European Steam Beta (lower UK prices)

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/12/12/steam-launches-european-beta/1

This is interesting.  Valve have launched a European beta option to their Steam website (not Steam itself), which changes prices for games to the native currency at more reasonable cost comparable to how much we would normally pay. Whereas normally we'd just pay the price converted directly from USD +VAT.

Previously on Steam a game like Left 4 Dead would translate from $50 to around £35 (inc VAT) bought through steam - which is how much I paid.  However with this european beta the game is now available at a more typical price for a PC game here - £27 - which I wish I had paid!

Check it out - some of the savings are great.  The biggest one being Bioshock going from $54(>£36 inc VAT) to £13!!  However, I dunno when or if they will pick up on this soon and change things to make more financial sense.

http://store.steampowered.com/?localizedcurrency=0

Awesome. It, unfortunately, doesn't translate to Danish currency but Euro instead.

Do you guys save much with this, paying in Euros rather than converted USD?  Would you have saved more if Danish currency was available?

Well, since it changed to Euro, it now costs about 7£ more for a game like Far Cry 2.

55$ = 303 in Danish currency
50 euros = 372 in Danish currency.

So, I'll stick to the US Steam shop for now. I doubt it would have been cheaper if it had been Danish. It would probably cost more

Really?  Its wierd how they decided to make it cheaper for us, yet more expensive for you.

Before of course for us in the UK, converting US prices over Steam related roughly to standard UK PC game prices (~£25) - but since the recession, the pound weakened and we were paying more than we wanted through converting US prices.  This new system works out for us making things cheaper again, encourages us to buy and so works for Valve too.

In your case, Valve were previously losing out by selling their games for less Euros than you would normally pay locally (is that right? something like $50=35E vs 50E local retail?)  So this beta means that you guys would just pay what you would locally, but an extortionate amount in USD. 

But at least you still have the choice to buy in USD - at the moment anyway.  If Valve eventually forced this new system on everyone, would it be unfair for them to charge you 'local retail' price and make a huge profit?

50 euros is actually still a bit lower than the recommended asking price.. About 3 euros cheaper actually. I don't really mind. It's a nice alternative. I think the added VAT will be changed too. So I don't really mind. I don't buy a lot of games on Steam. I prefer to have the discs

Most of my PC games dont require the disc once installed, and I prefer not having to go to my machine to swap discs around.  I'll get a crack if necessary.  I used to keep a big collection of discs on my shelf for show and so that I could have a box and a manual for each one - but going in to the digital distrbution age I dont see the point anymore. 

Valve seem to have now implemented their UK pricing scheme into the Steam app itself now - so I guess the prices will be permanent now.  Or just until the £ gets strong again.  Bioshock is still £13.

Any European folks confirm if they did the same with the higher Euro pricing yet?  Wouldn't be surprised if they didnt.