Editorial: Gaming / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Instagram / News / Discord /Telegram Many governments around the world are looking for new ways to get resources through tax measures. This usually affects the population in general, but sometimes it also affects video gamers specifically. The clearest proof is that new measures by the Argentine authorities caused the price of games on Steam and other platforms to skyrocket by 75% due to new taxes. What happens is that the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic imposed a new tax on the card dollar. This is an exchange rate that refers to all payments made by credit or debit card for services billed in a foreign country. In other words, it affects services such as Netflix, Spotify and, of course, digital video game stores.
In case you missed it: “Of everything I earn, I charge 40%”, Argentine streamer will leave his country due to high taxes The worst of all is that, while music and television streaming services will have a lower charge, video games will have to pay the increase in Since the increase in the card dollar went from 35% to 45%, then, when adding the PAIS Tax (30%), we are talking about a tax burden of 75% for the purchase of video games on platforms such as Steam, Nintendo eShop or the PlayStation Store. Thus, a game that sells for $60 USD like ELDEN RING or Cyberpunk 2077 will cost between $13,500 ARS and $14,000 ARS in Argentina, depending on the store it is purchased from. This means that users they will have to pay between $105.63 USD and $109.55 USD per game, a real outrage.
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The situation hits Steam
Although it is a situation that affects all video game platforms, perhaps the bitterest drink is for the Steam community. We say this because the Valve store has regionalized prices, so it had become an excellent opportunity for the community to buy games without their pockets suffering much. The reason Steam is affected by this situation is that, although the consumer payment is not in dollars, Valve is a foreign company that is based in the United States. This is why it applies the 75% surcharge made on all purchases on its platform.
Find out: Valve recommended publishers to raise the price of Steam games in Argentina In this way, Steam users who want to know how much they will have to pay for their games will have to multiply the price that appears in the store by 1.75, although there are also browser extensions that they do it automatically. Let’s take as an example Final Fantasy VII Remake INTERGRADE, a brand new Steam release that is offered in exchange for $70 USD or $7700 ARS ($60.25 USD) in the case of Argentina. With the new tax burden, Argentine gamers will have to pay $13,475 ARS, something like $105.44 USD at the current exchange rate. With the above, a game service accessible to Argentine gamers such as Steam has the potential to cease to be. Of course, in localized prices, the price changes from distributor to distributor; however, it is a blow to an option that had positioned itself as the cheapest for gamers in Argentina. And you, what do you think about this situation? Leave your opinion in the comments. Follow this link to see more news related to the video game industry in Argentina.
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