Am I missing something? I thought the idea was to make games cheaper for those of us with lesser currencies. (i'm from australia with an only slightly better exchange rate) No, I really dont want my games region locked at all, but surely they will not cost as much after this? Now we pay over $13 local for a USD$10 game.
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Really, I hope you're right. Perhaps I am being too cynical?
That said, I am willing to bet large sums of money that the games will not be cheaper when you convert what we pay in our native currencies, and convert to USD. Working in other currencies will simply make it more difficult to spot when we are being unequivocally and inarguably dicked.
If we are truly considered poorer nations, and worthy of a discount, why do we get systematically fucked on pricing by companies who could just as easily charge us the same USD amount as our US counterparts instead of raising the entry fee?
It should be noted that many companies charge us exactly the same as US gamers, but you rarely see games which are cheaper here.
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There's no reason to start introducing local currencies into the system for those regions if the prices were going to remain the same as they would be if they were paying at U.S. standard. Someone's likely pushing to get them locked to local retail prices, whether it be Valve or the publishers.
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Why would we buy DRM from steam instead of DRM-free, download-free boxes with pretty pictures, if retail prices were the same?
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I do prefer having a physical copy of things myself, but some people actually prefer the convenience of having everything in a digital library available to them on a single platform without having to deal with physical disks that they don't have space for and don't mind the DRM aspect.
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Dang! I searched on several topic names - "currency" "nzd" "exchange".
Please shoot me now ;__;
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I haven't got the email yet. Perhaps AU has dodged the bullet.
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i wait for the day when steam finally accepts my ball sweat as currency. sorry for you new zealanders, at least you have the prettiest country in the world :)
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Nothing yet on the Australian dollar. I'm a little apprehensive about the possibilities...
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Perhaps its a karmic retribution for those plans:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/67449940/customs-downplays-password-plan
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Yikes. Guess the war on civil liberties "terror" has reached these shores.
:(
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Amazing.
We in LatAm still have US prices though =\
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Don't buy from steam then?
Serious suggestion. Why buy from a company that's just trying to rip you off?
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Thanks for the helpful advice, Captain Obvious.
Why didn't I consider voting with my wallet earlier, instead of blindly buying all of those obscenely marked up games from avaricious ballbag publishers?
Oh. I did.
¬_¬
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I highly appreciate your raging at me not knowing your money-spending habits which no normal human being you do not know who should anyway.
The immature sarcasm was the most appreciated. Here, allow me to try it.
I bet you were the kindest kid in kindergarten.
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I highly appreciate your inability to correctly identify "rage". I also appreciate that, not knowing my money spending habits, and with there being no genuinely compelling evidence of me having the IQ of an overcooked hot dog, you still earnestly presented me the sort of achingly obvious and entirely inappropriate advice that even my long-suffering comrades at the kindergarten would have stopped short of offering, if only for fear of a skull-rending noogie, or the onset of an elastic-breaking Wedgiegeddon.
Still, your stab at immature sarcasm was a fun. Here, let me have a try:
I bet your mother did not have inappropriate relations with all manner of farmyard animals.
Yay! Yay! Do I get a gold star?
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I highly appreciate your complete lack of comprehension that when you make statements in blunt, straightforward, and unemotional ways on the internet that most people will take you as being rude, mean, or aggressive. That is common knowledge, even among the rabble that uses social media unendingly. I also appreciate that on a thread you created ranting about a topic, you took a casual response and blew it up into the bitchiest bonanza I think I have ever seen two males take part in in my entire life.
And so the immature sarcasm bit continues.
I bet this nonsense is all somehow amusing to you.
Oh wait, I forgot the sarcasm.
Ah, there it is!
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I highly appreciate your thought provoking response, both above, and in your reply to my original post. If I need the obvious pointed out to me at any future point in time, I will immediately enlist your services.
Cordially yours,
Atomic.
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To this point I can't tell if you're being a condescending dick intentionally or if you are just blissfully unaware of the masses to whom "Don't buy from steam" is the most surprising and most illogical statement they will ever hear someone say.
If it is the latter, then trust me, go meet some of them, understand how many of them are out there. Then you'll see why I figured the statement being very clearly NOT-obvious on a steam-themed website. Some of them don't even know what a god damn digital distribution website is. They think the only way to buy a PC game is steam.
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Yes - to you, me, and anyone with more brain cells than toes, the answer above is witheringly obvious. Any right thinking person in receipt of this advice should consider it somewhat redundant, and maybe even a little condescending...
