Regional pricing is one of those things that sounds straightforward until you actually sit down in Steamworks and stare at a spreadsheet of 40+ currencies. Do you accept Valve's recommendations? Adjust for specific countries? How much revenue are you leaving on the table if you get this wrong?
The answer: potentially a lot. About 30-40% of indie game revenue on Steam comes from outside the US and Western Europe. If your regional prices are miscalibrated, you're either pricing out huge player populations or undercharging in markets that would have paid more. Neither is good. This guide walks through how to think about regional pricing strategically, not just accept defaults and hope for the best.
How Steam's regional pricing system works
When you set your base price in USD on Steamworks, Valve provides recommended prices for every other currency and region where Steam operates. These recommendations are based on purchasing power parity (PPP), local market data, and what Valve considers fair pricing for each region.
You're not locked into these recommendations. You can set any price you want in any region, within Steam's minimum and maximum bounds. But Valve's suggestions are the starting point, and for most indie developers, they're a reasonable foundation.
Here's what's happening behind the scenes: Valve analyzes local economic data, average game spending, and currency exchange rates to generate a price that roughly equalizes the "effort to purchase" across countries. A game that costs $19.99 in the US might be recommended at the equivalent of $8-10 in Brazil or $5-7 in Turkey, because the average disposable income in those countries is dramatically lower.
This isn't charity. It's economics. A player in Brazil who can't afford $19.99 isn't a lost sale at $19.99 -- they were never going to buy at that price. But at $8.99 in BRL, they might. You've created revenue from a market that would have generated zero otherwise.
Where to find regional pricing in Steamworks
Go to Steamworks > App Admin > Store Presence > Pricing. You'll see your base USD price at the top, with a table below showing every supported currency. Valve's recommended price appears in each row, and you can override any of them.
There's also a Pricing Overview page that lets you see all your regional prices at a glance, compare them to Valve's recommendations, and see the effective USD equivalent for each region. This is the page you want to bookmark and revisit regularly, especially after major currency fluctuations.
Valve updates their recommended pricing periodically to account for exchange rate shifts. When they do, you'll get a notification in Steamworks. You don't have to accept the updated recommendations, but you should at least look at them and decide consciously.
Key regions and how to think about them
Not all regions are equal in terms of player count, revenue potential, or pricing sensitivity. Here's how to think about the ones that matter most for indie developers.
United States and Western Europe (USD, EUR, GBP)
This is your primary revenue market. For most indie games, 50-60% of revenue comes from the US and Western European countries. Price these markets based on your game's value proposition and genre norms -- our pricing strategy guide covers this in detail.
One thing to note: EUR and GBP prices don't need to be exact USD conversions. European players are accustomed to paying roughly 1:1 with USD (a $19.99 game priced at 19.99 EUR), even though the exchange rate doesn't support that perfectly. Valve's recommendations typically reflect this convention. Going significantly below 1:1 for EUR leaves money on the table; going significantly above feels overpriced to European buyers.
CIS Region (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, etc.)
The CIS region, centered on Russia, has historically been one of the largest player populations on Steam. Recommended prices here are typically 40-60% below the USD price. This reflects significantly lower purchasing power in the region.
This region went through major upheaval after 2022 when Valve suspended ruble payments and later reintroduced them at adjusted rates. As of 2026, the situation has stabilized somewhat, but the CIS market remains complicated by sanctions, payment processing limitations, and currency volatility.
For indie developers, the practical advice is: follow Valve's current recommendations for this region closely. They've been adjusting these numbers based on real market conditions, and trying to outsmart them here is risky. The player population is real and sizable, but the revenue per unit is low enough that you shouldn't lose sleep over optimizing it by a few percentage points.
Brazil and South America (BRL, ARS, CLP, COP)
Brazil is a massive market. It consistently ranks in the top 5 countries by Steam user count. The recommended pricing here is typically 50-70% below USD, reflecting Brazil's lower average income. South American players are price-sensitive, and getting this right can unlock substantial volume.
