If you are a PC gamer, you must have Steam installed on your computer. It is the dominant digital distribution platform, and they have been in the business for more than 19 years, first launched in September 2003. We believe that’s where many gamers get their games because of its ease of use, convenience, and regular sales events. But Steam games are about to get a lot pricier.
On 25 October 2022, Steam updated its pricing recommendations for 39 currencies. According to SteamDB, based on the recommendations, paying for games in Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) will cost between 3% to 40% more. For example, a game that used to cost RM95 will now cost RM133.
However, Valve (the company that created Steam) said these are just recommendations and developers/publishers have the final say on what price they want to charge for their games.
Developers on Steam have control over their own prices, in every currency. But researching and determining ideal prices for dozens of different currencies can be a challenge for some developers.
As a service for helping you manage pricing across all our different currencies, Steam offers a recommendation for all other currencies, based on whatever USD price you choose. When you are entering your pricing for your game, you will notice Steam fill in a set of recommendations based on your selected USD price. You can use our recommendations for some, all, or none of the other currencies, as you see fit!
So, how does Valve determine those recommendations?
Rather than just pegging prices to foreign exchange rates, our process for price suggestions goes deeper into the nuts and bolts of what players pay for the goods and services in their lives. This includes metrics like purchasing-power parity and consumer price indexes, which help compare prices and costs more broadly across a bunch of different economic sectors.
We hope the recommendations are a useful data point for developers who don’t have the time or interest to research pricing in each currency themselves.
Steam
The recommendations are just a guide for developers who don’t have the time, skills, or interest to conduct pricing research on different currencies. Valve added they will update the pricing recommendations on an annual basis.
