Steam's Polish suggested regional pricing

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fakenzz 22 May @ 7:36am

Hello.

Are there plans for Steam to update localized pricing suggestions anytime soon?

I remember that Steam did it in 2022 or 2023 and its outdated and hurtful. I assume most developers use Steam's region pricesheet suggestion without making any major changes because pricing in PLN is currently abysmal for most games and hurting Polish customers.

Please look at this: https://steamdb.info/app/2054970/ or https://steamdb.info/app/2420110/ and set your currency to PLN to see what Im talking about.

Screenshot of Dragon Dogma 2 prices: https://i.imgur.com/G49QFaE.png

That is just example from two AAA games released last year and this trend is still very much existing. There are tons of other examples with releases 2022< and even more extreme ones.

Why Polish customers have to pay more than initial price in USD not to mention Euro while we are in EU with similiar taxes?

Wasnt regional pricing suggestions supposed initially to help poorer countries?
Yet here we are in Poland paying more than most of the world like we were more rich than USA or wealthy EU countries..

Like I said earlier, I'm fully aware that it is publisher who is making the last call about pricing but most ignorant devs/publishers dont do research and currency conversion on their own and just depend on Steam's suggestions..

Anybody who made it this far reading that wall of text, especially if one's country is not affected, I really appreciate it

BTW: This is continuation of same thread: https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/discussions/forum/10/4362372646216826112/

Im opening thread again as previous one was closed for some weird reason to "prevent confusion" when replies were still fresh, on topic and there was no confusion.

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TLDR; WHAT CAN WE DO

How to let Valve know about the inflated conversion rate?
- By returning games bought on Steam, citing overpricing relative to the rest of the world as the reason.
- Through Steam Technical Support: https://steamhost.cn/help_steampowered_com
- By contacting Steam's Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/Steam
- As a last resort, you can send cultured emails to Gabe Newell: https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/contact?contact-person=Gabe%20Newell

Credits: comment from https://lowcygier.pl/aktualnosci/ceny-gier-na-polskim-steamie-naleza-do-najwyzszych-na-swiecie-co-mozemy-z-tym-zrobic/

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https://kursnasteam.pl/?lang=en
https://polishourprices.pl/index.php?lang=pl&page=players

Last edited by fakenzz; 31 Jul @ 1:40am

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Showing 1-13 of 13 comments

nullable 22 May @ 7:45am

Isn't Poland part of the EU? I don't think Valve is allowed to treat Poland differently than the rest of the EU in that case. And Valve isn't responsible for the weak state of PLN.

Or at the very least because the EU prevents geo-locking I think the general consensus is if the EU cripples a businesses ability to prevent the rest of the EU from exploiting lower prices offered to poorer countries in the EU, the only fair thing to do is teat everyone equally because the EU actively prevents businesses from treating you differently.

So the only price comparison that matters on that screenshot list of yours is the Euro, and your price is pretty close. Different currencies and conversion rates add to the complexity. If you adopted the Euro then you'd just pay the Euro price. So get going on that I guess.

Last edited by nullable; 22 May @ 7:53am

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 22 May @ 7:46am

Support can't help.

The marketing team on Twitter can't help.

GabeN, sure, try emailing him and see if he responds. Would be fun to hear his reply.

fakenzz 22 May @ 7:50am

Originally posted by nullable:
Isn't Poland part of the EU? I don't think Valve is allowed to treat Poland differently than the rest of the EU in that case. And Valve isn't responsible for the weak state of PLN.

Then they can let us use Euro instead of PLN. But they dont. Thats the problem, they already treat us differently.

As i said in my post, suggestions were made when USD was at its strongest and PLN was as its weakest. They were supposed to be making updates to that suggestion pricing sheet but the only thing they did over the years is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ over South America because of region hoppers and didnt bother to change situation with PLN. Valve is responsible for all this.

Ben Lubar 22 May @ 7:56am

Poland has 23% VAT. VAT gets added to the listed price of an item. There are categories of goods with reduced VAT, but as far as I can tell, luxury goods like video games do not fall into any of those categories.

The price of the game you linked is equivalent to $74.33, compared to the US price which is listed as $69.99 but does not include tax that gets added at checkout.

Not including tax, the Polish price is $60.43, about nine and a half dollars cheaper than the US price.

Last edited by Ben Lubar; 22 May @ 7:58am

nullable 22 May @ 7:59am

Originally posted by fakenzz:
Originally posted by nullable:
Isn't Poland part of the EU? I don't think Valve is allowed to treat Poland differently than the rest of the EU in that case. And Valve isn't responsible for the weak state of PLN.

Then they can let us use Euro instead of PLN. But they dont. Thats the problem, they already treat us differently.

As i said in my post, suggestions were made when USD was at its strongest and PLN was as its weakest. They were supposed to be making updates to that suggestion pricing sheet but the only thing they did over the years is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ over South America because of region hoppers and didnt bother to change situation with PLN. Valve is responsible for all this.