Argentina is an extreme case. Hyperinflation and currency devaluation have made Argentine pricing a moving target. Valve has had to adjust recommended prices for the Argentine peso multiple times, and the effective USD equivalent for Argentine sales is very low. As of 2026, Valve's recommendations for Argentina price games at roughly 75-85% below USD equivalent. The volume can be significant, but the per-unit revenue is minimal.
Other South American markets (Chile, Colombia, Peru) are smaller individually but meaningful in aggregate. Valve's recommendations for these markets are generally well-calibrated.
What to watch for: If you see unexpectedly high sales volume from South America with very low revenue per unit, your prices might be set too low relative to what the market would bear. Conversely, if you see very few sales from Brazil despite decent overall numbers, you may be priced too high for that market.
Southeast Asia (IDR, PHP, THB, VND, MYR, SGD)
Southeast Asia is growing fast as a gaming market. Countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam have large, young, gaming-enthusiastic populations. Recommended pricing is typically 50-70% below USD for most Southeast Asian currencies.
Singapore is the outlier -- it's a wealthy city-state with USD-comparable pricing. Don't group it with the rest of Southeast Asia in your head.
The opportunity here is real. Southeast Asian players are increasingly buying games on Steam rather than playing free-to-play titles exclusively, and indie games with strong word-of-mouth do particularly well. But the revenue per unit is low, so think of this region as a volume play.
Turkey (TRY)
Turkey has been through dramatic currency devaluation over the past several years, making it one of the most pricing-sensitive regions on Steam. Recommended prices for Turkey are among the lowest globally, often 70-85% below USD equivalent.
Turkey also has a large, engaged gaming community that's very active on Steam. If your game has any kind of community or social element, Turkish players tend to be enthusiastic community participants.
The main risk with Turkey is key reselling. Because prices are so low relative to other regions, Turkey has historically been a source of cheap Steam keys that get resold internationally. Valve has tightened restrictions on cross-region gifting and key activation to combat this, but it's worth being aware of. If you notice suspicious purchase patterns from Turkey (unusually high volume relative to your game's profile in the region), investigate.
China (CNY)
China is the largest gaming market in the world, but its relationship with Steam is complicated. Steam operates two versions in China: the international Steam store (accessible but sometimes blocked or restricted) and Steam China (a separate, government-approved version with a limited catalog).
Most indie developers interact with the international Steam store for Chinese sales. Recommended pricing for CNY is typically 40-60% below USD. Chinese players are active buyers of indie games, particularly in genres like survival, strategy, and roguelikes.
Localization matters enormously here. A Chinese language option can dramatically increase your conversion rate from Chinese store page visits. Even machine-translated Chinese is better than nothing, though a human translation is strongly preferred.
Japan and South Korea (JPY, KRW)
Japan and South Korea are premium markets with relatively high purchasing power. Recommended prices are typically only 10-20% below USD equivalent, and these players are accustomed to paying near-full-price for games.
Japanese players are particularly valuable because they tend to leave detailed reviews and have strong community engagement. If your game has anime-inspired aesthetics or genres popular in Japan (visual novels, JRPGs, action games), this market can be significant.
South Korea's PC gaming market is huge, though it skews heavily toward specific genres (MMOs, competitive games, survival). If your game fits those categories, Korean pricing deserves extra attention.
When to deviate from Valve's recommendations
Valve's recommended prices are good defaults, but there are situations where adjusting makes sense.
Rounding to clean price points
Valve's recommendations sometimes produce awkward numbers in local currencies. A recommended price of R$37.49 in Brazil would look better rounded to R$36.99 or R$37.99. Players respond better to clean, conventional price points. Go through each currency and round to the nearest .99 or .49 ending that feels natural in that market.
Genre-specific adjustments
Some genres have different price expectations in different regions. Strategy and simulation games can sometimes command slightly higher regional prices than Valve recommends, because the audience in those genres tends to be older with more disposable income. Conversely, casual games and platformers might benefit from pricing slightly below recommendations in price-sensitive regions to capture more volume.
High-piracy regions
In markets where piracy rates are high, lower prices can actually increase your legitimate sales by making the legal option feel like less of a sacrifice. This is the argument for being more aggressive on pricing in regions where your alternative isn't "no sale" but "pirated copy."
