Steam regional pricing: how to price your indie game by country

Set your US price from 5 to 10 direct competitors, then use Valve's suggested prices in Steamworks (37 currencies, now with exchange rate, purchasing power and multi-variable methods) as the default for every other currency. Adjust only a few markets on purpose, most often Poland and the regional USD buckets for Latin America and MENA, after checking what rival games actually charge there. Lock prices in before launch, because Steam's 30-day rules make early changes awkward.

How does regional pricing work on Steam?

Steam lets you set a separate price for each currency it supports. According to Valve's Steamworks pricing documentation, Steam supports pricing in 37 currencies across 4 region groups. You set a base price in US dollars, and the Propose Pricing tool in Steamworks suggests a price for every other currency, which you can accept or change. Valve reviews initial prices and later changes, usually within one or two business days.

Three details catch developers out:

• Every currency needs a price. If you leave one blank, players who pay in that currency cannot buy the game.
• Some regions are priced in US dollars. In November 2023 Steam stopped selling in Argentine pesos and Turkish lira and switched both countries to USD, and introduced regional USD pricing buckets (LATAM-USD and MENA-USD) for 25 more countries in Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa, as Game World Observer reported. A regional USD price is not the same as your US price.
• There is a price floor. Your base price in each currency must be at least the suggested equivalent of the $0.99 tier.

What changed in Valve's pricing tool in 2026?

At the end of March 2026 Valve updated the tool so developers can choose how suggestions are calculated, GamingOnLinux reported. There are three methods:

• Exchange rate conversion: a straight currency conversion at a stated date.
• Purchasing power conversion: based on public data on average purchasing power in each country or region.
• Multi-variable conversion: combines purchasing power, the expected cost of comparable entertainment and exchange rates. Valve says this is closest to its previous recommendations.

The methods can give very different answers. Automaton worked through a $15.99 game in Japan: ¥2,500 by exchange rate, ¥1,600 by purchasing power and ¥2,050 by the multi-variable method, against a previous recommendation of ¥1,800. Existing prices do not change automatically; you have to submit new ones.

How do you pick your base US price?

Start with the games your players compare you with, not with your development cost. Look at the US price of 5 to 10 direct competitors released in the last few years, then adjust for length, replayability and production values. Common indie price points on Steam cluster around a few tiers. As of 31 October 2026 the US list prices of some well-known indies were:

• Vampire Survivors: $4.99
• Balatro, Hollow Knight and Stardew Valley: $14.99
• Hades: $24.99

Price also affects launch behaviour. GameDiscoverCo estimates that games priced above $10 converted a median of 0.10x their launch wishlists into first-week sales, against 0.15x for games with over 25,000 wishlists overall (GameDiscoverCo, October 2025). A higher price can still earn more per wishlist, so model both.

Pick your price carefully before launch. Valve asks developers to wait 30 days after release before changing the price, and raising a price in any currency blocks discounts for the next 30 days.

What do successful indies charge in other countries?

The table shows undiscounted Steam prices for five indie games, read from the Steam store on 31 October 2026. Prices change, so treat this as a snapshot.

Three games share a $14.99 US price, yet Stardew Valley costs R$ 24,99 in Brazil while Hollow Knight costs R$ 46,99, and Stardew Valley is ₹479 in India against ₹690 for the other two. Same US price, very different regional decisions. Euro prices sit close to US dollar prices, while Turkey, priced in US dollars since 2023, pays between about a third and 70% of the US price for these games.

You can run the same comparison for your own genre: ReviewPulse regional pricing shows what rivals actually charge in 16 countries and estimates week-one revenue by country, and the competitor analysis finds which rivals to compare against.

Which countries deserve a manual adjustment?

For most indies, Valve's suggestions are a sensible default. GameDiscoverCo looked at the regional prices of 10 indie games in September 2025 and found most kept Valve's suggestions, with an average deviation of -5% (GameDiscoverCo, October 2025). Where they did deviate:

• Poland. About half the games priced in zloty more than 20% below the suggestion. GameDiscoverCo estimates Poland at 2.3% of all Steam sales and recommended indies price the Polish version about 20 to 25% below Valve's suggestion. That analysis was written before Valve's 2026 update, which Automaton reports lowered Polish suggestions under all three methods, so check the new numbers first.
• LATAM-USD and MENA-USD. A couple of games priced these 20 to 30% below the suggestion.

Larger publishers often go the other way. In the same analysis, AA and AAA games averaged more than 26% above Valve's suggestion in Chinese yuan, 67% above in Brazilian reais and 14% above in Japanese yen. If your genre is dominated by bigger games, your rivals' local prices may be higher than Valve's suggestions, which gives an indie room to look like good value.

Does regional pricing change how much you earn?

Yes, in both directions. A copy sold in Turkey at $8.25 earns about a third of a $24.99 US sale, so a game with a large audience in lower-priced regions will have a lower average revenue per copy than its US price suggests. That matters when you forecast revenue or estimate a rival's sales from units. On the other hand, most of those buyers would not pay a US-equivalent price, so the alternative is usually no sale at all.

Individual markets add up. GameDiscoverCo estimates Brazil at about 3.2% of all Steam unit sales and Poland at 2.3% of sales. Neither is huge alone, but a dozen markets of that size together can be a meaningful share of an indie launch, especially for genres with strong followings in Eastern Europe, Latin America or Asia.

How do you set regional prices, step by step?

1. Set your US price from five to ten direct competitors.
2. Generate suggestions in Steamworks. Start with the multi-variable method, which is closest to Valve's earlier recommendations, and look at the other two for markets that matter to you.
3. Compare with rivals country by country. Focus on your biggest markets by language and genre. If your game is text-heavy and only in English, regional demand will skew to English-speaking markets anyway.
4. Adjust a handful of currencies on purpose. Poland and the regional USD buckets are the usual candidates for indies. Write down why you changed each one.
5. Round to local conventions. Use price endings players expect in each market, as the table above shows (,99 in euros and reais, round numbers in yen and rupees).
6. Submit well before launch. Allow time for Valve's review, and avoid planning a price change in the first 30 days.
7. Review once a year or after a big currency move, remembering that any increase starts a 30-day discount cooldown.

If you are still pre-production, the ReviewPulse planner suggests a price and expected wishlists by country from the reference games you pick.

What regional pricing mistakes should you avoid?

• Copying the US price at exchange rates into every currency, which prices you out of markets such as Brazil, India and Turkey.
• Leaving a currency unpriced, which makes the game unavailable there.
• Pricing lower-income regions so low that the game looks cheap next to direct rivals, without any evidence it sells more copies.
• Ignoring your localisation. A cheap price in a market where the game is not translated rarely makes up for the missing language.
• Changing prices often. Frequent increases block discounts and confuse players who wishlisted at the old price.