Valve overhauls steam’s pricing policy in India

Video game developer Valve updated its Steam platform’s price thresholds on August 16 for countries with non-USD currencies . The company says that it took the step after re-reviewing its regional pricing policy.

Updated - August 21, 2023 04:17 pm IST

Valve has updated Steam’s price thresholds for various countries.

Valve has updated Steam’s price thresholds for various countries. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Video game developer Valve updated its Steam platform’s price thresholds on August 16 for countries with non-USD currencies . The company says that it took the step after re-reviewing its regional pricing policy.

Games that are priced below the minimum base price of $0.99 USD’, or Rs 82.33 (at the time of writing), will no longer on sale. Developers who offer games at prices below the mentioned amount will need to increase the prices of their games and downloadable content to meet the new guidelines.

Failing to do so will result in users not being able to view or buy their games in India and other impacted regions. While newer titles won’t be greatly affected as most of them are priced higher than the minimum amount, classic and retro games of the past could be.

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Additionally, the lowest possible transaction price is 50% off the minimum base price. If a base price is below the lowest transaction price in any currency, scheduling new discounts is prohibited.

This will effectively affect the maximum discounts game developers can offer on their titles priced below $5 USD. As per a post on the official Steam blog “The lowest possible transaction price is 50% off that minimum base price, which allows for some discounting off the minimum base price. That minimum transaction price is roughly $0.49 USD.

Developers must ensure that base prices exceed Steam’s lowest transaction price for any currency, preventing under-pricing. Scheduled discounts leading to prices below this minimum will make products inaccessible in certain regions.

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