Home Gaming Valve may be adding South African Rands to Steam. Digital tax incoming?

Valve may be adding South African Rands to Steam. Digital tax incoming?

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steamSA

People who’ve data mined the latest Steam beta build have discovered something that’s rather pertinent to those of us here at the bottom of Africa. It looks like Steam’s going to officially support the South African Rand – so you’ll be able to buy your games in ZAR. That may not be a good thing.

Here’s the data, as found in Steam’s latest build:

steam

While it does mean you’ll possibly no longer be charged for international currency transactions when you buy from Steam, it’s incredibly likely that this means that digital sales tax we heard so much about is finally hitting the PC gamer’s preferred platform. You’ll very likely have to pay VAT on your Steam games.

It’s might not be all bad. Steam usually has different pricing levels for third world countries; Brazil, Mexico, India and other countries benefit from a lower cost of games on Valve’s digital distribution platform, and it’s possible that we’ll see cheaper games on Steam, bring new PC game releases at least in line with physical, store-bought pricing. I very much doubt it though. The SA game industry still very much relies on the physical product, and I’m certain local distributors will do what they can to keep games at a cost that justifies opting for physical.

I’m honestly okay with that – as long as Valve doesn’t use the same currency converter’s that Sony Europe does when calculating PSN game prices.

[Thanks to Uberutang for the tip]

Last Updated: May 22, 2015

58 Comments

  1. Uberutang

    May 22, 2015 at 11:36

    🙂 They should region us with RU or Ukraine. 🙂

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      May 22, 2015 at 11:37

      I’d pay that sort of money for new games. 😛

      Reply

      • Uberutang

        May 22, 2015 at 11:38

        I often do. VPN is magical.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief's Adventure

          May 22, 2015 at 11:44

          You scoundrel you!

          😛

          Reply

          • Uberutang

            May 22, 2015 at 11:49

            na mate. I see my self as a Terran not a saffa, so I go where the price is best. Screw this regional bs. Bring on the new world order single currency!

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            May 22, 2015 at 11:57

            Haha, that is wise, henceforce, I shall be known as a Terran

          • Blood Emperor Trevor

            May 22, 2015 at 12:00

            Hello Terran…

          • Kensei Seraph - Terran Ghost

            May 22, 2015 at 12:03

            I’ve always been a Terran.
            I’m just trying to figure out how to get a CRIUS H.E.S. and a C-10 Mark VI rifle now.

          • Admiral Chief's Adventure

            May 22, 2015 at 12:18

            XD

          • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

            May 22, 2015 at 22:58

            Is there really a big price difference? Examples if possible please? 😀

    • Hammersteyn

      May 22, 2015 at 11:37

      Stop making sense!

      Reply

    • Ranting Raptor

      May 22, 2015 at 11:46

      Yes please!!

      Reply

    • Kromas,powered by windows 10.

      May 22, 2015 at 11:46

      NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! My wallet can’t handle steam sales anymore. When they do that sales won’t matter as every day is gonna be sale day!

      Reply

  2. Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

    May 22, 2015 at 11:38

    Please no

    Reply

  3. Mark Treloar

    May 22, 2015 at 11:40

    Time to invest in vaseline, we are about to get screwed.

    Reply

  4. Kensei Seraph

    May 22, 2015 at 11:41

    And the worst news of the week award goes to this and The Witcher 3 bugs articles.

    Reply

  5. Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

    May 22, 2015 at 11:42

    If only Steam’s currency was linked to your “address”. Because it’s easy to set up a US one.

    Reply

  6. Trevor Matrix

    May 22, 2015 at 11:44

    Never trust people who do not know that she is called Tinker Bell.

    Reply

  7. Admiral Chief's Adventure

    May 22, 2015 at 11:45

    THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS!!!

    Reply

    • Trevor Matrix

      May 22, 2015 at 11:45

      Happy thoughts? How can there be happy thoughts if some “journalist” does not know it is Tinker Bell! My happy place is ruined! RUINED I TELL YOU!!!!

      Reply

  8. Valshen

    May 22, 2015 at 11:52

    Good job on thanking Uber for his tip, otherwise next time you would get the whole orangutan.

    Reply

  9. hairyknees

    May 22, 2015 at 11:52

  10. Krabby Paddy

    May 22, 2015 at 11:53

    Even if the price is more or less the same. $5 Just feels way cheaper than R60. I mean 5<60 right?

    Reply

  11. ReaperOfSquirrels

    May 22, 2015 at 11:54

    We already pay digital tax for Steam purchases. #justsaying

    Reply

  12. Mossel

    May 22, 2015 at 11:59

    I’m not sure what tax will be on digital goods, but take this example. New games on Steam are $60, that’s roughly R720. If they are going to make new games R600 we will be gaining.

    Reply

    • Kensei Seraph - Terran Ghost

      May 22, 2015 at 12:02

      + 14% VAT = R684

      Someone check my math please, I’m out of practice.

