Steam is a total rip-off and con. Fuck Valve - Fuck Steam - Fuck Doug Lombardi - Fuck Gabe Newell

[Casper]

It is well know, and despised, that prices on Steam are region specific and discriminatory. Here is a recent example to illustrate just how bad things really are, especially for Australians. I added seven games to my cart, with six being very recent titles and an older one. The difference between the US and AU storefronts is a whopping $180. Utter insanity. Only a total moron or uninformed fool would purchase those games from the Australian storefront at those inflated prices. I would not hesitate or have any qualms in calling this a form of extortion and protectionism. Whatever you want to describe it as, Valve should be taken to task by a government regulatory body in the United States or other countries. Where are those softcock fag EU ministers now? The poor schleps in the EU have it about as bad as Australians, what with corrupt Valve charging them in euros. I have seen a recent article where Valve's lap dog vice president of marketing, Doug Lombardi, tried to spin this phenomenon thusly:

AusGamers: One of the big things then, that has come as a result of the selling side is regional pricing, which we happen to take a bit of a punch in the face in Australia over. Obviously, it’s a digital distribution platform, so you’re not really buying physical copies of anything. How do you guys work that pricing system out, because some games are 40 dollars here in the US but even with our dollar as strong as yours it’s still 80, 90 dollars in Australia.

Doug Lombardi: It’s something that’s just really hard to navigate. The value of currencies, especially in today’s market are going up and down. When we launched Steam, the Canadian dollar was about 60 cents to the American dollar; today it’s flat even. And there’s just tonnes of currencies around the world and we’re constantly trying to match that and work with the third-party publishers and how they want to price their games in what territories and when they want to release. So it’s constantly something that there’s a big army of people downstairs on the Steam team that are trying to manage, to give the best possible results to gamers and publishers for their games.

There’s a balancing act there. Some places we get it more accurately on than we do in other places, but we’re trying to listen to people and adjust things to make sure that it’s a level playing field and that folks are getting a higher service value at the right price for their games.

And folks vote with their dollars. If we’re getting it really, really wrong, that territory or that country will turn off and we have to stop and scratch our heads and say “well where did they all go and what happened? Was it a pricing issue and we need to resolve it?” But it’s something that we’re aware of and we’re constantly trying to manage, but I think it’s going to be one of those things where it’s always going to be an ongoing effort, because markets and currencies are always changing. We’re never just going to get it right, freeze it, and it’s always going to be okay.

First, I'd like to point out what a total and complete utter fucking moron the AusGamers "journalist" is. Is he trembling in the presence of Doug the douchebag? Why do I say this? For two reasons based on his weak sauce question. First, he says "we happen to take a bit of a punch in the face in Australia". What? a bit of a punch? A bit of a punch would be when the same game is maybe, at most, a few dollars different. What's happening and has been happening for years is total rape. We get bent over, our clothing ripped off, our anuses spat on for quick lubrication (not to save us any additional pain being fucked dry, rather save Valve some slight discomfort) and get rammed so hard we spit the cum right out our stupid fag mouths. Secondly, he mentions the value of the Australian dollar giving the shill the perfect opening for his cop-out excuse bullshit rambling. We have always, and are still, purchasing subscriptions (yes, that's all we are really buying) in UNITED STATES dollars. So why mention the value of the Australian dollar? It has no bearing at all on the price difference. None at all! Either the "journalist" does not understand the situation, is a total idiot, or a collaborator of sorts. Whatever he is, he's also a weak pussy who no doubt was honored just to be in the presence of mighty Doug Lombardi.

As for Doug's "answer"? Fuck that shill and his whore mother. He answered nothing - absolutely nothing. He rambled on about the value of currency as if it has anything to do with the situation at hand. It doesn't. If I buy Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which is the same price for both regions, at $49.99, Valve gets USD$49.99. It doesn't matter that I'm in Australia and pay with Australian dollars. It gets converted and Valve gets the asking price -in US dollars-, period. Even a few years ago when the Australian dollar was weaker or even considerably weaker, this just meant that due to the dollar value, we would have technically paid more - although the "game" would still have cost us USD$49.99. That's OK. That has nothing to do with Steam prices. It's mainly to do with the country's economy. Steam should have one worldwide price, in US dollars. They don't want this because a healthy portion of their profits would disappear overnight.

If anyone is dumb enough, and frankly, plenty of you (yes you) are, to entertain the idea that the value of currencies has anything to do with their pricing policy, think about why this isn't across the board. As of today, there are approximately 1708 titles available on Steam. The majority are still identically priced. Think about that. Further, I remind you that no matter how bad your currency is, that doesn't matter to Valve or to the game publisher - they get their money in US dollars. The value of your currency does not matter when you pay in their currency. Understand, moron?

[Mario]

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