Following the recent success of Steam, Valve has decided to extend it’s accepted currencies on the popular gaming platform. The news was released behind closed doors at Valve’s Steam Developer Conference in Seattle (information available as a courtesy of Armin Ibrisagic, PR manager of Coffee Stain Studios).
These new currencies are targeted for a 2014 implementation, and include the following:
- Australian Dollars
- Thai Baht
- Canadian Dollars
- Swedish Krona
- Mexican Pesos
- New Zealand Dollars
- Ukrainian Hryvnia
- Malaysian Ringgit
- Indian Rupee
- Singapore Dollar
- Japanese Yen
- Philippine Pesos
This decision probably comes as a desire of extension from Valve., following a recent increase in user numbers (currently around 75 million). Valve’s user-base has grown about 15% in the last 3 months, and is expected to continue to expand rapidly once the SteamOS and Steam Machines are officially launched. Users will have the advantage of being able to pay in local currencies. As of now, Steam supports 5 currencies, consisting of US Dollars, British Pounds, Russian Rubles, Brazilian Reals and the Euro.
On the downside, local inflation might cause shifts in game prices, which means that users in countries with a less-stable currency will end up paying more for their games. While the differences will probably not be huge, this might turn away many users. Even now, there are minor price differences in between currencies. Recent Steam hit DayZ is a good example of this. The game is listed for €23.99 on Steam for European users, while being priced at $29.99 in the United States. At today’s conversion rate, this would mean European gamers are paying around $32.60 for the same game, almost 10% more than their American counterparts.
It’s unknown as of yet when exactly the new currencies will be introduced on Steam, and how much of a price-gap will they create. The price transparency offered by these newly introduced currencies might not make up for an increase in prices for some users.