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EU Commission explains pricing, availability and more

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Raiveris

Title says it all

Read Here: http://steamunpowered.eu/eu-commission-explains-pricing-availability-and-more/

What do you think about this?

11 years ago*

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26 Comments
zelghadis

Nothing new about pricing here - it only supports the arguments that's been given already - different pricing on Steam is legal and no matter how many petitions people will write and how much they will cry about it - it won't change. While things like shipping, packing etc are not valid here, as it is digital distribution, it clearly says it's also legal to decide prices based on payment and taxation in different regions - and thats exactly what Steam does ;)

About region restrictions - I see two cases here. 1st is restricting due to agreement with other company - like for example was for Skyrim in Poland, which was restricted, so polish retailer could make profit, and it seems illegal, but nothing will change for German users - because it's not discriminating on the grounds of nationality or of country of residence - the reason games are blocked in Germany is due to their censorship laws, and as they're fine with EU law it's fair for Steam to block them due to country's law. It's not discrimination.

Good thing is that it seems Steam might be unlocking keys blocked in specific country if it's not due to censorship laws, like it happened several days ago in Poland with Skyrim, but thats all ;)

11 years ago
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buble

There should be zero discrepancy in price on any product Steam sells in Europe. Every purchase is taxed at 9,8% because they operate from Luxembourg, the European tax haven. Apple does the same with iTunes, as does Amazon with its digital purchases. Your local government doesn't get any taxes from your steam purchases. It all goes to Luxembourg.

11 years ago
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zelghadis

so? still things like average pay, labour costs etc differ from country to country. So you may not like prices being different, but it's not against the law, and your crying won't change a thing about it ;)

11 years ago
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AtomicWoodchuck

Bestiality is legal in Germany (although fortunately this is unlikely to remain the case for long...). That doesn't mean it's discrimination if you step over the border into France, begin boning the Gallic wildlife, and the local police take action to curb your "lovemaking".

National laws apply in both cases, regardless of what they might be in other EU member states, and if it's against the law for extreme violence and Nazi symbolism to be contained in video games sold your country, don't expect Valve to be smuggling them in any time soon...

11 years ago
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buble

This has nothing to do with taxation.

11 years ago
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AtomicWoodchuck

I was speaking about regional restrictions, obviously.

Still can't work out why I made the reply under your post though :D

11 years ago
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moyako1802

So, what's wrong with showing some love to our wildlife friends?.

I met a beautiful squirrel once. I still miss her warmth

11 years ago
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kangarooster

"decide prices based on payment and taxation in different regions - and thats exactly what Steam does ;)"
Nope it's not lol

11 years ago
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Vercinger

+1

11 years ago
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Award

Oh cool unlocked Skyrim.. So if I fancy DLCs I can finally buy them myself instead of asking someone. Still problems with Dishonored, eh

11 years ago
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sardanapal

I'll copy what I commented under the initial post:

Valve being an online retailer, they face uniform costs of selling, supporting, packaging and delivering goods across Europe. VAT could be the sole reason to change pricing, but that is charged at the country where billing services are located (usually Britain or France for me). I can't agree with the EC's reasoning on this.

11 years ago
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DougDoug

The publishers choose the prices not valve in most cases, furthermore different regions often have different publishers. This complaint comes from ignorance.

11 years ago
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GrimAquatic

Don't European countries already have the same price? Them being in EU zone and whatnot.

11 years ago
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Aboow

The EU isn't good for much and actually the thought of egalizing multiple countries was horrible from the first moment on.

11 years ago
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GrimAquatic

The idea itself is awesome. It's human factor that's ruining it.

11 years ago
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Aboow

Thinking that countries like Sweden and Portugal could be equaled on an economic level by pressing them into the same guidelines was never awesome.

11 years ago
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GrimAquatic

Why not? Everyone strive for their best and survive in unity rather than wither divided.

11 years ago
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Aboow

Economy does not work this way. You will level the living quality to the lowest denominator and I'm not gonna work my ass off to feed gypsies in the Ukraine.

11 years ago
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GrimAquatic

Economy doesn't work this way either. I know next to nothing on the subject, but you seem to know even less.

11 years ago
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Belfour

Sweet Europe, where racism is gone. But fuck those gypsies!

11 years ago
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Tarquin

I know, right?

11 years ago
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Vercinger

There are 5 different price regions for European countries.

11 years ago
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GrimAquatic

Really? Aren't there just UK, EU1 and EU2?

11 years ago
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parasitegod

Yes and no, and this also goes to region specific content, where in some EU countries Valve asks full price (the price that you pay for "western" or region free version of the game), but people get region restricted content (Russian version: Russian servers, no DLC purchasing chance, mismatched DLC's etc). Or worse, the specific game is not available in Steam at all - so you buy a retail version, but where to get DLC's? The gamers are just sick of this situation, where you can't or don't know what to purchase. I for example bought wrong version of Borderlands 2 season pass, because there are 2 versions of that game available in Steam here in Estonia (if anybody wants to know how we got screwed firstly when Borderlands 2 came out, then google "borderlans 2 estonia"). At the moment I have completely put my wish to purchase Dishonored on hold, because it is so confusing what works and what does not work here. Plus we are not the USSR anymore (it is just insulting that some companies use 30 year old maps for their business plans, we don't speak Russian, we don't use Cyrillic alphabet, but games, in some cases, come in Russian).

We should have same pricing system (also no different region restrictions) in EU, but we don't have it.

11 years ago
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Award

Also can't believe there was no clicky police yet

http://steamunpowered.eu/eu-commission-explains-pricing-availability-and-more/

11 years ago
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Raiveris

oh well ;D. I forgot how to do it :D

11 years ago
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Closed 11 years ago by Raiveris.