Valve has launched support for the rand in Steam, its online store for video games and software.
The company told its South African customers in an e-mail last week that it would support the rand soon.
It warned that if your Steam wallet has money in it on 10 November 2015, your US dollar balance will be converted into Rand at the relevant market value exchange rate.
Rumours that Steam would sell video games in Rand surfaced earlier this year when the Steam Database discovered ten new currencies within a beta build of the software.
Issues
PayPal is not currently a supported payment option for South Africa now, though. Visa and MasterCard credit cards, WebMoney and Skrill/Moneybookers still appear to be supported.
It is also not possible to switch back to paying in US dollars, said Valve.
VAT is still not denoted separately on the invoice when you buy games, but Steam continues to display the message “VAT included in all prices where applicable” on product listings and at checkout.
After the switch to rand, there are also a number of games that are no longer available for purchase in South Africa.
Valve said this should be temporary, and that games should be available as soon as they are priced in ZAR.
“No changes have been made to the contents of your library. All of the languages and features in the games that existed when the store was priced in USD are still available.”
The table below shows a comparison between US prices converted to rand using the current exchange rate (R14.26 per dollar), and the new rand prices listed on Steam.
| Game (normal price) | USD | ZAR |
| Fallout 4 | $59.99 (R855) | R799 |
| Assassin’s Creed Syndicate | $59.99 (R855) | R599 |
| Grand Theft Auto V | $59.99 (R855) | R589 |
| Football Manager 2016 | $49.99 (R713) | R489 |
| Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor | $49.99 (R713) | R489 |
| Talos Principle | $39.99 (R571) | R409 |
| Stasis Deluxe Edition | $36.99 (R527) | R349 |
| Stasis | $24.99 (R356) | R249 |
| Broforce | $14.99 (R213) | R159 |
| Game (on promotion) | USD | ZAR |
| Grand Theft Auto V (33% off) | $40.19 (R573) | R394.63 |
| Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (66% off) | $16.99 (R242) | R166.26 |
| Talos Principle (66% off) | $13.59 (R194) | R139.06 |
| Broforce (33% off) | $10.04 (R143) | R106.53 |
| R/$ = R14.26 | ||
It’s good news then
We won’t deny that we were one of the naysayers of this migration, but for good reason. It might very well have meant the implementation of South Africa’s digital tax (a VAT on all digitally sold goods and services) on games, a luxury we already break the bank monthly for.
Granted, digital tax over and above games that cost R50 odd isn’t that big of a deal, but what about when it’s applied to a game that’s already R800?
Fortunately, for the moment it seems like we’re getting away with cheaper prices, so we can put the torches and pitchforks away; there’s no need to storm the gates of our federal treasurer… yet.
Besides, we’re not going to argue that a digital tax is a wholly evil device dead set on punishing the consumer for the sake of the government. There are legitimate reasons for its implementation.
Governments rely on the capital generated from taxes to keep the country running, and without a digital tax our country’s capital would effectively shrink as our economy became more and more digitally inclined – an inevitability.
And for as much as we love our cheap games, digital distributors like Steam, uninhibited by local taxes, will trounce the prices of local retailers – we’re not so callous that we want local stores to suffer. It’s impossible for them to compete without a digital tax in place as they have to apply the tax.
The exorbitant prices we play on everyday amenities like petrol or groceries isn’t BT Games or Takealot’s fault.
And if you really still want to pay for your Steam games in dollars then there’s always digital retailers like Humble Bundle, Greenman Gaming and many more, all of which go through their own discount and saving cycles – CheapShark is a great way to monitor the prices of a game over multiple retailers.
And then there’s always the likes of good ol’ GoG.com.
Written in collaboration with an article that originally appeared on MyBroadband and is republished with permission.
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This is all fine and great for some much older games that are in the $15 or less bracket but the new games are a problem. Why would I buy new games for example, Fallout 4 on Steam for their current price of R800 when I could buy a physical disk from a online retailer like RARU, Takealot etc for R600. As we all know console games are more expensive when new than their PC counterparts, but Steams price for the PC version is around R70 more than I would even pay for the PS4 or XBone disks for Fallout 4 or any other new game. Steam is going to have to do something to be competitive, when I can buy the same game for R200 less, while at the same time getting Physical media, which also means less downloading (which is especially important for us with slow connections).
I understand that $60 is not R600 rand, but things will need to change otherwise Steam will see the entire of South Africa not buying new games from them.