MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Once upon a time PS4 exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn is heading to both major PC stores on August 7th. But prices on steam globally have just shot up, by hundreds of per cent in some countries. With the suspected reason being VPN abuses of Steam’s regional pricing system. (thanks to VG24/7)
Prices posted by Reddit user VoidOx showed that while there were price rises right across the globe, there were huge increases in numerous regions – largely those with unstable or developing economies.
- Argentine Peso 539,99 -> 2100 – 289%
- Turkish Lira 77 -> 275 – 257%
- Russian Ruble 930 -> 2800 – 201%
- South African Rand 269 -> 680 – 153%
- Colombian Peso 68500 -> 146000 – 113%
- Brazilian Real 93,99 -> 200 – 113%
- Chinese Yuan Renminbi 138 -> 193 – 40%
- South Asia – U.S. Dollar 15,99 -> 19,99 – 25%
- Ukrainian Hryvnia 579 -> 709 – 22%
- British Pound 32,99 -> 39,99- 21%
- CIS – U.S. Dollar 22,99 -> 25,99 – 13%
- Australian Dollar 69,95 -> 74,99 – 7%
- Canadian Dollar 56,99 -> 59,99 – 5%
(percentage rises over original price)
This has been attributed to the abuse of VPN services in order to purchase the game cheaply. A serious temptation when the game was available in some regions for a fraction of the price in the US and western europe – just £6 or so in Argentina.
In theory, doing so would be an account ban offence according to Steam’s regulations, but it’s very unlikely you would be caught. What would be suspicious is if consumers were using the same account to buy games from multiple regions, but with a single-player game such as Horizon Zero Dawn, there’s no real issue with setting up a new account just to make the purchase and so avoid any possible repercussions.
Of course, such pricing isn’t done out the goodness of Steam’s or the publishers heart, both are likely to have good data that such a price is the best way to monetise that content in that region. But in an increasingly globalised market that will become an increasing problem.
