Steam is the most popular online distribution service for PC games and a platform for game developers developed and maintained by Valve. Gamers around the world are using loopholes to buy games on Steam for less than in their home region. To do this, a VPN is often used to change the region. Most often, Argentina is chosen for buying games, which, due to the difficult economic situation and the devaluation of its currency, has one of the lowest prices on Steam. Valve is actively fighting with the use of VPNs up to the ban of the account seen in this. One of the innovations was the prohibition of changing the region more than once every three months, which makes the trick extremely inconvenient, except in rare cases. Previously, bargain hunters could buy a game in another region via VPN and then switch back, but now they will have to wait at least three months for this.
Another news from Valve was the update of the regional pricing tool. The new pricing guidelines won't be to everyone's taste, as they make games more expensive just about anywhere outside of the United States. Developers don't have to use Steam's pricing tool, but it's convenient for them because it does a quick conversion to the dozens of currencies in which Steam sells games. The Steam Pricing Tool automatically suggests prices for different regions based on a developer-selected USD base price. Valve's pricing recommendations are not based solely on exchange rates, which do not always take into account the real ability to pay ordinary people. Price changes will be much more noticeable in regions that are experiencing economic crises. Take Argentina, for example, which has had one of the worst inflation rates in the world over the past few years. The recommendation for the price in Argentine pesos for a game that costs $60 has increased from 650 ARS to 3,800 ARS, a 485% increase. Although, even after almost 500% growth, the recommended price will still be around $24. Residents of regions with more stable economies can also be sympathized with: recommended prices in euros will increase by 18 percent, and prices in Chinese yuan - by 21 percent. It remains to be seen how many developers will use the recommendations, but given all of the above, changing the region to buy cheaper games becomes not only problematic, but also not relevant.
