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Valve divides Europe

If you’ve been reading the Steam forums or our forums lately you probably noticed that right now Valve divided Europe into some crazy 3 different zones.

Our friend Rhonin the wizard calls them tiers so lets just keep it that way.

So what’s it all about? It’s pretty simple, right now if you live in: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Netherlands, Sweden or Switzerland you’re paying the most in the Steam Store. You’re in Tier 1.

If you’re from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain or the Vatican City you’re paying a little bit less then the previous Tier. You’re in Tier 2.

And finally if you’re from Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania you’re paying the least for the games on Steam. You’re in Tier 3.

Here’s an example:

Team Fortress 2
Tier 1: 19,99€
Tier 2: 14,99€
Tier 3: 11,99€

More examples here.

Note: This conversion involves Valve games only!

United Kingdom is NOT on the list because UK has pounds as their currency, and apparently for Valve UK is not a part of Europe or the European Union.

What do you guys think about it? Is it better now, is it fair at all? Or is it totally wrong? I personally think that right now it’s even worse than it was before, they divided European Union/Europe like some countries are “worse” than others.

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Comments

22 responses to “Valve divides Europe”

  1. Crembo Avatar
    Crembo

    #13 is right really… There are some corrections to be made, but yea.. We (Lithuanians) earn much less than people in Denmark or NL.

    Reply
  2. Batisda Avatar
    Batisda

    #13
    Have not really looked at it that way : /
    But it aint this new “Valve divides Europe” thing Im thinking the most of, its more Steams pricing systen in general.

    Reply
  3. EightySeven Avatar
    EightySeven

    cus ur country (Denmark) and mine (Netherlands) are like 3 times as rich as countries such as Estonia and pretty much noone could buy games in Estonia cus of high prices ..

    Reply
  4. Batisda Avatar
    Batisda

    #9
    What Im saying is, that with such a high price differnce, then its just useless imo : /
    Why cant they just have the same prices all over instead?

    Reply
  5. Crembo Avatar
    Crembo

    Made just for you guys.

    Reply
  6. Amadeus Avatar
    Amadeus

    Fuck.

    Reply
  7. EightySeven Avatar
    EightySeven

    Batisda you think they should charge the same to a 3 times poorer country then urs?

    I mean i think this is pretty fair except for a few exceptions
    Just the higher prices compared to the UK and USA which are simalar countries to the tier 1 in europe get better deals

    Reply
  8. emka Avatar
    emka

    Tier 2 is not that bad but meh, still more for nothing.

    Reply
  9. Batisda Avatar
    Batisda

    Comment to the article: WTF!?
    Comment to Steam: As long as you dont have the same prices all over (the world), then I dont like you.. I dont mind playing on your system, but buying games from you will never happen again, unless you manage fix this crap.
    Makes no sence at all.

    Reply
  10. EvilRebel Avatar
    EvilRebel

    IMO this looks like it could be a step in the right direction. Is it possible that they are currently working at making the prices equal to the rest of the world but somehow didn’t manage to make the change Europe-wide at once? The only thing that doesn’t make sense is tier 3.

    Reply
  11. EightySeven Avatar
    EightySeven

    looks pretty GDP based too me except for norway which doesnt have VAT
    and dont know what Macedonia, Albania and Andorra are doing in Tier 1 :)

    Reply
  12. Shim Avatar
    Shim

    Unbelievable…
    How did they come up with these tiers? Pick the countries from a hat, totally random?

    Maybe GDP based tiers would make more sense.

    But we all now Valve lost it’s sense some time ago:

    Reply
  13. EightySeven Avatar
    EightySeven

    well there is also good news the empire total war downloadable contect is fairly priced €2,5 $3,5 and 2 pounds

    Reply
  14. Crembo Avatar
    Crembo

    Well I live in Lithuania, tier 3 and well it’s a good thing for me. But I feel sorry for everyone else that still has to pay so much.

    Reply
  15. H4ndy Avatar
    H4ndy

    The idea is OK, I have no problem to pay in Germany more than in an “eastern state” like Hungary.

    The problem is, all Tier 1 “citizens” still pay much more then the US or UK, which is ridiculous (still the 1€ != 1$ problem).

    Reply

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