It is no secret that Steam is now the largest PC game reseller in the world, accounting for more than half of all PC games sold globally.
While the move towards digital distribution has been embraced in first world countries which have more developed and affordable broadband infrastructure, South Africa continues to lag in this regard thanks to our relatively expensive data tariffs.
RAGE
However, that is changing, and many gamers now use uncapped Internet services, making plausible the use of convenient digital retailers such as Steam.
Just how do local PC game prices compare to Steam prices?
Recently the Rand has taken a turn for the worse on the international market, losing value against the US dollar – the currency of used by Steam. We are obviously going to pay a bit more now when buying on Steam than we did a few months ago.
With that in mind, we compare Steam prices to the prices on offer from one of SA’s most competitive games resellers, Takealot.com.
Takealot’s pricing gives us an idea of what we can expect to pay for games when buying from local online retail stores.
We used a value of R7.86 = US$1.00. Bear in mind that the Rand/Dollar exchange rate is fluctuating quite a bit lately, so the prices indicated below are a guideline to prove the comparison.
| Takealot | Steam | |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 | R399 | $59.99 (R472) |
| Dead Island | R361 | $49.99 (R393) |
| RAGE | R295 | $59.99 (R472) |
| Heroes VI | R351 | $49.99 (R393) |
| The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim | R339 | $59.99 (R472) |
| Stronghold 3 | R257 | $49.99 (R393) |
| Deus Ex: Human Revolution | R361 | $49.99 (R393) |
Even if we take data costs out of the equation, with the current exchange rate Steam works out significantly more expensive than what we can expect to pay local retailers.
It would seem that local distributors have not yet reacted to the Rand’s recent dip in value.
Steam versus SA retail pricing << Comments adn views
Loading ...