      Reply

      • Mossel

        May 22, 2015 at 12:03

        Yes that’s correct. So it’s still cheaper than R720. Also I’m pretty sure they will make it competitive to retail stores where games are roughly R500.

        Reply

        • Aries

          May 22, 2015 at 12:08

          I was also thinking that, they have to compete with hard copies

          Reply

          • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

            May 22, 2015 at 12:13

            I really hope they do.

      • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

        May 22, 2015 at 12:18

        R720 vs R680.
        My only problem is that I might actually rather pay that extra R50 than give it to our useless ANC government to blow.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief's Adventure

          May 22, 2015 at 12:19

          ^This

          Reply

        • Matthew Holliday

          May 22, 2015 at 12:36

          just wait untill Eskom puts a candidate up for the next election.
          “power for the people” would be an ironic slogan.

          Reply

    • Captain JJ Hack&Slash&Dodge

      May 22, 2015 at 12:04

      That’s very true. Let’s hope they make it like that.
      Though I don’t see whether Steam would be so kind to implement it like that. They’ll be losing a lot of money going from $60 to R600. But you never know. We can be positive and hope it works out that way.

      Reply

      • Mossel

        May 22, 2015 at 12:07

        One can dream!

        Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      May 22, 2015 at 12:11

      exploitable, Americans would set a proxy to get south african prices.
      although i guess they already do to get the brazillian prices, so who knows.

      Reply

      • Kensei Seraph - Terran Ghost

        May 22, 2015 at 12:12

        Join the Terran army and enjoy premium Terran Steam pricing.
        Do you wish to know more?

        Reply

        • Thats_how_I_Troll

          May 22, 2015 at 12:24

          • Kensei Seraph - Terran Ghost

            May 22, 2015 at 12:42

            Work is now monitoring my internet so I want to avoid using gifs for now.

          • Thats_how_I_Troll

            May 22, 2015 at 13:03

            Why would that be?

            http://i.imgur.com/RnqcLTc.gif

          • Kensei Seraph - Terran Ghost

            May 22, 2015 at 19:22

            Actually they did catch several people downloading porn on the monitored network…
            Or at least that’s what I was told by one of the managers.

    • Kyle Farmer

      May 22, 2015 at 12:49

      but but but, GTA V was R800 in stores… as one example. Games will start to cost between R700 and R800, that’s my opinion. DLC Season passes at $29.99 will hit R400 or R500 a piece 🙁

      You heard it here first! 🙂

      Reply

      • Mossel

        May 22, 2015 at 13:27

        Dammit Kyle Farmer!!! Why would you say such things?!

        Reply

        • Kyle Farmer

          May 22, 2015 at 13:32

          NooooOOOOoooOOOO I’m sorry… I take it back!

          Reply

  13. SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

    May 22, 2015 at 12:05

    DotA 2 still free? Winning!

    Reply

    • Mossel

      May 22, 2015 at 12:08

      It’s still Dota2 though…xD

      Reply

      • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

        May 22, 2015 at 12:10

        Exactly! Winning!

        Reply

  14. Kensei Seraph - Terran Ghost

    May 22, 2015 at 12:05

    I just realised that if they bring in VAT it means a larger portion of my gaming money goes towards Nkandla’s future improvements.

    Reply

    • SargonTheBatpandaOfTI5

      May 22, 2015 at 12:06

      Jay Z is going to have the SICKEST home gaming theatre setup.

      Reply

  15. HairyEwok

    May 22, 2015 at 12:08

    Anything above R700 is just not worth it for me anymore….. and if the steam games gets taxed above that ill just make sure i get an EU account that would gift it all to my ZAR account for me.

    Reply

  16. Matthew Holliday

    May 22, 2015 at 12:09

    if it brings game prices down to R450-499 like actual retailers, then sure.
    if not… /care

    Reply

    • Galbedir

      May 22, 2015 at 12:30

      Most new PC game releases in SA are around the R499-R550 retail mark. So making the games MORE expensive digitally, when you don’t even get a CD or game case doesn’t make sense to me…if they want it to work, steam games should be around R499-500 on new releases. Otherwise people will just go buy the retail copy for cheaper.

      Reply

      • Matthew Holliday

        May 22, 2015 at 12:40

        R450-499 if you get them on preorder.
        just cause, batman and star wars battlefront are all R499 atm. witcher 3, dragon age inquisition and borderlands TPS were all R450.

        but yeah, point well taken, also thought the digital pricings were weird. never understood it. we could blame the exchange, but megarom are working some serious black magic for retail pricings.

        Reply

  17. Thats_how_I_Troll

    May 22, 2015 at 12:27

    Reply

  18. Wraith

    May 22, 2015 at 13:34

    “It’s might not be all bad.” *cringe*

    Reply

  19. 40 Insane Frogs

    May 22, 2015 at 14:55

    Yay? :/ Sigh! Sniff… sigh! Boo Hiss!

    Reply

  20. Riley

    May 24, 2015 at 17:48

    ???????? that’s a full enjoy with lazygamer……….. ?????? JOIN FREE

    Reply

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