Steam will soon be priced in New Zealand Dollar

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Brumfondl

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#168593 19-Mar-2015 13:15

This was the first line of an email I just got from Steam. Not sure how I feel about this. They already have a tendency to rip us off by charging higher prices to ANZ users for a lot of the big titles like GTA V and now they will get to dictate the exchange rate. I see how a set price might at time benefit NZ users but I would guess they will set it up so it generally goes in their favour because, you know, they are a business and want to make as much money as possible.

Thoughts?

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#1262390 19-Mar-2015 13:19

My initial thoughts are crap, now we will be paying even more for games.

Tzoi

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#1262406 19-Mar-2015 13:44

So long as they don't stop me purchasing stuff from other places like GMG (through region restrictions) I don't really care

Lias

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#1262435 19-Mar-2015 14:12

Tzoi: So long as they don't stop me purchasing stuff from other places like GMG (through region restrictions) I don't really care

They've already started restricting steam gifts etc on a regional basis, so it wouldn't surprise me.

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hio77

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#1262445 19-Mar-2015 14:21

reven: My initial thoughts are crap, now we will be paying even more for games.

When it was first annouced, i was hopeful we could keep on the US store. Guess not.

My exact thoughts are also yes we will be paying more.

Im glad my account tends to own anything that pops up on steam from when sales were a bit better ;)

Lias:
Tzoi: So long as they don't stop me purchasing stuff from other places like GMG (through region restrictions) I don't really care

They've already started restricting steam gifts etc on a regional basis, so it wouldn't surprise me.

Hopefully the regional restrictions stick to just stopping the likes of russian keys, if the UK market is blocked off from NZ the likes of NZGameshop will take a hit surely.

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Tzoi

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#1262448 19-Mar-2015 14:23

Yea I saw they started doing that but I think the main reason for that is the instability of those markets meaning prices vary largely with the USD price

Oldmanakbar

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#1262458 19-Mar-2015 14:32

Well if all of a sudden games are $110 NZD instead of $60 USD (or less in most cases) then they will be getting a lot less sales from me. Paying $30 more for a game is not the best way to generate sales volume.
Our exchange rate already handles the fluctuations in prices with no impact to the publisher.

So if the prices are not adjusted to match the American effective cost, then it is a pure money grab.
You can bet serious money on the fact that 2k will be the first publisher to froth at the mouth and suddenly make their next title $140 or some such rubbish.

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throbb

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#1262468 19-Mar-2015 14:40

Can we take a snapshot of current prices and compare when they make the change?

Ragnor

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#1262474 19-Mar-2015 14:42

It's good that it's in NZD so we don't have to pay currency conversion on credit card transactions.

The underlying problem of publishers operating different regional pricing will still be an issue.

Generally it's not Valves fault, they price their own games pretty fairly across the regions but certain publishers are really rubbish.

hio77

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#1262477 19-Mar-2015 14:45

throbb: Can we take a snapshot of current prices and compare when they make the change?

https://www.steamprices.com/au/sub/59191/dragonball-xenoverse-bundle-edition

http://www.steamregionalprices.com/

There are services that compare it.

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Ragnor

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#1262484 19-Mar-2015 14:47

throbb: Can we take a snapshot of current prices and compare when they make the change?

This is the sites I use now, I assume they will add the new regions/currencies when it come out

http://www.steamregionalprices.com/

https://www.steamprices.com/au
https://www.steamprices.com/au/topripoffs
https://www.steamprices.com/au/topsavings

sidefx

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#1262487 19-Mar-2015 14:49

Ragnor: Generally it's not Valves fault, they price their own games pretty fairly across the regions but certain publishers are really rubbish.

Yup, totally this. If you keep an eye on pricing in the different regions some publishers are guilty of major price gouging (2K Games I'm looking at you, they're by no means the only ones though) while others seem to just do a straight currency conversion to get the various prices.

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throbb

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#1262516 19-Mar-2015 15:09

Ragnor:
throbb: Can we take a snapshot of current prices and compare when they make the change?

This is the sites I use now, I assume they will add the new regions/currencies when it come out

http://www.steamregionalprices.com/

https://www.steamprices.com/au
https://www.steamprices.com/au/topripoffs
https://www.steamprices.com/au/topsavings

I check those sites too, but I don't think they can show a before and after, just the current prices.

I might price up my current library and then see how much it costs after the change

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#1263489 19-Mar-2015 15:32

I think if they start price gouging like we have here retail, I might have to create a US-Only Steam account and just start buying everything through VPN - less than ideal, really.

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throbb

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#1263494 19-Mar-2015 15:36

I'm guessing they will start adding GST as well.

bakewells5856

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#1263542 19-Mar-2015 16:40

I don't think its going to make much difference as steam already uses regional pricing. Remember that valve don't set the prices, the publishers do. If they choose to make their game more expensive in some areas that's up to them, not all publishers do though.

The easiest way I find to buy games at US prices is through sites like CDKeyHouse, you just buy the key off them which you can then activate on your steam account.

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