Post-launch adjustments
After you've been live for a few months, look at your sales-by-region data in Steamworks. If a region with a large Steam population is generating almost no sales, your price for that region is probably too high. If a region is generating lots of sales but the revenue-per-unit seems abnormally low, you might have room to increase.
The revenue impact of regional pricing
Let's put some numbers on this. Consider a game priced at $14.99 USD.
If you set all regions to the exact USD equivalent (no regional adjustment), you'd make the full $14.99 per sale everywhere -- but you'd miss out on most sales from price-sensitive regions. You might get 80% of your sales from the US and Western Europe.
With Valve's recommended regional pricing, your effective revenue per sale drops to roughly $10-12 on average (blending high-paying and low-paying regions). But your total unit sales might increase by 40-60%, because you've unlocked purchases from Brazil, Turkey, Southeast Asia, the CIS region, and other price-sensitive markets.
The math usually works out in favor of regional pricing. More units at lower per-unit revenue beats fewer units at full price, especially because:
- •More sales mean more reviews, which improves your review score and algorithmic visibility
- •More concurrent players improve your game's social proof and community health
- •Steam's algorithm weights total revenue, not per-unit revenue, so more units at lower prices can generate equal or greater algorithmic signal
Use our Revenue Calculator to model how different regional pricing strategies affect your projected earnings. For a broader picture of how this fits into your overall revenue expectations, our indie game revenue data guide covers what indie games actually earn across different performance tiers.
Currency conversions and pricing tiers
Steam supports over 40 currencies, and each one has its own set of conventional pricing tiers. Just like $9.99, $14.99, and $19.99 feel natural in USD, each currency has price points that feel "right" to local buyers.
A few principles for working with currency tiers:
Always use local pricing conventions. In Japan, prices tend to end in round numbers like 980, 1480, or 1980 yen. In Brazil, .99 endings are common. In Russia, prices are often rounded to the nearest 9 or 49. Valve's recommendations usually follow these conventions, but check them.
Don't over-index on exact exchange rate math. If the exchange rate says your $14.99 game should be 13.47 EUR, you should price at 13.99 EUR (or even 14.99 EUR, which is the common convention). Players don't pull up exchange rate calculators before buying. They evaluate whether the number in their currency feels reasonable.
Watch for tier jumps. Going from R$29.99 to R$34.99 in Brazil might feel like a small change in USD terms, but it crosses a psychological pricing tier for Brazilian players. Be aware of these thresholds in major currencies.
Reassess after major currency events. When a currency experiences significant devaluation (like the Turkish lira or Argentine peso in recent years), your effective price in that market may have become unreasonable. Valve usually pushes updated recommendations when this happens, but don't wait for them if you notice the issue.
Common regional pricing mistakes
Setting all regions to USD equivalent
This is the most expensive mistake you can make. It effectively prices your game out of every market except the US, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and a handful of others. You're voluntarily giving up 30-40% of your potential market.
I understand the instinct. It feels unfair that someone in another country gets your game for less. But remember: those players weren't going to pay USD prices. Your choice isn't between $14.99 and $8.99 from that player. It's between $8.99 and $0.
Ignoring Valve's periodic pricing updates
When Valve pushes updated recommended prices (usually after significant exchange rate shifts), some developers ignore the notification. Six months later, their prices in certain regions are wildly out of step with the market, either too high (killing sales) or too low (unnecessary revenue loss). Check these updates when they arrive and apply them if they make sense.
Pricing too low in premium markets
While under-pricing is common in developing markets, some developers also under-price in premium markets like Japan, South Korea, and Western Europe. If Valve recommends 1980 JPY and you set it to 1480 JPY "to be safe," you're leaving real money on the table in a market that's willing to pay more. These markets have high purchasing power and expectations to match.
Not accounting for regional pricing in revenue projections
When you model your expected revenue, use your blended effective price (accounting for regional discounts), not your USD base price. If you project revenue based on $14.99 per unit and 40% of your sales come from regions paying the equivalent of $7-10, your actual revenue will fall 15-25% below your projections. Our Revenue Calculator factors in regional pricing adjustments for more realistic estimates. Understanding how Steam's revenue share works is also essential for accurate projections -- the 30% cut applies to the regional price, not your USD base price.