Perhaps we're kind of on the same page here, but that's no reason to let things lapse into pleasantries, since this whole exchange has been so terribly amusing. Just to avoid being to one dropping the ball, I would like to make know my wish to retain your services, so that next time I use my chainsaw, I will have someone at hand to repeat back the "Do not hold wrong end of chainsaw" warning as seen on the instruction manual. No doubt there are folks who will actually benefit from this advice, although if we stand in the way of evolution, what grim future awaits our species...?
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I think you bit the poor guy's head off for no reason. There are plenty of people who bitch about high prices, then pay them anyway. I'm not sure there are many people who have seriously boycotted Steam over regional pricing. I certainly haven't -- not that prices here are obscene. But I definitely am less of a fan of their pricing approach and customer service, yet with per-game prices at GOG being higher, and my library with Steam being bigger, I find it difficult to cut the cord.
I'm so weak!
(And yes, I know publishers set pricing, but for all of Gaben's public commentary about lower prices and access, I'm confident Valve isn't really doing much to uphold Steam's original ideals, and much of Gaben's vision has proven to be full of shit.)
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Aside from getting literally scammed with the convert rates they will use to do that.
I wouldnt mind more detailed pricing on the games.
Asking me 30 Euro for a game , in a region where people work like a week for that much money is kinda ridiculous .
Keeping in mind that the price is the same in places , where thats like a 1/3rd of a daily salary :|
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Yeah I understand that but video games aren't needed like water & food, it should be the same everywhere they shouldn't just be marking some countries up to get more $$$
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Wait, New Zealand has dollars? >_> Do you at least have like, Maori or kiwis on your coins or something? Or is it just the Queen like it is on every former British colony's money?
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I think we have Sir Edmund Hillary on one of our notes. I can't remember, I just use my card everywhere.
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We are still under the crown so still feature the Queen on currency here are some images for you :)
Coins
http://flagpedia.net/data/currency/nzd/new-zealand-2006-circulating-coins.jpg
Notes
http://www.fxexchangerate.com/currencyimages/nzd-500.jpeg
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be better if they had the New Zealand Eagle that would be badass haha
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Ours are extinct. They had wingspans up to 3 meters.
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Yeah I was upset at first with my exchange rate change and it's kind of lame I can't gift to anyone out of my region but... prices are 30-70% cheaper across the board now for 99% of the games so... I can live with it.
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If this were true for NZ, I'd cheerfully live with it too.
Sadly, I'm certain the "real" prices will only be going one way. Up. I understand Gaben is labouring under the misconception that New Zealand is some sort of economic behemoth of the southern hemisphere, and its citizens plough their fields while reclining in the heated leather seats of gold plated Massey Fergusons.
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It's going to happen whether you want it to or not... at least you can still buy keys from other online sellers like GMG and bundles so you are not totally SOL.
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Also New Zealand has it pretty good relative to the majority of the world so be thankful for that dude. First world problems like steam fucking you on the exchange rate are good to have.
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Granted, and I've seen first hand how bad things are outside the first world, so I always appreciate the things I do have, and how fortunate I am to be where I am, living the lifestyle I enjoy.
Having said that, living in the first world doesn't mean that anyone should simply accept being rooked by a corporation, especially not one which is taking advantage of their near-monopoly stranglehold on a particular market. Lying face-down at their feet, with your pants around your ankles, does nothing to resolve the problem.
I'm not hating on Steam. It has many good points, and I choose to remain a very active customer (when the price is fair, at least...). I just don't think that the existence of bigger problems around the world precludes you from voicing concern at lesser injustices.
:)
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I'm confused. Why wouldn't you be happy? Each game is different but, the only places that seem to consistently have higher prices than the US are England and Europe. Everyone else is typically cheaper according to Steamdb.
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New Zealand and Aus are regions known to have double or more in terms of prices. I've seen Call of Duty games going for NZ$180 / US$135.
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here are some more examples of Aus & nz prices
Lord of the Rings: War in the North $19.99 -> $73.99 (+270.14%)
LEGO The Lord of the Rings $19.99 -> $49.99 (+150.08%)
L.A. Noire $19.99 -> $49.99 (+150.08%)
Wolfenstein: The Old Blood $19.99 -> $39.95 (+99.85%)
Wolfenstein: The New Order $44.99 -> $69.95 (+55.48%)
The Settlers®: Heritage of Kings $9.99 -> $19.99 (+100.1%)
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Awww, I though we were gunna get Bitcoin options xD
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I was hoping to convert my Kiwisaver into Steam Wallet funds :/
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looks like the best option is to have an american friend you trust, convert all your wallet to keys, and donate them all to your... cough... friends account.
and from time to time, perhaps if you ask, that friend might just be kind enough to gift you a game you ask for? :)
and in this case 'friend' isnt a code word for vpn, i actually mean a real friend, in america, having a second account (totally legitimate far as everything ive seen) to whom you can gift keys and cards to... and who can occasionally gift (again, totally legit) you games from time to time.
