Steam’s prices have skyrocketed to unprecedented heights in Argentina and Turkey after Valve implemented its new regional pricing policies. Read on to learn more about the situation and how the changes affect the countries’ residents.
Valve Implements New Regional Pricing Policies
Following up on its promise of changing Steam’s regional pricing for Turkey and Argentina, Valve has completely abandoned local currency support for the Turkish Lira and Argentinian Peso. These changes were evidently made to assuage the difficulties game developers were experiencing with the affected areas’ reportedly volatile exchange rates.
As it stands, Valve believed that game developers ought to be able to set a region-appropriate price for their games in USD only once, instead of having to constantly adjust to the ever-changing exchange rates.
Steam Price Hikes Reach 2900%
Needless to say, game prices across the platform for both countries went through the stratosphere the moment this was implemented. Though not every game was affected, those that were saw price hikes that bordered on the unimaginable. Some notable price changes for the Argentinian Steam collection include the games Far Cry 5 and Stardew Valley, which received a 240% and 2900% increase, respectively.
Other notable price changes include the games Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield, and Call of Duty, which all saw a 24% price increase in local currencies. Curiously, some game prices actually plummeted instead of skyrocketing, with the biggest example being Diablo IV’s 11% price reduction.
Steam Users From Argentina and Turkey in Uproar
To say that the changes were met with disdain is an understatement. Users from both countries have been posting uproariously on Steam’s subreddit in response to pricing changes. Their posts consist of memes, complaints, declarations of their return to piracy, and a few depressing spreadsheets showcasing the true magnitude of the price hikes.
To make matters worse, Argentinian Steam users in particular have an extra layer of expenses to worry about, as they also have incredibly high taxes to pay in addition. Users from both countries are starting to call this "the end of Steam" and it’s not hard to see why. As many posts from Steam’s subreddit would echo, we are currently seeing the prophesied doom for legitimate PC gaming in Turkey and Argentina.
The Likely Cause for The Massive Price Hikes
Despite the difficulty and uproar caused by the situation, it isn’t without an identifiable cause, which means it may be solved yet. Twitter (X) user @Big__TeeJ put forward that the likely cause for the massive price hikes could be that some games currently lack a "regionally appropriate price", as Valve’s new policy puts it. This causes a game’s price to default to a direct conversion of its USD price, which, of course, would definitely lead to a major price hike across regions.
It is currently unknown whether or not the game developers of the affected games will step in to amend the prices, but until then, it’s likely that the PC gaming communities in both Turkey and Argentina will continue to wane.
