After regulative push, Steam now reveals the most affordable video game rates for EU gamers
Valve complies with the European Union’s (EU) recent legislation, which requires online merchants to employ more openness to its users.
Steam now displays the lowest price a game has been over the last 30 days in the EU.
The “Omnibus Directive,” a new piece of legislation that went into effect on May 28th, requires all online retailers to prominently display a product’s 30-day low price. While Valve’s present rate control restrictions are useful, the transparency provided by the EU Directive is welcome by both consumers and developers.
Steam costs in the EU
It would appear that the goal is to prevent unexpected increases in a game’s price just before a final drop. Despite having been in the works for some time, the timing of The Directive’s release couldn’t be better, what with Steam recently raising prices for PlayStation games in countries like Japan and Chile.
According to the Omnibus Directive, whenever a discount is mentioned, readers should assume that the dealer has been using the old rate for some specified amount of time before applying the discount. The term “previous cost” refers to the seller’s lowest price “throughout a time period not much shorter than 30 days prior to the application of the price decrease.”
The revised EU policies align with Valve’s current stance on pricing on Steam. In 2022, it released revised guidelines that made rate-based discounts available to designers more regularly. It also promised more regular updates to local prices in the shop and a better process for developers to deal with currency conversions.
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