Making frequent price changes
Steam has rules about price changes near sales: you can't lower your price within 30 days of a scheduled sale, or your discount will be calculated from the lowest recent price. This applies to regional prices too. Don't fiddle with regional pricing constantly. Make thoughtful adjustments quarterly or when Valve pushes updates, not weekly.
Building your regional pricing strategy
Here's a practical process:
- 1.Set your USD base price using genre norms, content volume, and competitive positioning. Our pricing strategy guide covers this in depth.
- 2.Accept Valve's recommended regional prices as your starting point. They're data-driven and reasonable.
- 3.Round to clean price points in each major currency. Go through the top 10-15 currencies by market size and make sure each price feels natural.
- 4.Adjust for your genre if you have data suggesting your audience in specific regions has different price sensitivity than average.
- 5.Launch and observe. After 1-3 months of sales data, review your regional sales breakdown. Look for regions that are underperforming relative to their Steam user population.
- 6.Adjust quarterly based on data, Valve's updated recommendations, and major currency events.
- 7.Model your blended revenue using realistic regional pricing assumptions. Plug your numbers into the Revenue Calculator to see the full picture.
The developers who do best at regional pricing are the ones who treat it as an ongoing process, not a set-and-forget decision. Currency rates shift, markets evolve, and your game's audience composition changes over time. Pay attention to the data and adjust accordingly.
For a complete overview of how pricing fits into your broader store page strategy, read our Steam store page optimization guide. And if you're still in the planning phase, our Coming Soon page guide covers setting up your pricing before you start collecting wishlists.
Frequently asked questions
Should I accept all of Valve's recommended regional prices or customize each one? For most indie developers, accepting Valve's recommendations with minor rounding adjustments is the right move. Valve has more regional market data than you do, and their recommendations are updated based on real purchasing behavior. The exceptions are if you have strong data showing your game's genre performs differently in specific regions, or if a recommendation produces an awkward price point in a local currency. Don't overthink it -- the recommendations are a solid foundation.
How do I prevent key reselling from low-priced regions? Valve has significantly tightened cross-region restrictions over the past few years. Games purchased in one region can generally only be activated in that region, and cross-region gifting is restricted for games with large price disparities. As a developer, your main tools are: not pricing dramatically below Valve's recommendations in price-sensitive regions, monitoring for suspicious purchase patterns, and relying on Valve's built-in protections. Key reselling is much less of an issue in 2026 than it was five years ago.
How much revenue should I expect from outside the US and Western Europe? Typically 30-40% of total units and 20-30% of total revenue for indie games with proper regional pricing. The unit percentage is higher than the revenue percentage because per-unit revenue is lower in price-sensitive regions. Games with localization in Chinese, Portuguese, or Russian tend to see higher percentages from those regions. Our indie game revenue data guide has more granular breakdowns.
What happens when a currency experiences a major crash? When a currency devalues significantly, your game becomes effectively more expensive for players in that country (since your price in their currency was set before the crash). Sales from that region will typically drop until prices are adjusted. Valve usually pushes updated recommended prices after major currency events. You can also proactively adjust your prices -- just be mindful of Steam's rules about price changes near sales. If the Argentine peso drops 30% in a month, waiting three months to adjust your ARS price means three months of near-zero Argentine sales.
Should I localize my game to improve sales in specific regions? Localization and regional pricing work together. Proper regional pricing gets your game in front of players who can afford it; localization converts those players into buyers. Chinese localization in particular has a strong ROI for most indie games, given the size of the Chinese Steam market. Portuguese (for Brazil), Russian, and Japanese are also high-impact languages. Even if full localization isn't in your budget, translating your store page description and adding subtitle support can meaningfully improve conversion in those markets.
Regional pricing is about meeting players where they are -- literally. Get it right, and you unlock revenue from markets that would have ignored you entirely. Use the Revenue Calculator to model your blended revenue with realistic regional pricing, read the pricing strategy guide to nail your base price, and check how Steam's revenue share affects your final take-home.
Browse our genre-specific optimization guides for strategies tailored to your game type, and check the Steam Page Leaderboard to see how top games optimize their store pages.