Valve will stop supporting local currencies in many countries

NEWS Fyra Frost - Oct 26, 2023, 12:00

Valve has decided to make changes in its pricing policy in some countries in an unexpected move that may have significant consequences for local gamers. The growing economic instability that has been affecting countries like Argentina and Turkey makes it very difficult for developers to set prices for their games without incurring major losses. Steam will stop supporting local currency in a series of countries on November 20. The pricing of the games on Valve's platform will be switched to US dollars.

"Pricing games in USD for Steam customers in Argentina and Turkey will help us provide greater stability and consistency for players and partners, while also enabling us to continue to offer a variety of payment methods to Steam users in those countries/territories."

The list of countries that will be affected by this is large, and it includes several regions:

Central America

Belize
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama

South America

Argentina
Bolivia
Ecuador
Guyana
Paraguay
Suriname
Venezuela

Middle East

Bahrain
Egypt
Iraq
Jordan
Lebanon
Oman
Palestine
Turkey
Yemen

North Africa

Algeria
Libya
Morocco
Tunisia
Sudan

According to Valve, this change is made to address "exchange rate volatility". It will have a series of immediate effects that will impact the price of video games, especially for the gamers that live in those countries. In most cases, it will imply an increase in the price, but there will also be other side effects. Before, these players could change regions to take advantage of better exchange rates and lower the final cost of their purchase. That is something that other players from different regions could also benefit from in some cases. The change shuts down that possibility too.

There is still hope

While it's undeniable that the price of Steam games in those locations will be increased, there are other means of getting affordable video games, wherever you are. Dlcompare is the perfect tool to get the optimal price on any Steam game of your choice. Our price comparison tool lets you check out the best deals from a huge list of retailers for all platforms. You just need to type the name of your favorite video game on the search field, and our website will instantly provide you with the cheapest prices from a wide range of partners for your platform of choice. Then you just need to choose one and you will get redirected to the specific shop to complete your purchase. A couple of clicks is all you need to get access to affordable video games with our tool.

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As a bonus, you can also read the latest latest video game news, benefit from our rewards program, and even use our web extension to compare video game prices on the fly. We strive to offer the best experience and continuously improve our service with more features and will improve our tool so it includes prices for hardware in the near future.