Although Valve’s Steam digital storefront has made purchasing PC games easier than ever for gamers worldwide over the 20 years, a new discussion online shows that gamers in some countries are feeling frustrated with the storefront’s lack of support for their local currencies. The platform has seen growing success as more players have discovered the joys of PC gaming in recent years, with Valve’s recent Steam Year in Review report for 2022 showing growth in both new purchasers and concurrent players.
Following a beta test the year prior, Steam launched in 2003 as a way for developer Valve to release their PC games digitally rather than relying on retail stores to make up the bulk of their sales. While the original version of Steam was decidedly limited in functionality, only offering Valve’s own titles for sale, requiring users to install Steam in order to play the long-anticipated Half-Life 2 helped the program rapidly grow its userbase. As the platform grew, Valve began to solicit other developers to place their games on Steam for sale, helping eventually turn Steam into arguably the most popular way for many PC players to grab the latest releases and turning Valve into a full-fledged publisher rather than just a developer.
A Reddit post from an Iraqi user on r/Steam expressing their frustration about the Steam Store’s lack of support for the Iraqi Dinar quickly turned into a global sounding board for gamers feeling exasperated by the PC platform’s limited currency selections. The post from Redditor EnkiduKun pleaded with Valve to add support for the Iraqi Dinar, noting how Iraqi Steam users had to pay for games in US Dollars which leads to dramatically high prices for games in Iraq. The post quickly gained traction with Steam users from other parts of the world, many of whom have experienced the same sorts of pricing-related frustrations due to a lack of support for their local currency. To see the full post, click here.
to all my fellow gamers in or out of Iraq we need to add the Iraqi Dinar currency on Seam store and we can't do this with out u guys, it's really expensive paying with USD specially now with this economical situation, help us guys even if ur not a gamer we just hope steam will consider this from Steam
While Steam supports nearly 40 local currencies worldwide, gamers in unsupported countries are often forced to purchase games either in US Dollars or the currency of choice of their larger neighbors. This is the case for one Macedonian Redditor responding to EnkiduKun who noted that Steam users there must pay in Euros, with a AAA 60-70 Euro game representing nearly a third of the average Macedonian’s monthly salary. Other replies noted that support for local currencies could sometimes be a double-edged sword, leading to even higher prices for international gamers looking to load their cart during one of the popular Steam Sale events.
Even as it has become a dominating force in digital game sales, these posts show that not all gamers benefit equally from Steam’s global reach. Depending on where gamers live, even with the massive discounts available on Steam on a regular basis, it can be a pricey place to play.