Steam drops support for 2 fiat currencies over their volatlity - page 2.

pooya87

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From what I read here it sounds like it has nothing to do with volatility. It is about the fact that Valve couldn't (or maybe didn't want to) provide a service for its developers to automatically convert the price of their products into other currencies and they had to "hard code" it Cheesy

It is possible that as an American based company didn't want to go through the process of exchange the other fiat currencies they receive to their local currency, dollar. They are jut cleaning up by removing "extra" options. Just like they did with Bitcoin!

P.S. After some google search I'm willing to bet that the fact that Turkey and Argentina combined didn't even crack the top ten countries in the list of top sources of revenues of Steam, played the key role in excluding their currencies. Percentage-wise these two countries combined won't even reach 0.1% of the total revenue Wink

So yeah, it definitely had nothing to do with volatility...

Hispo

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I would have not expected Steam to stop supporting the Argentina Peso, to be honest.
Argentina is obviously one of the most important markets in Latinmerica for steam, obviously, people from that country will try to find new methods to continue to buy there through the use of USA dollars, like we do here in Venezuela, our currency is not supported either.

Also, perhaps not many of you know this, but many people from around the continent take advantage of the prices in Argentina to buy games cheaper both in the Steam shop and also in the Nintendo shop. Companies are aware of the economical crisis in Argentina, so they other their games way cheaper, so what people do is to try to change their accounts settings so the company believe the user is from Argentina allowing them to buy 60$ games for 30$.
That situation is detrimental to both developers and the store, equally.

Charles-Tim

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Quote from: Die_empty on October 30, 2023, 02:41:24 AM

USD for now is the most stable currency that could be used for international trade because of its relatively low volatility.

How about euro and pounds sterling. What I noticed is just that USD is more widely used and it is the most recognized.

Quote from: Die_empty on October 30, 2023, 02:41:24 AM

Hopefully, many top corporations will join the space when the price becomes stable in the future.

The more this type of organization know about lightning network, the more this will not become an issue. There are many wallets and exchanges that are supporting lightning network by now.

passwordnow

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Other gaming companies like Sony(Playstation) might do the same if they can no longer cover the volatility from these countries. These companies of course have to maintain their business composure and despite that they've got players from these countries or regions, they need to prioritize the goal of the company. I just wish that Valve would recognize bitcoin again and as well as other cryptocurrencies as an alternative for these regions. They have a pilot run test from these countries to start and have it back with the crypto support and see if it's going to work on the people there so that they won't just have a few options but they'll also have a lot of options to make to pay for the games that they have. Anyway, despite the drop of support for these fiat currencies, gamers will always be gamers and as long as there are other payment options available on them, they'll use that to purchase games, in-game items and other Steam products.

Die_empty

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Quote from: hatshepsut93 on October 29, 2023, 06:39:01 PM

Perhaps when Bitcoin will become stable and LN will be ready for mainstream use, Bitcoin will take its place among the strongest global currencies. But for now, the similar argument of price volatility can be used to reject Bitcoin from being adopted by a lot of merchants.

USD for now is the most stable currency that could be used for international trade because of its relatively low volatility. Most of these corporations have to make long-term projections and using highly unstable currencies like Turkish lira or the Argentine peso to make business decisions will always lead to some economic problems. Bitcoin will be a good currency for international trade but its speculative nature has increased its volatility. However, some big companies such as AT&T Inc., Starbucks, Microsoft Corporation, etc still accept bitcoin payments. Hopefully, many top corporations will join the space when the price becomes stable in the future.

Poker Player

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Well, it is not surprising because of the disastrous monetary policy in Argentina and Turkey that has led to very high inflation rates. As far as it is possible, the dollar is a less bad option and this has happened in several other countries, which ended up dollarized, which is what candidate Milei wants to do in Argentina.

adaseb

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Yeah I remember when Steam dropped bitcoin. This was nearing the top of the 2017 cycle and unlike the 2021 top, the fees on the bitcoin network then were actually very high. In 2021 the fees were low compared to 2017. The fees were bad for Ethereum instead.

It was like $20-40 to send a single 1 input and 2 output transaction. Not worth it for a small game. Also the issue with Bitpay was that you needed to pay the fees twice. First to send to a specific wallet address and then to send it to the Bitpays hot wallet. So I am not surprised they stopped accepting it. However lately they wouldn’t have these issues but since they never re added it its most likely due to small demand.

hatshepsut93

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PC Gamer: Valve is dropping local currency support for Turkey and Argentina amid 'exchange rate volatility,' moving to 'regionalized USD pricing' for 25 countries

Quote

"Exchange rate volatility in Argentina and Turkey in recent years has made it hard for game developers to choose appropriate prices for their games and keep them current," Valve explained. "We have heard this loud and clear in our developer meet ups and round table chats. In addition, we have had a hard time keeping Steam payment methods up and running in these countries/territories due to the constant foreign exchange fluctuations, fees, taxes, and logistical issues.

"Pricing games in USD for Steam customers in Argentina and Turkey will help us provide greater stability and consistency for players and partners, while also enabling us to continue to offer a variety of payment methods to Steam users in those countries/territories."

"Volatility" in this case appears to be a polite way of saying that the currencies in question have all but collapsed.

The switch to US currency in Argentina and Turkey will see them included in a new "regionalized USD pricing" bloc that includes 25 countries across two regions, Latin America and Middle East/North Africa. The other countries included in the new pricing regions did not previously have local currency support.

In the past Steam dropped the option of paying with BTC via BitPay because of customer complaints over high fees, delayed transactions and problems with the processor, and Steam never had intention of accepting Bitcoin directly. Now we see that fiat currencies are not immune from getting dumped by global corportations either.

Perhaps when Bitcoin will become stable and LN will be ready for mainstream use, Bitcoin will take its place among the strongest global currencies. But for now the similar argument of price volatility can be used to reject Bitcoin from being adopted by a lot of merchants.

Topic: Steam drops support for 2 fiat currencies over their volatlity - page 2. (Read 251 times)