Support NeoGAF

[Freelance Yakuza]

A few days after the completion of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the first significant change regarding the company's games has been implemented. Unfortunately, it may not sit well with some players.
Several Activision games on Steam, a popular PC gaming store, have experienced a considerable increase in their prices, with some nearly tripling in value. The reason for this price increase is unclear, and it is uncertain whether similar changes will be applied to other platforms, such as PlayStation, Nintendo, or even Xbox itself.
The new prices for some of the games are as follows:

• Call of Duty (2003) – from R$ 34.90 to R$ 91.90
• Call of Duty 2 – from R$ 34.90 to R$ 91.90
• Call of Duty: Black Ops – from R$ 79.99 to R$ 184.00
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II – from R$ 109.90 to R$ 274.00
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) – from R$ 34.99 to R$ 91.90
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) – from R$ 249.00 to R$ 274.00
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – from R$ 199.00 to R$ 274.00
• Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time – from R$ 179.00 to R$ 184.00
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy – from R$ 150.00 to R$ 184.00
• Prototype – from R$ 34.99 to R$ 91.90
• Prototype 2 – from R$ 79.99 to R$ 184.00

At present, it is known that these price increases have only occurred in the Brazilian version of Steam.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

Brazilians buy games?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

A few days after the completion of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the first significant change regarding the company's games has been implemented. Unfortunately, it may not sit well with some players.
Several Activision games on Steam, a popular PC gaming store, have experienced a considerable increase in their prices, with some nearly tripling in value. The reason for this price increase is unclear, and it is uncertain whether similar changes will be applied to other platforms, such as PlayStation, Nintendo, or even Xbox itself.
The new prices for some of the games are as follows:

• Call of Duty (2003) – from R$ 34.90 to R$ 91.90
• Call of Duty 2 – from R$ 34.90 to R$ 91.90
• Call of Duty: Black Ops – from R$ 79.99 to R$ 184.00
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II – from R$ 109.90 to R$ 274.00
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009) – from R$ 34.99 to R$ 91.90
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) – from R$ 249.00 to R$ 274.00
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – from R$ 199.00 to R$ 274.00
• Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time – from R$ 179.00 to R$ 184.00
• Spyro Reignited Trilogy – from R$ 150.00 to R$ 184.00
• Prototype – from R$ 34.99 to R$ 91.90
• Prototype 2 – from R$ 79.99 to R$ 184.00

At present, it is known that these price increases have only occurred in the Brazilian version of Steam.

A game that is 270 R$ is about $55 US.

Game companies have been amping up all those crazy dirt cheap South American pricing.

I always knew based on old game mags from the 80s and 90s that US, Canada, UK, Japan prices are pretty close when converted. But when the net came about and people posted Steam prices of stuff in Brazil and Argentina and a $70 US game would be like $12 US. Insane.

 

[SlimeGooGoo]

A game that is 270 R$ is about $55 US.

Isn't that like 1/4 of Brazilians' minimum wage though?

 

[ReBurn]

 

[squarealex]

Consolidation is good.

 

[Perrott]

Back in June I paid $679,60 Argentine Pesos for Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Zombies Chronicles Deluxe (base game + season pass + standalone zombies expansion).

Now that game is listed for $40.000,00 Pesos. And that's without an additional 80% in taxes that we are charged in every purchase made on digital storefronts.

Completely out of touch with the financial reality of our country. What's even the point of regional prices then?

 

[Eotheod]

Wouldn't something like price changes in a particular area be prepared earlier than the inking of an acquisition? Just seems more like poor timing then Microsoft's telling.

 

[Magic Carpet]

New thread concept. If Microsoft does anything you must put "After Microsoft Purchase" in the title somewhere.

edit- but seriously that entire continent is a good way to increase numbers and they decide to put the brakes on it.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Back in June I paid $679,60 Argentine Pesos for Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Zombies Chronicles Deluxe (base game + season pass + standalone zombies expansion).

Now that game is listed for $40.000,00 Pesos. And that's without an additional 80% in taxes that we are charged in every purchase made on digital storefronts.

Completely out of touch with the financial reality of our country. What's even the point of regional prices then?

You're saying it went from 2 eur to 110 eur?

 

[squarealex]

Completely out of touch with the financial reality of our country. What's even the point of regional prices then?

1 : Banned VPN Guys (2$ for COD, just imagine)
2 : Buy GamePass

 

[GHG]

Consolidation is good.

It's pro-consumer.

 

[DrFigs]

yes they want you to get gamepass. its such a great deal, they have to force you to get it by raising the price of buying games.

 

[fart town usa]

What we have here is the one and only...

