Popular online game store and community Steam has announced it will be introducing regional pricing for Southeast Asian customers this year.
The company said in a blog post on Jan. 15 that in a recent business meeting with one of their core partners Valve, it was discussed that the site will accept Indonesian, Malaysian, Philippines’, Singapore and Thai currencies.
Australia, Japan and New Zealand are also on the list.
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Many members of the Steam online community are worried they’ll get shafted, the way it’s been like with Australian gamers for awhile.
Said one user on a Steam forum, “I’d really like to buy BNW (Brave New World), but I’m not paying AUD45 for it. Highway robbery, as usual. Drop the price to parity with the US for crying out loud.”
Gamers on this Singapore Reddit thread are generally unsupportive of the move, providing alternatives like GamersGate, Green Man Gaming and Qisahn should Steam games get expensive and generally inaccessible.
One user said adding SGD as an official Steam currency could go both ways. “Countries like Russia have it good, but Australia is a consistent shaft,” they said.
Top photo: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood via Steam Facebook
