PC parts in the US are often cheaper than the same components in South Africa, like an RTX 3080 Ti costing you R27,109.76 on Amazon vs R31,999 in South Africa.
Considering this, it’s easy to see why one would assume that game prices on Steam would also be higher in South Africa.
Consequently, MyGaming decided to investigate the regional price differences on Steam by using the database website SteamDB.
Using this site, you can compare the regional prices of any game on your local Steam store to several other regions.
For this article, we have compared the South African prices of some of the most popular games on Steam against the US and UK prices by converting them to Rand.
Find the comparison table below.
| Game | SA Price | US Price | UK Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELDEN RING | R849 | R904.01 | R986.03 |
| WWE 2K22 | R1069 | R904.01 | R986.03 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | R999 | R904.01 | R1084.66 |
| Total War: WARHAMMER III | R715 | R904.01 | R986.03 |
| Rust | R219 | R602.62 | R690.16 |
| It Takes Two | R649.95 | R602.62 | R690.16 |
| Forza Horizon 5 | R999 | R904.01 | R986.03 |
| God of War | R599 | R753.32 | R788.79 |
| Grand Theft Auto V: Premium Edition | R664.99 | R602.62 | R690.16 |
| Dread Hunger | R175 | R451.93 | R469.25 |
| ARK: Survival Evolved | R175 | R451.93 | R469.25 |
From these results, you can see that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, as 6 out of the 11 games listed are cheaper on the South African Steam store.
In some cases, the price difference is massive, like the R276.93 difference between Dread Hunger’s South African and US prices, which would result in you paying 158% more for the game in the US.
Additionally, there isn’t a single case where a game’s UK price was lower than the South African price.
The next time you lament seeing how much an upgrade kit will cost you, take solace in the fact that you are much better off than your British gaming brethren when it comes to the prices you pay for your games.
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