Valve may make products unavailable to purchase in regions where they don’t meet thresholds. This means Steam’s minimum pricing policy for non-USD currencies could impact those who sell games and expansions for less than the equivalent of $5.
Valve has warned publishers and developers that their change in policy may lead to games and expansions which use lower prices unavailable in some regions. If they don’t make adjustments, those same publishers and developers may not be able to offer the discounts they intended.
According to Valve, the aim of the policy shift is to align minimum pricing with recommended currency conversions that the company posted last October. Apparently, this is meant to adjust for some currencies drifting significantly in value over time. As such, the price for a game must at least be 99 cents. Additionally, the price for an expansion must be at least 49 cents.
Publishers and developers residing in other countries will need to make suitable changes to their pricing. As Game Developer writes, “they’ll have to be mindful of how they handle discounts too. Publishers and developers of games that usually cost $4.99 or less will need to make sure they avoid going below the threshold during sales.” Valve does however offer price management and discount tools on Steam to help lessen the burden of price adjustments.
This move in policy will also affect players who create Steam accounts in more than 1 country in order to fully take advantage of regional price differences. While the threshold does not immediately impact blockbuster games, the policy changes could make it more difficult for players to change their virtual residency in countries like Argentina or Turkey. This means players who try to do so will not be able to pick up a bunch of indie games at a massively discounted price.
All things over, the changes in policy are not very drastic. Publishers and developers will have to worry about the cost adjustment but they shouldn’t fret too much because the changes are rather insignificant. Continually, players should also not fret too much because the cost adjustments for them are also rather insignificant.