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Not an expert, but surely regional pricing makes sense for countries with a much lower average income (or the reverse). I want people all round the world to pl

by hazz99 7y ago

Not an expert, but surely regional pricing makes sense for countries with a much lower average income (or the reverse). I want people all round the world to play my games, not just those fortunate enough to be born where their dollar is strong enough to make it affordable. Disclaimer: I don't really know anything about exchange rates or value of money across borders. Cost of living and average income rates are complex!

hedora 7y ago
It has been proven again and again that price discrimination leads to better market efficiency (more people get to use the product, and the seller makes more), but it is also true that pretty much everyone viscerally hates it. Note that lowering the price during a sale, and lowering the price over time are other forms of price discrimination. (Here, the seller wastes the buyers’ time in exchange for a monetary discount, so people with less money and more time tend to get bigger discounts). Also, different regions have different costs of living, even when the currency is the same. In the Bay Area, a game on steam costs as much as renting an apartment for a few hours. In the middle of the country, that same game costs almost half a week’s rent for a comparable apartment. From that perspective, it really doesn’t make sense to charge the same amount, even in the same country. For physical goods, the solution is simple: just charge different amounts at different stores, and hope the cost of shipping prevents arbitrage. Also, for some reason people hate special discounts and coupons less than regional pricing. I wonder if steam could start selling points in the form of account-locked gift cards that are discounted differently in different markets. Maybe people would hate that less. They’d need better support for blocking mass game reselling across regions, but I’d guess that can be fixed with fraud detection.
- aeorgnoieang 7y ago
  > ... price discrimination leads to better market efficiency ... but it is also true that pretty much everyone viscerally hates it. The same dynamic is true for markets generally and even economic thinking; truly sad facts!

by hazz99 7y ago

hedora 7y ago

It has been proven again and again that price discrimination leads to better market efficiency (more people get to use the product, and the seller makes more), but it is also true that pretty much everyone viscerally hates it. Note that lowering the price during a sale, and lowering the price over time are other forms of price discrimination. (Here, the seller wastes the buyers’ time in exchange for a monetary discount, so people with less money and more time tend to get bigger discounts). Also, different regions have different costs of living, even when the currency is the same. In the Bay Area, a game on steam costs as much as renting an apartment for a few hours. In the middle of the country, that same game costs almost half a week’s rent for a comparable apartment. From that perspective, it really doesn’t make sense to charge the same amount, even in the same country. For physical goods, the solution is simple: just charge different amounts at different stores, and hope the cost of shipping prevents arbitrage. Also, for some reason people hate special discounts and coupons less than regional pricing. I wonder if steam could start selling points in the form of account-locked gift cards that are discounted differently in different markets. Maybe people would hate that less. They’d need better support for blocking mass game reselling across regions, but I’d guess that can be fixed with fraud detection.

aeorgnoieang 7y ago
> ... price discrimination leads to better market efficiency ... but it is also true that pretty much everyone viscerally hates it. The same dynamic is true for markets generally and even economic thinking; truly sad facts!