Valve announced an update to Steam’s pricing conversion tools for game developers on March 28. While Steam gives developers full reign over determining prices for their games, the conversion tools are designed to help with setting regional prices for each of the platform’s 37 supported currencies by offering recommendations.
These recommended prices are based not only on exchange rates, but factors like local purchasing power, and with the new update, Valve has refreshed its conversion data to better reflect current market conditions around the world. Additionally, whereas Steam previously offered only one recommended conversion method, developers will now be able to choose from the following three methods when setting regional prices (quoted fully via Valve):
- Exchange Rate Conversion: This method uses a simple currency exchange rate at the time indicated on the page.
- Purchasing Power Conversion: This method uses public data about the average purchasing power of customers within a given country and/or region.
- Multi-variable conversion: This method uses multiple data sources for each currency, including local purchasing power, the expected cost of comparable entertainment goods, and exchange rate.”
According to Valve, the “multi-variable conversion method” is closest to the recommended prices previously shown in the tool. The company has also released a pricing explorer tool that lets you see how major USD price points will convert into each currency based on the three different methods. The information provided here suggests that game prices in Japanese yen are likely to be impacted with the update.
For example, for a game priced at $15.99 USD:
- Exchange rate conversion: ¥2,500 (as of March 28, 2026)
- Purchasing power conversion: ¥1,600
- Multi-variable conversion: ¥2,050
Previously, the recommended Japanese price for a $15.99 game was ¥1,800, making the new multi-variable conversion pricier. Not only that, but the new exchange rate conversion, which reflects the yen’s severe depreciation against the dollar, bumps the price up by over 10%. While pricing ultimately remains to be decided at each developer’s discretion, many Japanese gamers on X have taken the news as an indicator that games are bound to become more expensive going forward.
Valve previously updated its conversion tool in October 2022. At the time, the company stated it would increase the frequency of its updates to respond more quickly to economic changes, but in practice, updates have been infrequent. Back in October 2022 (during the COVID-19 pandemic), for example, the Polish złoty experienced harsh fluctuations against the dollar. As a result, Steam’s recommended prices for the region rose sharply, leading to many voices calling for Valve to revise its conversion method, along with campaigns urging developers to manually adjust prices for the Polish market.
Complaints about pricing conversions were not limited to Poland either, and Valve has now finally updated its pricing data. In addition, developers can now choose from multiple conversion options. In Poland, prices under all methods are now lower than before, with purchasing power-based conversion resulting in less than half of previous recommended prices. Similarly, prices in Japanese yen on could also change through future updates.
