Steam Changes Pricing In Turkey And Argentina In Response To Out-Of-Control Inflation

Video Games

Nov 27

Image Source: PC Mag

If you think politics in the United States is complicated and convoluted enough, that’s nothing compared to international economic politics. Recently, Argentina elected a boisterous, far-right president with some outlandish goals for the beleaguered South American nation currently suffering from some of the worst inflation the country has ever seen. Turkey is in a similar situation, and they too have a rather autocratic president.

Politics aside, though, the economic situation in these two countries has led to Valve, who owns and operates game marketplace and launcher Steam, to impose a new monetary policy on users in these two countries. As a result of the constant volatility of the Turkish Lira and Argentine Peso, Valve has forced users in those countries to use US dollars. This has led to a skyrocketing of prices on some games. The increase ranges all over the place, such as Far Cry 5 increasing in price by 240%, or Stardew Valley increasing by a staggering 2900%. In real dollars, that brings the hit farming simulator to the equivalent of what US users pay, but for Argentine users, where it used to cost them about $0.50 and minimum wage is very low, that’s a drastic and all around unaffordable increase for many users.

RELATED:

Featured

The Game Awards Released The Nominees For 2023s Game Of The Year

Because of this new policy, in these countries and others that do not have a set process or conversion for this change, games are just going with the US-equivalent price. While this leads to an increase in prices for most games, some games, like Diablo 4, actually see a decrease in price. It may only be a small measure of relief, but it is worth noting.

It’s no surprise that many users in these regions (23 countries besides Argentina and Turkey) are greatly lamenting these changes and proclaiming the end of PC gaming in these areas. As this situation will unlikely be remedied any time soon, it will predictably lead to an increase in gaming piracy, and more abuse of regional settings in their Steam launchers as players adjust and find ways to continue playing the games they love.

READ NEXT:

Featured