Steam Database (otherwise known as SteamDB) is the site to be for virtually all breaking news regarding new Steam developments, and this latest bit of news has to do with us locally.
According to a tweet by SteamDB, users have dug around in code of Steam’s latest beta build and discovered mention of currencies Steam does not currently support.
It’s assumed that these currencies will be included in future builds of Steam, one of which includes the South African Rand.
The latest Steam Beta build suggests that these new currencies are coming to Steam in the future. pic.twitter.com/RLCFXUNOEF
— SteamDB (@SteamDB) May 22, 2015
The question is then, is this a good thing?
A local currency in all likelihood means a higher price tag, although not significantly – we hope.
South Africa is far from a tax haven, it’s almost the exact opposite in fact, and we can imagine having our local currency represented on Steam having deleterious effects to our wallets.
We just hope that the proposed digital tax proposed for all digital goods remains postponed, otherwise we’re going to pay more for Steam games.
That said, Valve does seem to adjust prices according to tax and may very well lower prices when sold in Rand to accommodate. We’ll just have to wait and see how well off or screwed we are.
Either way, with Humble Bundle having recently had their Spring Sale, you should probably expect Steam’s to land soon.
Source: SteamDB
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Er, okay – so Steam lists the item in US$, then converts that to ZAR using their own fixed currency conversion rate, you buy it, pay with Paypal, which then converts it back into US$ (since Paypal doesn’t support ZAR yet), and you pay a higher US$ amount anyway?
Just register a US Steam account (using that VPN you’ve already got for Netflix anyway) and gift games to yourself. Until they start charging for gifting, that is.