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I guess that could be an option, but with the goalposts moving all the time, if Kiwis are about to get royally scammed on prices, it's also very possible that Steam will slam that particular door shut, by treating New Zealand as a separate (locked) region.
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i would be surprised if that happened. Cheap regions games get locked to their region, but the only case I know of where a region is PROHIBITED from activating games from OTHER regions, is germany due to censorship... does such an example of region locking exist elsewhere? It would really be quite a surprise if NZ (and au by extension) become the first regions on steam to get locked from activating outside game gifts in order to protect price gouging...
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Perfectly reasonable logic, but nothing Valve did right now would surprise me as far as regional pricing goes. Over the past few months, they have really locked things down, and there is little sign of them easing off :(
If Valve are going to diddle New Zealand, I have every confidence that they will do it properly...
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China.
When I buy serials for games from Sega on 3rd party shops, I have to activate via vpn to register them to my Steam account. They work as normal without VPN afterwards. There may be some effect due to my account being flagged as USA, but entering the key in to Steam client just does a generic current IP check, and it won't accept it from some publishers, typically Japanese ones.
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to me, that sounds like a game-specific lock, which isnt uncommon. there are game keys that are specifically intended for a particular region, so thats not the same thing as a region being blocked from activating ANY game from an outside region.
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Right, it only applies to titles from certain publishers.
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p ∧__∧
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
⊂ つ
(つ ﾉ
(ノ
＼ ☆
| ☆
(⌒ ⌒ヽ /
＼ （´⌒ ⌒ ⌒ヾ ／
（’⌒ ; ⌒ ::⌒ ）
（´ ） ::: ） ／
☆─ （´⌒;: ::⌒`） :; ）
（⌒:: :: ::⌒ ）
／ （ ゝ ヾ 丶 ソ ─
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Oh no a fellow New Zealander's worst nightmare we are going to get screwed with prices, don't think i'll be getting anything from the steam store anymore
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Bonus points for using the word "obfuscate" in a sentence!
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I liked how my currency is now SEA region'ish, but dam I can't even give anything on this site no more.
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You can still buy ROW keys or trade for gifts from someone in a non-locked region, but yeah it does suck big time.
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When they introduced Canadian currency last year, some prices went up and some went down. But keep in mind that we paid exactly the same as the US before that change.
Since you guys have grossly overpriced games to begin with, I'm not sure what this will bring except for the fact that it will be easier to compare with retail shops.
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Interestingly, a lot of Steam games are priced identically to the US, although you're right that retail (High Street) prices are outrageously high.
My worry is that when our currency changes, this will be a green light for additional gouging, and not only from the usual suspects.
Interesting times ahead...
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Nothing will change in the price you really pay for your games.
Now and before, If you paid a game 15$ US, with a credit card for example, on your CC bill it would have listed it at 20$ NZ.
The only change is that, after the currency change, your prices will be listed in NZ $. You'll know exactly what you pay in your currency thats it.
And dont worry, your wallet values will be converted. That means, if you have like 20$ US in it, after the change, you will have like 25$ or 26$ NZ in it.
That said, some devellopers and publishers, sometimes, incrase their prices for no reason for some regions.
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"Nothing will change in the price you really pay for your games.
Now and before, If you paid a game 15$ US, with a credit card for example, on your CC bill it would have listed it at 20$ NZ."
I admire your optimism.
Hopefully it works out exactly like this.
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Conversion rates between the US & NZ don't stay the same though & these new values will be set as a constant, so the new value set wont be the same as the old set value either means dev's get less money (doubt it) or customer are going to have to pay more for games. Also are they going to round up prices to whole dollars or blah.99c
as seen currently NZ already have games with crazy markups, I'm sure they will just continue this trend more
Also selling items in the steam market will have to be converted = convertion fee, giving less cents to the seller
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But just consider, with the changeover to your currency there will undoubtedly be a few price glitches, you might get some decent game for pennies on the dollar, it has happened before.
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Just received an email telling me that my USD account balance is about to be converted to New Zealand dollars.
Woohoo!
Looking forward to getting rooked on a shitty exchange rate, then receiving a further shafting with ongoing grossly unfair regional pricing.
At least with the current system, comparing US dollars with US dollars, it's blatantly obvious that New Zealanders and Aussies are getting scammed by some of less scrupulous companies on Steam who feel the need to charge us extra for the same game. Currency conversions will no doubt provide an extra layer under which to obfuscate their avaricious activities.
Here's hoping they play fair, although there's every chance that they won't :/
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