Is this another person whining about steam prices when steam isn't the one who sets those prices? Sounds like it
Plus, why do you think the price should be lower just because you don't make enough? Games are a luxury, and they're priced to get a profit based on their development costs. That development didn't happen in Turkey, it happened in the US, or the UK, or Canada, etc... all countries that are going to generate higher costs during development and will be priced as such. This is akin to petitioning BMW to drop their price because you don't make enough to buy it. Well... that sucks, but you're not special in not making enough to afford luxuries... and that includes games. I can't afford all the games I want either.
Um, you price things for the local market. Many games have lower prices in poorer countries. Many. Such countries would include Turkey.
You are talking out your ass and ASSuming that you know anything of what you are talking about, while in fact this isn't remotely the case.
A BMW is a luxury version of a specific item, the car. It has to compete with other transport. If people can't afford it, they use different transport.
Games are also luxury items but they are part of the general sphere of things called "entertainment". If you price your entertainment good at a price the local market can't bear, they will buy a different entertainment good, or pirate it, if it's something they can pirate (music, films, games etc).
For this reason, games are typically priced competitively for the local market against other local goods, in this case local entertainment goods. Local entertainment goods do, in fact, include various products made both locally, and made in more expensive countries, but because they are all being SOLD in the same market, they are competing for the same buyers with the same disposable income pool, and are usually priced as such. Especially when they are near zero cost goods, such as games.
If you look at Mexico, Russian, Eastern Europe, there are pricing tiers for various services, including Steam and also Origin etc. This is because local markets have local pricing.
In this instance, Steam (since Valve advises on prices, it's probably Steam) has decided to advise people to price their goods too highly. Unless all the publishers decided to change their prices at the same time?
http://steamunpowered.eu/valve-divides-europe/
Also to note, European countries have VAT ranging from 15% to around 29% (IIRC), yet for all countries within one tier, which may all have different VAT levels with up to ~14% difference, the price is the same. This means the Tier 1 vs Tier 2 (as it has been condensed to now as Tier 3 has been removed) isn't due to VAT, but due to local pricing decisions. Since Steam is the one who decides your country's pricing tier, they have significant influence, although a developer can just set the same price for Tier 1 and Tier 2 European countries.
And then of course there's the fact that in many locations, Steam prices for digital copies are more expensive than physical boxed copies, so you could just buy a physical copy and then put the key into Steam and save money that way, because Steam pricing is stupid.
Civ: Beyond Earth:
UK: £30 ($48.27). Amazon digital download £25 ($40.22)
Russia: 1199 Rubles ($28.618)
Europe (Tier 1 and 2): €50 ($63.35)
US: $50
They have a fun trick on Steam in the UK where they put the "original" price and then pretend they have discounted it by 33% or so (in this case from £40 to £30) because the £40 price is absurd and while it would make it comparable to mainland Europe's prices, it's crazy high compared to what you can get it from elsewhere in the UK, so they can't realistically charge that price, so we get a cheaper price than the rest of Europe due to local competition from boxed copies/Amazon. Because that's how the market works.
Now, Steam doesn't set every price for every game, but they do advise prices, and if they just launched a new pricing service, do you think they are going to go back to every developer and ask them to set a price in Turkish Lira for the games they have published over the last 10 years, or are they going to set prices which translate the current/old USD prices into a new Lira price? Because I doubt they waited to get responses from every developer/publisher for every game and piece of DLC listed on Steam in order to set a specific price for every item available. That is also an assumption, but IMO a realistic one given how much is on Steam and the below quotes.
http://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/FAQ.php
"3. Who sets the price for my game on Steam?
Pricing is very title specific, and we've got a lot of data and experience to help you decide on what the best price is for your title. We'll work with you to figure out pricing."
http://www.pcgamer.com/the-weird-ecomomics-behind-steam-prices-around-the-world/
The next step is determining the price for other regions. When you submit a game to Steam, Valve automatically suggests prices for local currencies in other regions. You have the option to change these numbers at will, but a suggestion is made. It's unclear how exactly these suggested prices are determined—likely a combination of current exchange rates, regional sales trends, and other factors. (Valve did not respond to our request for comment.)
In summary:
Steam usually has cheaper prices for regions with lower average incomes because they need to be competitive in that market to get sales of the product.
Steam suggests prices for publishers, and often in new regions will use a default price set by Steam/Valve if the publisher doesn't specify something else.
Prices are set not according to where it was developed but to maximise income from the local region, which means they will typically aim to be competitive to other entertainment in that area, and not price themselves out of the market.
As such, informing Valve that their pricing sucks and is pricing products out of the market is something that might make them change THEIR approach, because clearly it's not sensible.
Facebook
Twitter