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[cerapa]

It's popular to hate on DRM and Steam in general.

Some people have legitimate reasons to dislike Steam, including those who live in countries where Steam charges more for no particular reason.

People of the Internet: blaming Steam for regional pricing set by vendors since 2002.

Steam is a vendor.

[nenjin]

Then let me be more specific: the prices set by other vendors on Steam. Or does anyone really think Steam would have been this successful if their policy was "fuck your prices, we will only allow you to charge for your game what we think is fair."

I'm not saying it doesn't suck for non-Americans. It does. But your beef is with the companies that sell games on Steam and their use of regional pricing to dick people over. Not Steam itself.

[scrdest]

Then let me be more specific: the prices set by other vendors on Steam. Or does anyone really think Steam would have been this successful if their policy was "fuck your prices, we will only allow you to charge for your game what we think is fair."

Except there had been instances of companies leaving the price-setting to Steam. Who promptly just changed the dollar symbol to the euro symbol in the price and called it a day.

Still, I don't particularly mind since thanks to the sales I'm getting the games cheaper than they would normally be anyway.

[Sappho]

The reason people (such as myself) get angry at Steam for the pricing differences is because of what they do when a publisher doesn't bother to set specific regional prices.

Publishers have the *option* to set their own international prices. The ones who don't, let Steam set whatever prices they want in different regions. Instead of converting the price, they put a euro sign in place of the dollar sign, instantly increasing the price of the game by about 30%. (As others have said.)

If a price is set by the publisher, they are the ones to direct anger at unfairness to. If it's Steam's policy to charge European customers 30% more by default, it's perfectly reasonable to get angry at Steam.

[forsaken1111]

My local convenience store sells milk and eggs for over 40% more than the market but I don't get angry at them. I just don't buy there.

[Sappho]

My local convenience store sells milk and eggs for over 40% more than the market but I don't get angry at them. I just don't buy there.

This isn't a question of a company charging higher prices. It's a question of a company arbitrarily charging higher prices just for a few specific groups of people. Americans who make, on average, 400% my income (based on published figures by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics), pay 30% less than me for games, on the same exact web site.

I find it very interesting that the people who are totally fine with Steam charging Europeans (and Australians) more for games almost universally live in the US. Can you honestly claim that if you were on the other side of the situation, if they started charging more for Americans and less for Europeans, you wouldn't be outraged?

[Fikes]

So one should go back and count the number of times this tread has derailed into an arguement over Steam.

I played JA2 gold on Steam and had no problems. Even installed the 1.13 patch. I did not notice anything being censored.

[BigD145]

This is a steam sale thread. How you consume can be as important as what you pay when thinking about a purchase.

[forsaken1111]

This isn't a question of a company charging higher prices. It's a question of a company arbitrarily charging higher prices just for a few specific groups of people. Americans who make, on average, 400% my income (based on published figures by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics), pay 30% less than me for games, on the same exact web site.

I find it very interesting that the people who are totally fine with Steam charging Europeans (and Australians) more for games almost universally live in the US. Can you honestly claim that if you were on the other side of the situation, if they started charging more for Americans and less for Europeans, you wouldn't be outraged?

Yes, I can claim that. Either I would deal with the cost (if I could afford it) or I would buy the games elsewhere (or on sales).

But I don't generally get angry over things like this because it serves no purpose... at all. Nobody at steam cares about your rage. Nobody will change their pricing scheme after reading your angry rants.

Either decide that the price is acceptable or work out an alternative, be that buying elsewhere or buying on sales or utilizing a proxy (risky) to buy as if you were in the US. (or do what my aussie buddy does and have me buy/gift him games when the prices are wacky. )

So one should go back and count the number of times this tread has derailed into an arguement over Steam.

I played JA2 gold on Steam and had no problems. Even installed the 1.13 patch. I did not notice anything being censored.

I consider discussions on Steam's pricing to be on topic in a thread about sales on Steam.

[scrdest]

My local convenience store sells milk and eggs for over 40% more than the market but I don't get angry at them. I just don't buy there.

This isn't a question of a company charging higher prices. It's a question of a company arbitrarily charging higher prices just for a few specific groups of people. Americans who make, on average, 400% my income (based on published figures by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics), pay 30% less than me for games, on the same exact web site.

I find it very interesting that the people who are totally fine with Steam charging Europeans (and Australians) more for games almost universally live in the US. Can you honestly claim that if you were on the other side of the situation, if they started charging more for Americans and less for Europeans, you wouldn't be outraged?

Lolnope. I've never even been to the US and I'm fine with it as an European.

[lemon10]

The video game industry has always charged more in other countries, therefore they will continue to charge more unless there is a real reason to change.
Now, it isn't remotely fair to you but in this case Steam is just doing the same thing every other video game store is doing: Making those in other countries pay more because they can.
Steam is going along with it when they could decide not to so they do deserve some of the blame for perpetuating the status quo, but they aren't any more to blame then say gamestop.

Is it fair to get pissed at the industry: Yes, completely.
Is it fair to get pissed at steam in particular: Not really.

[Kaje]

There are other places to buy Steam games from, and they're usually far cheaper than Steam itself...it's rare now that I buy games for Steam or Origin directly from either of those platforms.

http://www.allkeyshop.com/blog/

[Graknorke]

There are other places to buy Steam games from, and they're usually far cheaper than Steam itself...it's rare now that I buy games for Steam or Origin directly from either of those platforms.

http://www.allkeyshop.com/blog/

How do these key resellers make money?

[Sappho]

I didn't say I expect it to change. That would be foolish. Of course they'll keep doing it as long as they can get away with it (although there have been some movements in the EU towards banning this kind of discrimination).

My post was in response to the suggestion that Steam is being blamed for something that is the game publishers' fault. My point was that the discrepancy in price is generally not the fault of the game publishers, but of Steam itself.

No, it's not likely to change anytime soon, and it's often still cheaper to buy on Steam than elsewhere (especially since I generally only buy games that are severely discounted, or in bundles). But that doesn't mean it's not justifiable to be angry about unfair treatment. We have every right to be angry. We'd be stupid to think that being angry will change anything, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't feel anger. It's a perfectly rational response to arbitrary unfairness.

And for the record, Steam wasn't always like this. In the past, everyone paid the same amount regardless of region. They made a decision to split into regional pricing some years ago solely because it would allow them to charge certain groups more money. (NO ONE pushed them to do this, and they weren't violating any laws or regulations by keeping pricing equal across the globe.) Since moving to Europe, I've only bought games online. Other web sites charge me the same price here as they did in America. GOG, Amazon, Humble Bundle and other bundle sites, none of them discriminate regionally. It may be true that brick-and-mortar stores have always discriminated, but Steam was the first company to bring that discrimination to the internet, the one place where physical location shouldn't matter to sales, except regarding things like shipping, which don't apply to Steam's business.

So yes. I am angry with the company for making the decisions they have made, to actively discriminate against certain populations for no real reason other than that they can. I don't think there's anything irrational about that feeling, nor do I feel bad for sharing my reasons on this forum so that those who don't understand why the anger is there can possibly gain some insight.

[Bauglir]

There are other places to buy Steam games from, and they're usually far cheaper than Steam itself...it's rare now that I buy games for Steam or Origin directly from either of those platforms.

http://www.allkeyshop.com/blog/

How do these key resellers make money?

I expect they buy in bulk during sales, then resell at fairer prices once the sale is over. It's what I'd do, and quite frankly I don't know why I never thought of it before. Pity. Market's probably already saturated.