GAME PASS EFFECT

 

[poppabk]

Yeah as soon as they inked the deal their first priority was increasing the price of decades old games in Brazil.
"We're letting Brazilians buy Prototype for WHAT?!!!, send a helicopter for Bobby now, we are bleeding dozens of dollars a month with these deals"

 

[Gp1]

Not a penny more

 

[Hugare]

Brazilians buy games?

Brazilian market is huge. One of the reasons why many games are released with pt-br subtitles, sometimes even dubs, instead of Portugal's pt being present in more countries.

Every Sony game has brazilian dubs since the PS3 era, for exemple

With that said, wtf at those prices. Why?

 

[Aion002]

Brazilians buy games?

On consoles? Yes. On PC?

 

[kiphalfton]

yes they want you to get gamepass. its such a great deal, they have to force you to get it by raising the price of buying games.

Or discontinue making consoles with disc trays.

They're herding all the sheep over a cliff.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Call of Duty games always had laughable prices. Fucking CoD on PS Vita that no one cares about is still like 60 bucks on PS Store.

10+ year old games like Ghosts and Advanced Warfare still have day 1 prices, even though no one has been maintaining those games for equally as long and all of them are malware infested hellholes. Activision can shove them up Boby Kotick's ass.

 

[lh032]

 

[adamsapple]

All of them are gonna be on Game Pass soon anyway.

 

[Flutta]

Best deal in gaming.

 

[Draugoth]

Som of the jumps in these prices are insane,

I hate my country

 

[adamsapple]

Best deal in gaming.

Hell yeah, brother.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

Hell yeah, brother.

With they raising game prices on Steam, the Game Pass now truly seems like the "better than the best deal in gaming."

 

[Lokaum D+]

Thanks MS i guess

 

[adamsapple]

Alright, now that we have the "lol M$" out of our system, here's the real answer as to why the regional prices are being increased for various games:

Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition - Regional Price Update - Steam News

Hey everyone, Today, we're approving and locking in Steam's latest regional price recommendations on our games. Some of these new prices are a big change (check out the full list here), so I want to give a little context. For those who are unaware, Steam doesn't simply use exchange rates to set...

store.steampowered.com

What I can say is that we saw a huge increase in sales in your countries last year, but no increase in the number of players. Something like 85% of sales coming "from Argentina and Turkey" seem to be coming from people playing in other countries - people who are chasing the lowest possible price on Steam. This is apparently a widespread problem on Steam, which is why Steam is recommending an especially large increase in your regional prices.

They increased the prices in Argentina and Brazil thusly:

Country	Original price	Updated price	Percent increase
Turkish Lira	₺2,10	₺11,00	424%
Argentine Peso	ARS$ 13,99	ARS$ 82,00	486%
Brazilian Real	R$ 2,29	R$ 3,49	52%

 

[ReBurn]

Yeah as soon as they inked the deal their first priority was increasing the price of decades old games in Brazil.
"We're letting Brazilians buy Prototype for WHAT?!!!, send a helicopter for Bobby now, we are bleeding dozens of dollars a month with these deals"

And to think, some poor gamer in Brazil has been working tirelessly their entire life and finally saved enough money to buy those decades old games today. Imagine their sadness in learning that they suddenly can't afford them. It's just so wrong!

 

[Ozriel]

yes they want you to get gamepass. its such a great deal, they have to force you to get it by raising the price of buying games.

You realize none of those games are on GamePass?

 

[RoboFu]

In better news sega master system games are still pretty cheap.

 

[Kilau]

Alright, now that we have the "lol M$" out of our system, here's the real answer as to why the regional prices are being increased for various games:

Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition - Regional Price Update - Steam News

Hey everyone, Today, we're approving and locking in Steam's latest regional price recommendations on our games. Some of these new prices are a big change (check out the full list here), so I want to give a little context. For those who are unaware, Steam doesn't simply use exchange rates to set...

store.steampowered.com

They increased the prices in Argentina and Brazil thusly:

Country	Original price	Updated price	Percent increase
Turkish Lira	₺2,10	₺11,00	424%
Argentine Peso	ARS$ 13,99	ARS$ 82,00	486%
Brazilian Real	R$ 2,29	R$ 3,49	52%

Shame that greedy people ruined it for the gamers there. I guess VPNs can’t be detected and blocked? I’ve only ever used other region stores for games that were only available there or for free stuff.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

Looks like it is not just Brazil.

 

[Fabieter]

Consolidation is good.

/thread

 

[mrabott]

Brazilians buy games?

No, we stole it from your mama!

 

[adamsapple]

Consolidation is good.

It's pro-consumer.

