How Steam Regional Pricing Works

Steam regional pricing means the same game can cost vastly different amounts depending on the country you're buying from. The single most useful fact to know: as of November 20, 2023, both Turkey and Argentina no longer have local-currency prices, they are priced in USD. That change killed the cheap-steam-region loophole that many used to buy games for a fraction of the US price. If you are comparing prices across countries or wondering about the rules, you need to understand how Valve's system actually works, not the old guides that still show TRY and ARS prices.

Valve does not set game prices. Instead, Steamworks documentation (Pricing / regional pricing recommendations) lists 119 suggested price tiers per currency, with a range from $0.99 USD to $999.99 USD. The system covers 39 active currencies as of the documentation's last update in October 2024. Publishers can freely ignore these recommendations and set any price they want.

The failure case: a publisher following Valve's suggestions still creates a price that may be much lower in one country than another. The gap is intentional, it accounts for differences in purchasing power. But it also creates the incentive to change your store zone, which is restricted by Valve's rules.

Valve's 2023 announcement (published October 27, 2023, effective November 20, 2023) moved both Argentina and Turkey from their local currencies (ARS and TRY) to USD-denominated pricing. This means a game in Argentina now shows a USD price, not a peso price. The same applies to Turkey. These areas remain in the LATAM and MENA pricing zones, but the currency change ended the extreme discounts that came from currency devaluation.

What this means for you: you cannot simply look up a steam turkey price or steam argentina usd price and expect a bargain. New releases in those areas now cost close to US prices. Older titles and indie games may still be cheaper if the publisher kept a lower USD price tier, but the days of paying 70% less by buying from Turkey are over.

Account for Tax and Exchange Rates

If you compare a game's price across two countries, you must account for three things: the listed price, the currency conversion, and the local tax. Steam does not hide taxes in the display price for most areas. For example, Turkey adds 18% VAT and Argentina adds 21% VAT. The US store typically shows prices without VAT. So a $59.99 game in the US may actually cost $59.99 at checkout, but the same game listed at $59.99 in Turkey will cost about $70.78 after tax.

To compare fairly, convert every price to a common currency using the exchange rate on the day you check. Do not use a fixed rate from last year. The Steam Support page for the wallet conversion notes that Valve uses market rates that change daily. If you skip the tax and exchange rate step, you will overestimate savings from a cheaper country.

The one exception: if you are looking at a steam account value, that number is not based on what you paid but on a formula Valve does not publish. Do not use regional pricing comparisons to estimate your account worth.

There is no single cheapest steam area. The cheapest area varies by game because publishers set individual prices. A publisher may set a low price for one country and a high price for another, or the reverse. The only way to find the cheapest area for a specific game is to check its price in multiple countries.

Use a third-party price comparison site that pulls Steam store prices. Do not guess based on area names. The cheapest area for one game may be the most expensive for another. The failure case: assuming an area is always cheap and not checking the actual price.

How to Change Your Store Country

Steam Support (Changing store country) lays out the rules. You can change your store country once every three months. To do it, you need a payment method issued in the new country, a credit card or PayPal account with a billing address there. A VPN alone will not work and can get your account restricted.

When you change, your wallet funds do not convert to the new currency. The remaining balance stays in the original currency and can only be spent in that currency's store. So if you have $50 in your wallet from the US store and you switch to a EUR country, that $50 stays as USD and you can only use it on the US store. You cannot combine it with your new EUR wallet.

The failure case: changing your country to access a cheaper price, then finding you cannot buy anything because your old wallet funds are locked to the old country, and your new payment method is not accepted for the purchase.

Gifting across countries is limited. A game purchased in one country can only be gifted to a friend in the same country. If you buy a game in Turkey and try to gift it to someone in the US, the gift will fail. The game is locked to the country where it was bought, not where it is played.

This restriction applies to both new purchases and keys from third-party resellers. If you buy a key from a site that sources from a cheaper country, the key may be locked and unplayable in your country. The failure case: buying a cheap key from a reseller, activating it, and finding it does not run.

Steam regional pricing suits budget-conscious buyers who are willing to compare prices for each game they want, using a price comparison site, and who understand that the cheapest area changes per title. It also suits travellers moving to a new country who plan to stay long enough to justify a country change using a local payment method.

It does not suit anyone looking for a permanent cheap area to buy every game from. The old cheap areas (Turkey, Argentina) are now USD-priced. Trying to change your store country just for a single discount will fail because of the three-month cooldown and payment method requirement. The single thing that most often goes wrong: people assume an area is cheap based on outdated information, buy a game, and find the price is the same as their home store or the key is locked.