toblix Posted December 21, 2008 Holy moly, Valve has recently forced me and my countrymen to pay in Euros instead of Dollars, which means it'll be cheaper to buy the games in retail stores again. Are Valve free to make pricing decisions on their own, or are they bound by publisher contracts in some way? Maybe this varies from game to game, I dunno. Anyway, disappointed! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elmuerte Posted December 21, 2008 According to this post from a S2 Games employee, it was Valve who set the prices. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ysbreker Posted December 21, 2008 Yeah the euro pricing can suck quite hard.Just like the region locking. I just don't get why they want to region lock stuff Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brkl Posted December 21, 2008 Good job making their service pointless for the whole of Europe. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ysbreker Posted December 21, 2008 Case in point: Defense Grid: The Awakening US price: $19.99. EU price: €19.99. Current exchange rate: $19.99 = €14.3570. If you add 19% VAT to that, you get €17.08483. Round that up and the difference is €2.91! This is just stupid. Another example: Fallout 3 US price $49.99 EU price €49.99 Current exchange rate: $49.99 = €35.9033 Adding 19% VAT gives you: €42.724927. The price difference is €7.27. How can they explain this? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brkl Posted December 21, 2008 They want to swim around in money like Scrooge. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jake Posted December 21, 2008 Holy moly, Valve has recently forced me and my countrymen to pay in Euros instead of Dollars, which means it'll be cheaper to buy the games in retail stores again. Are Valve free to make pricing decisions on their own, or are they bound by publisher contracts in some way? Maybe this varies from game to game, I dunno. Anyway, disappointed! In the US, Steam almost always matches retail prices. Valve does this because 1) they can (it hasn't stopped Steam's success in the US so far), and 2) because despite their slow death, retailers still have a huge impact on the financial success of a game, so retailers still have a ton of power in the industry. Going up against them with brazen price cutting done deliberately to shit on them would simply result in your company's game library no longer being carried.* With the dollar and US economy shitting it up like they are right now, I'm sure Valve thought now would be a pretty good time to finally get their european prices in line with european retail like they are in the US. Maybe not the coolest thing ever (as games always seem to be overpriced by default in Europe for some reason), but I an see the many reasons why they'd do it (hint: none of them are to deliberately "screw the gamer," or whatever). * Valve does offer the discounts associated with digital goods while also not getting in retail's face by offering frequent huge sales, offering products retail would never offer (Valve Complete Collection, id Complete Collection) for prices retail would never offer. I bet the business they do during those sales is pretty sweet. Would they sustain that sort of business if their prices were always marked down, to the degree that they'd make more money than they do with the sales volume they see when matching retail pricing? I have no idea, but I bet Valve has enough data internally to make a good guess. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanJW Posted December 21, 2008 Games here are hideously overpriced, mainly just because they can get away with it (same as with PC hardware). Amazingly, even priced in Euros, Steam will probably still be cheaper than UK stores (where the prices are nearly the same figures as above, but in pounds sterling...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
n0wak Posted December 21, 2008 On the plus side, you guys normally get five weeks vacation (if not more) so you have more time to play these games than the equivalent North Americans who are lucky to get two weeks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toblix Posted December 21, 2008 But my point is (or at least it is now) that they haven't matched retail price -- they've exceeded it. Steam is now a worse deal than buying a boxed version in a store. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nappi Posted December 21, 2008 Shame. I used to check whether a game is on Steam before (possibly) ordering it someplace else whenever I was planning to buy something, as it was almost always cheaper there. Not anymore.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ikopi Posted December 22, 2008 The price has indeed become an issue, but it still is the easiest way to manage your games. I bought L4D retail (cheaper than on Steam), entered the product code and now I never have to touch the CD again. I was bummed when I bought Bioshock retail and it wouldn't accept my product code, now I always need to insert the cd to launch the game... But I will keep buying retail versions, their price isn't fair anymore to us Europeans. Last thing I bought on Steam was TF2 with 50% off in $. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cigol Posted December 26, 2008 They are having a sale, and from a GBP perspective the prices look rather tasty. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ikopi Posted December 27, 2008 Ah their holiday sale is finally up. There is not really anything spectacular there, as most of the games on there can be found cheaper in their retail version. But Bioshock is interesting, and I just bought Doom II for one euro, for the heck of it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cigol Posted December 27, 2008 The big savings are on the multi-game packs; Sam & Max, Season 1 - £15.29 id Superpack - £18.99 Valve Complete Pack - £39.74 THQ Collector Pack - £39.74 Eidos Collector Pack - £47.69 (there's more, like the relic pack and so on. Just gotta have a dig through). Find more bargains here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brkl Posted December 27, 2008 They're twice as expensive if you're shopping in euros :/ Civ4 complete is £13.49 according to SavyGamer. It's 24.99€. £13.49 is currently a bit over 14 euros. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elmuerte Posted December 27, 2008 play.com's prices are also off: 1 pound <-> 1.4 euros Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ikopi Posted December 28, 2008 Play always was more expensive in euro's than in pounds to compensate for shipping. Lately, Amazon.co.uk has become the better choice, as even with shipping they do make a standard conversion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elmuerte Posted December 28, 2008 I want the good old days back, when I could actually order in GBP rather then Euro. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Erkki Posted December 29, 2008 2,49€ for Red Lynx Trials 2. I got it after RPS recommended it, and I'm totally loving it (although it has some crappy elements as well). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cigol Posted December 29, 2008 I bought it when RPS first recommended it then regretted it as I'd much rather it were on my STEAM list. Seriously though, get ready for some bile in the stomach, bile on the monitor type situations. It's torturous at times. I've left many of the later levels incomplete, doctors orders! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Erkki Posted December 30, 2008 I bought it when RPS first recommended it then regretted it as I'd much rather it were on my STEAM list. Seriously though, get ready for some bile in the stomach, bile on the monitor type situations. It's torturous at times. I've left many of the later levels incomplete, doctors orders! Yeah, I just got to some of the harder levels and think they should have split those into a separate expansion: "RedLynx Trials 2: Trials and Errors" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