Y'all getting angry at the wrong mega-corp for this one.

Valve increases Steam recommended regional prices, with Turkey and Argentina up over 450% | Game World Observer

Valve has improved its pricing tool for Steam to help developers better manage selling their games in different currencies. The company also updated its recommendations, with significant price increases in certain regions.

gameworldobserver.com

 

[solidus12]

Karma ?

 

[X-Wing]

Y'all getting angry at the wrong mega-corp for this one.

Valve increases Steam recommended regional prices, with Turkey and Argentina up over 450% | Game World Observer

Valve has improved its pricing tool for Steam to help developers better manage selling their games in different currencies. The company also updated its recommendations, with significant price increases in certain regions.

gameworldobserver.com

That's a 2022 article.
Also:

It is worth noting that developers and publishers are free to decide what prices to set for their games in different countries. Valve just offers its recommendations.

It's just easier to push people to the Windows Store and to Gamepass if the prices on the other stores are higher. Poor countries are a good place to start.

 

[freefornow]

Several Activision games on Steam, a popular PC gaming store,

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Step one, buy as much as you can.

Step two, increase prices across the board.

Step three, GP becomes an even better and more obvious deal as a result.

Step four.... profit.

 

[adamsapple]

That's a 2022 article.
Also:

developers and publishers are free to decide what prices to set for their games in different countries

It's just easier to push people to the Windows Store and to Gamepass if the prices on the other stores are higher. Poor countries are a good place to start.

Well of course they are, but this trend of developers and publishers increasing regional prices because gaijin's like us have been abusing VPN's has been happening for a while and publishers are changing prices appropriately.

Hell, even I am complicit as my go-to for people getting cheap game pass involves using Turkish VPN.

 

[Sleepwalker]

I just checked Crash 4 for the lols.

Price in Canada $54.99 CAD
Price in Argentina $62.30 CAD

Not only did they fuck the argentinians but they over corrected as well. Good one Acti, not like your old cod games aren't in a garbage state full of cheaters and security risks for your PC.

 

[Calhoun]

That's a 2022 article.
Also:



It's just easier to push people to the Windows Store and to Gamepass if the prices on the other stores are higher. Poor countries are a good place to start.

Is this related?

Steam :: Steamworks Development :: Updates to Steam's Minimum Price Thresholds

You may be impacted if you have a game or DLC priced at or below $5 USD

steamcommunity.com

 

[Embearded]

Bringing the games to more players!!!

 

[Dutchy]

microsoft buying brazil when

 

[Flutta]

Hope gamers don’t fall for MS ploys. Stay strong nerds.

 

[X-Wing]

Is this related?

Steam :: Steamworks Development :: Updates to Steam's Minimum Price Thresholds

You may be impacted if you have a game or DLC priced at or below $5 USD

steamcommunity.com

No, that only defines the minimum price for a steam game as 0,99 USD and the discounts it can have.

 

[Astray]

Hiking the price of super old games that can be pirated or bought on grey market key sites.. What is Phil smoking and can I have some?

 

[midnightAI]

Step one, buy as much as you can.

Step two, increase prices across the board.

Step three, GP becomes an even better and more obvious deal as a result.

Step four.... profit.

She sells seashells on a seashore
But the value of these shells will fall
Due to the laws of supply and demand
No one wants to buy shells 'cause there's loads on the sand
Step one, you must create a sense of scarcity
Shells will sell much better if the people think they're rare, you see
Bear with me, take as many shells as you can find and hide 'em
On an island stockpile 'em high until they're rarer than a diamond
Step two, you gotta make the people think that they want 'em
Really want 'em, really fuckin' want 'em, hit 'em like Bronson
Influencers, product placement, featured prime time entertainment
If you haven't got a shell then you're just a fucking wasteman
Three, it's monopoly, invest inside some property
Start a corporation, make a logo, do it properly
"Shells must sell", that will be your new philosophy
Swallow all your morals, they're a poor man's quality
Four, expand, expand, expand
Clear forest, make land, fresh blood on hand
Five, why just shells?
Why limit your self? She sells seashells, sell oil as well!
Six, guns, sell stocks, sell diamonds
Sell rocks, sell water to a fish, sell the time to a clock
Seven, press on the gas, take your foot off the brakes
Run to be the president of the United States
Eight, big smile mate, big wave that's great
Now the truth is overrated, tell lies out the gate
Nine, polarise the people, controversy is the game
It don't matter if they hate you if they all say your name
Ten, the world is yours
Step out on a stage to a round of applause
You're a liar, a cheat, a devil, a whore
And you sell seashells on the seashore

 

[StueyDuck]

And so it begins.