Well whether to use the Euro or PLN could go either way since Poland still has their own currency, dinging Valve for using the currency you use isn't really an argument and your prices are within a few percent of normal EU prices. Plus I don't think you'd be so hot and bothered it if was 4% in your favor... you might argue that Valve should use PLN instead of Euro in that case.

And regardless of your feelings, that doesn't negate you being in the EU and the consequences that has. Valve isn't going to give you special pricing recommendations because they can't restrict that to just Poland. They're not going to set the baseline Eurozone prices based around the poorest members.

Valve is not responsible for the EU. Ignoring inconvenient variables doesn't improve your argument.

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 22 May @ 7:59am

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:
Poland has 23% VAT. VAT gets added to the listed price of an item. There are categories of goods with reduced VAT, but as far as I can tell, luxury goods like video games do not fall into any of those categories.

The price of the game you linked is equivalent to $74.33, compared to the US price which is listed as $69.99 but does not include tax that gets added at checkout.

Not including tax, the Polish price is $60.43, between nine and ten dollars cheaper than the US price.

Every time this discussion is brought up, I mention taxes and they still ignore it.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/discussions/forum/7/4286935452901833443/

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/discussions/forum/1/4849905062599360379/

Last edited by cSg|mc-Hotsauce; 22 May @ 8:04am

Nx Machina 22 May @ 9:08am

Originally posted by fakenzz:
Then they can let us use Euro instead of PLN. But they dont. Thats the problem, they already treat us differently.

You cannot be charged at checkout in Euro's because Poland did not join the Euro.

Secondly the vat rate in Poland is 23%, in France it is 20%, in Germany it is 19% affects the final price you pay.

And finally Poland's inflation rate is 4.2% which affects prices. The EU's inflation rate is 2.5%, which again affects prices.

fakenzz 22 May @ 9:20am

Originally posted by Nx Machina:
Originally posted by fakenzz:
Then they can let us use Euro instead of PLN. But they dont. Thats the problem, they already treat us differently.

You cannot be charged at checkout in Euro's because Poland did not join the Euro.

Secondly the vat rate in Poland is 23%, in France it is 20%, in Germany it is 19% affects the final price you pay.

And finally Poland's inflation rate is 4.2% which affects prices. The EU's inflation rate is 2.5%, which again affects prices.

Thing is Polish people already used to pay in Euro on Steam before.

Secondly VAT in Croatia is 25% and their Euro price on Steam is the same as Germany with 19% VAT. And we all are within EU.

And finally inflation rate isnt the highest within EU + it doesnt matter that much in this exact context about Steam's suggested regional pricing..

So stop spewing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ please

rawWwRrr 22 May @ 9:27am

Poland needs to adopt the Euro completely..only then will they have price parity with their EU counterparts.

Nx Machina 22 May @ 9:42am

Originally posted by fakenzz:
Thing is Polish people already used to pay in Euro on Steam before.

No because you never joined the Eurozone and Valve can only charge you based on your currency, Zloty which is linked to your payment method.

The Eurozone is all those countries that use the Euro as currency and the UK and Poland only became members of the EU, but not the Eurozone.

You paid in Zloty just as the UK paid in GBP.

If you want price parity with those who pay in Euro's tell your government to join the Eurozone which adopts the Euro as your currency, and Zloty ceases to exist.

Last edited by Nx Machina; 23 May @ 9:12pm

#10

Ettanin 22 May @ 9:55am

Valve cannot go against EU law and get polish nationals better prices while excluding other EU member citizens from the better offers.

Conversely, Valve cannot demand payment in Euros because poland demands by national law that all prices are in PLN.

This legal conumdrum could be solved by automatically updating the PLN price suggestions daily to tie it to the EUR equivalent. However, Valve cannot go against the publisher's consent and update the prices for them.

As such, such automatic price suggestion updating wouldn't effectively reflect in a better pricing for existing games.

Last edited by Ettanin; 22 May @ 9:58am

#11

Aluvard 22 May @ 2:26pm

Originally posted by Nx Machina:
Originally posted by fakenzz:
Thing is Polish people already used to pay in Euro on Steam before.

No because you never joined the Eurozone and Valve can only charge you based on your currency, Zloty which is linked to your payment method.

The Eurozone is all those countries that use the Euro as currency and the UK and Poland only became a member of the EU, but not the Eurozone.

You paid in Zloty just as the UK paid in GBP.

If you want price parity with those who pay in Euro's tell your government to join the Eurozone which adopts the Euro as your currency, and Zloty ceases to exist.

Well, you're wrong here.
Steam added Złoty as a currency in 2017. Before that date, we paid in Euro.

People are mostly complaining about Steam exchange rate, which partly influences suggested regional prices.

#12