9.99 US$ ~= 7.568€
adding 19% VAT ~~= 8,99€
As you see, there is something in the EU which is called VAT. Americans don't have that or are supposed to pay it themselves, however that is handled. But it is half as bad as many people claim. Also, there is still the transfer fees from Europe to US etc.
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Different currency, lower overall income, so they pay less compared to us.
Because they can simply not afford the prices that others pay.
There is a reason why Russia has a very high piracy rate.
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So because Russian users are more likely to pirate games they get them a lot cheaper??? o_O
That doesn't make sense at all.
I'm still upset that prices in Russia are so low, the average income in the US isn't that high anymore either...
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LOL, they often pirate it because they cannot afford the USD Price. Because of currency.
So they get them in their currency, which translates differently to USD. So hard to understand?
Btw, this is not meant as an offense, it is just fact. China, Middle East, South Asia and Russia have a very high piracy rate.
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Yes, I get that they have a high piracy rate, but how does that translate into them getting games at cheaper prices?
It's a really flawed system that should be changed... Instead of rewarding actual paying customers with lower prices they're rewarding people who would otherwise just steal their products.
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There's nothing to understand... It's a flawed system that seems to only reward people who live in Russia and no other country in the world... As ArSo pointed out a few posts below (or above if you don't use Kaitlyn's script) that Poland has a much lower average income yet they don't get the price breaks that Russia gets.
Just because one group of people doesn't make as much as another doesn't mean that they should get a product at less than half price as every other group.
I know quite a few rich people from Russia just like I know quite a few poor people from the US and other countries.
It's just another thing in the world that's completely out of whack and unfair.
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Where do you see me demanding anything? o_O
I'm just pointing out the flaw in the system, just because a country has a higher piracy rate they get lowered prices as opposed to countries that actually support the devs and buy their games.
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Piracy is a result of the prices not the other way round. You can't seem to grasp that one.
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Bull... The average pirate wouldn't buy the product anyway, regardless of the price.
Just look at piracy on the Sony PSP, the games for that system were very cheap and still piracy was rampant. (The average PSP game was $15US)
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So then explain piracy in the US, since everyone keeps saying that the US makes more money than a lot of other countries...
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The US has a lower piracy rate than poorer countries and also has a significant percentage of (relatively) poor people.
Note that I said it's the #1 reason, among many, not the only one. So there would still be piracy even if everyone could afford games, but much less of it. As is the case in the US.
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Sorry, I must have misunderstood your comments.
But what DakotaThrice said is right. Reducing the price is the only way to get any money out of poor regions. Do you think it would be better if games there were as expensive as in the US and nobody bought them? This way developers get at least some money.
Obviously, this needs to be applied to all poor countries, not just the former USSR. (The 14 other former Soviet countries generally get lower prices too, it's the UA price region on Steam.)
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o_O I'm not sure where Google is getting that info but the average US income where I'm from isn't $2,000 a month it's more like $1,200 - $1,600. The average rent in the US is around $800 though and food here isn't cheap either.
So our income is about 1.5 times the average Russian but our average rent is more than 3 times theirs, not including any utilities (electricity, heat, phone, internet etc).
Yeah, I'm not seeing why so many other countries think that people in the US are rich... o_O
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My town doesn't even have a bus, if you have no car you have to walk. Pepsi 2L $2, Snickers $1, Milk (gallon) $4, Bread $2.
Looks like you get most things cheaper than I do...
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Yes you do... Don't complain when people who live on ~$6500 a year on average get cheaper games, while Americans make about $24,000.
In fact, here's a very nice table of disposable income across 30 countries. Do you still think the world can afford US prices for games?
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Because Valve are bad at this pricing thing. I didn't mention that because it wasn't part of the person I was replying to's argument.
But yes, it's completely unfair. My country (Bulgaria) would be at number 31 if it was on the list, we don't use the euro, yet, minus 20-30 exceptions, we get the same inflated prices as Western Europe.
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Those numbers are from 8 years ago... o_O
If you haven't noticed there's a serious recession in the US right now, I highly doubt that the average US citizen still makes $24,000 a year...
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You're right, it's now higher. Note that the 2004 data from the wiki and the chart don't match, so, until we determine which one is more accurate for this analysis, I suggest we use the graph itself and not its values. Specifically, the levels in 2004 and 2012. As you can see, disposable income right now is certainly either equal to or higher than that in 2004.
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what about other countries that have different currency than $ or eur and still have to pay in eur ?
I must say that I pay less and less for games on steam, even during holiday sales and other 75% sales but rather choose amazon, greenmangaming (or local stores in my currency) because I can pay in $ there and still activate on steam.
I guess it serves them (Steam) right that they are loosing sales over this
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There are also other costs involved, which also include VAT, which are not applicable in the US. Like server costs and other taxes, like e.g. sales tax in Germany. Don't know if other countries in the EU have that.
We have VAT AND sales tax. VAT is 19%, sales tax is 16% iirc.
It is a quite broad and difficult topic.
But just saying "They fail trolololo" is really simplifying the topic way too much.
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There are no fees for exchanging money, at least not in Europe. Steam uses a third party company for European payments (based in Germany)... But yeah, still, I guess it's more a matter of convenience (you can also read "rip off") for them... It sucks, I know.
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Source? I don't think that is the reasom or otherwise it would be applied everywhere, but only a part of these prices are affected by this problem.
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Please provide a source. What you're posting seems like nothing more than Valve fanboyism.
As my source, here's an interview with a Valve employee on regional prices. It's not hard to smell bullshit. And there's certainly no mention of VATs as a reason.
Here's a thread with plenty of useful comments, including a proposed very simple solution. It contains a link to the original source.
For those who can't be bothered to read it all: Valve charges more in regions where it can get away with it. There are no specific technical reasons for it. The just do it because they can. They lie that currencies are the problem, because they could just charge in USD everywhere. Banks do automatic currency conversions.
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Scorcher24, that would make perfect sense if it wasn't for the plethora of inconsistencies
You're over-complicating it. Developers/publishers are simply douche-bags, exploiting peoples ignorance and Valve are kinda shitty for not doing something about it, surely they have some say/control over pricing.
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Poland has lower overall income than Russia
http://www.worldsalaries.org/poland.shtml
http://www.worldsalaries.org/russia.shtml
yet we still have to pay same high price like in the rest of European Union.
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It's pretty stupid imo...
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