Fuji TV and Bandai Namco have announced they’re porting the first two games based on GameCenter CX to Switch. The bad news is that, right now, they’re only launching in Japan.
16.08.2023 - 16:43 / pcgamer.com
Remember last October, when Steam updated its pricing guidelines for non-US currencies, resulting in recommended price increases of anywhere from 18% to 485%? Well an update from Valve has announced that now the platform is changing its minimum price thresholds to match those recommendations, and the long and short of it is that any game at Steam's cheapest price point is about to get a little more expensive outside the US.
Steam's lowest possible base price point is 0.99 US dollars (not including free and free-to-play games). That's not changing, but what is changing is what $0.99 translates to in non-US currencies «to adjust for some currencies drifting significantly in value over time».
That means that games purchased using Euros, Pesos, or some other currency are getting a bit more expensive if they're currently priced at the lowest level Steam permits. What's more, how much they can be discounted is changing, too. The lowest price Steam will let you charge for a game on sale is 50% of its minimum base price, meaning 49 cents, but as with the base price itself, what 49 cents translates to outside the US is being revised upwards in line with its October pricing recommendations update.
We could use a game like Vampire Survivors as an example: That game's Argentinian price currently translates to about $0.85, according to SteamDB. Presumably, Poncle will have to ratchet that up a notch or two if it wants to continue selling the game in Argentina.
This news probably isn't too painful for people like me in the UK—despite, well, everything that's happened to this country's economy over the last seven years—but it could be significantly more wounding for Steam users in less developed economies. Steam's October pricing recommendations bumped up prices in Turkish Lira and Argentinian Pesos by 454% and 485%, respectively. If $0.99 games were still being translated to Steam's pre-October pricing guidelines before now, Argentinian and Turkish users could be in for a very nasty shock.
Valve is leaving it up to devs and publishers to update their pricing themselves. If they don't, and their games fall below the minimum pricing threshold in any particular currency, that game simply won't be available for purchase in that currency until it gets raised. And if you really want to sell something—perhaps a microtransaction—at a lower price? Why, Valve has an answer for that, too: Have you ever heard of its microtransactions API and the Steam Item Store?
Fuji TV and Bandai Namco have announced they’re porting the first two games based on GameCenter CX to Switch. The bad news is that, right now, they’re only launching in Japan.
Starfield officially arrives September 6, but it has already begun breaking records on Steam. The expansive space RPG hit an all-time peak of 248,632 concurrent players, at the time of writing, which goes to show how impatient players have been for Bethesda's latest. For the uninitiated, those who aren't willing to wait for the official launch can purchase the Rs. 6,699/ $100 Premium Edition of the game and play it early. This is applicable across both Steam and Xbox platforms, with even Game Pass members willing to fork over $31.49/ Rs. 2,519 for early access, despite the title being essentially free for them.
A new smartphone from Huawei Technologies Co. has reignited debate over chip technology and China's ability to skirt US-led curbs. In reality, last week's release of the Mate 60 Pro shows that the success of sanctions is painted in shades of grey, with the true impact yet to come.
As Starfield players work through the early access period they’re getting to grips with the game’s robust ship creation mechanic — with predictable results.
It's been almost a year since Apple introduced the iPhone 14, which brought a special feature called "Emergency SOS via Satellite." This nifty feature lets people call for help in places without regular cell phone signals. Now, thanks to a partnership between Globalstar, Apple's satellite provider, and Elon Musk's SpaceX, this emergency service might soon cover more areas.
The Leftfield Collection is always one of my favourite areas to visit at EGX. Partly because it's regularly stuffed full of interesting indie games with often very neat and unusual controllers attached to them (which in previous years have included actual paper shredders and full-on Morse code machines), but also because they're often so new and hot off the digital presses that I've never even heard of them before, which is very, very exciting to me. It's a great little space to discover what will be the next talking points of video games-to-be, and this year's line-up looks to be no exception. Here are all the games you'll be able to play at this year's Leftfield Collection at EGX 2023.
A new Godzilla game is perhaps flying a little too close to Into the Breach.
Sony has announced the release date for its upcoming Remote Play device, PlayStation Portal.
Bethesda has launched a Starfield advertising campaign designed to get players worldwide hunting unique billboards for the game.
War Thunder, a free-to-play vehicular combat MMO, has developed somewhat of an unwanted reputation over the past few years, as players of the game have been regularly sharing classified military documents via the game's forums, mostly to settle arguments between players shouting at each other over realistic vehicle performance. It's happened multiple times in the past, and War Thunder players won't be surprised to hear that it's happened once again.
The decade has been a turbulent one for the US video game industry. It began with the surge in players, engagement and dollars from people wanting to stay connected to family and friends through the pandemic. This was followed by similar declines across all measures with the return to spending on experiences, which happened to come along with new hardware console supply constraints and numerous game delays thrown in for good measure.
Counter-Strike 2 seems closer than ever, as Valve continues its closed Counter-Strike 2 beta testing to hone the huge, free update to the competitive FPS game that sits consistently atop the most-played charts on Steam. But with the window set for the Counter-Strike 2 release date getting smaller by the day, it might not be long before we can all finally get our hands on the CSGO sequel.