could Change What You Pay for Games Worldwide

One of the major problems game creators face is setting the right cost for a global audience. In the existing system, the cost of each product on Steam is specified and displayed by using 35 different currencies and 4 different region groups. To make this process easier for creators, the Valve Steam Pricing tools update has been introduced.

Valve Price Conversion Exploration Tool Will Make Life Easier for Developers

What these Valve pricing conversion tools do is give developers the free choice to decide how they calculate their regional pricing. For this, Valve now offers three distinct ways to set these regional prices:

• Exchange Rate Conversion Only: The approach is based on the simple exchange rate applicable at the specific time.
• Purchasing Power Conversion Only: It will use existing data on the purchasing power of the customers in the region or country
• Multi-variable Conversion: It considers the purchasing power of the customers, the cost of similar entertainment products in the region, and the existing exchange rate.

Speaking of Valve, check out our all-time list of the best free games on Steam.

How It Impacts Game Prices

After this Valve Steam Pricing tools update, if a game has a standard USD base price of $59.99 will show different price suggestions depending on the conversion method chosen. For a standard $60 USD game, this can mean very different prices in other countries, such as €51, €43, or €62 in parts of Europe.

From a neutral perspective, this has been long overdue for the gaming industry's pricing. Most games that sell in the United States at a certain price may not work in the Asian market at that price.

One important thing to mention is that the prices entered for a game in each currency and region group are entirely up to the developer, whether they want similar prices in other regions or a slightly different monetary approach.