Why are games priced in € (EUR) quoted the same as $ (USD)?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨NightOps@nord.pub⁩ to ⁨games@lemmy.world⁩

They’re not even the same currency at all, yet Steam or any other digital storefront decides to price a 80€ ($91) game the same as a $80 (69€) one when the conversions in reality are different to what the algorithm suggests. It’s reflected on Steam DB that Euro has a higher markup in comparison to US Dollar because of this, since I hear EU players nagging about paying 80€ at launch the same as US players don’t like paying $80.

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RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
It’s normal to price games lower in less privileged countries.

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- laut_sprecher@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  shots fired
  
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  - thisisbutaname@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    I heard it’s common over there
    
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dhork@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Do EU prices normally include VAT? US prices cannot include Sales Tax, because the tax can vary widely by State (or even by local government).

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- Kirp123@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Yes, game prices include VAT. In Europe any displayed prices be they in a supermarket or on an online store always include VAT. It’s not even allowed to advertise prices without including VAT.
  
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- TabbsTheBat@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Taxes are always included in europe, so yes… though im pretty sure even with the sales tax games in the US end up being cheaper :p
  
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  - tal@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    I dunno. If someone sets the price at the same number…let’s see.
    
    The current exchange rate is 1.1486 dollars per euro.
    
    www.tradingview.com/symbols/EURUSD/
    
    I’m pretty confident that VAT is higher than 14% in some countries in Europe.
    
    searches
    
    taxfoundation.org/…/value-added-tax-vat-rates-eur…
    
    This says 19% in Germany to 27% in Hungary.
    
    That assumes that whatever prices OP is looking at does indeed include VAT for the EU price (which would require knowing his location), and does not include sales tax in the US (which presumably is the case, if he’s not in the US, as there’d be no way to calculate sales tax anyway, since that would require a specific location in the US).
    
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setsubyou@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Part of it is that EU countries charge VAT on digital sales and prices must include it, while in the US there’s sales tax instead, which depends on the state and is only added at checkout time (and also often lower or even zero for digital goods). For example if I pay 80 Euro in Germany, then Steam gets to keep 67 because those 80 Euro include 19% VAT.

The other part is that in a market economy, prices are determined by what generates the most profit, and not necessarily related to cost or based on fairness. EU customers apparently pay 80 Euro often enough that it makes more money than 60 or 100 Euro so developers set their price to 80 Euro.

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schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Since digital copies cost nearly zero to make, prices of digital goods such as video games are completely arbitrary anyway; they are set to whatever people are willing to pay.

The conversion rate between EUR and USD is so ridiculously close to 1 that it makes sense to treat them as essentially equivalent. If you don’t, you’ll just spend unnecessary effort converting to and from numbers that aren’t round.

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- Pofski@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  1 dollar equals 87 euro cents. How is that ridiculously close?
  
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  - schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
    Compared to many other currency conversions in the world, it is very close. When I read prices in USD, I think of them as euro prices in my head.
    
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- Squizzy@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  All prices are set to what people are willing to pay
  
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  - schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    But for physical goods, the minimum price is what the store paid for acquiring or producing it in the first place. That isn’t a consideration for digital goods.
    
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thingsiplay@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Steam or any other digital storefront decides to price a 80€ ($91) game the same as a $80 (69€)

Steam itself does not decides the prices.

Regional prices is meant to be uneven, as countries have different living standards and the conversion rate is not always the same.

Question:

European prices include taxes already. Does the US price shown with or without taxes before checkout? I don’t know that actually. This could be another factor in different price shown.
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- xilophor@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Sales tax in the US doesn’t get added until you hit “continue to payment” in the cart
  
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Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Since the marginal cost of selling additional digital copies is zero, I’d hazard that it’s priced that way because Europeans will pay that much and companies like to get money

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AmidFuror@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
In Soviet Russia, State price games and then games play you!

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UnfortunateShort@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I like how the correct answer is written here multiple times and yet people choose to upvote others

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