Background

In late 2008 Valve's Steam online games store implemented a new regional pricing system. Prices had formerly been the same across all regions, and USD was the only currency accepted for payments. After the change, prices were presented in USD, GBP or EUR depending on the user's geographical region. Steam employed an exchange rate of 1€ = 1$ when setting the new European prices, which compared to the formed USD-only sytem made prices go up by more than 40% in Europe. Many games were now significantly more expensive on Steam than in European retail stores. Wasn't the whole point of using download stores like Steam that they should be cheaper and more convenient to use?

A few games have since had their European prices lowered, but most still use the default 1€ = 1$ pricing scheme. Some games have even received much higher prices for Europe making them up to 250% more expensive than in North America.

What does this script do?

This script is meant as a shopping tool for European customers to help avoid being cheated by Steam's new European prices. It is installed as a user script in the Firefox, Chrome or Opera web browsers. When visiting Steam's webshop, prices will be displayed in all three currencies (USD, GBP and EUR), you can also see the percent difference from the North American price. This will enable you to make an informed decision on whether or not the Steam price is acceptable. If you feel that the price in your region isn't fair, you may want to consider making your purchases elsewhere.

Installing

Firefox

• Visit this link to install Greasemonkey
• Restart Firefox when prompted
• Click "Get the script!" on the right part of this page to install the script

Note: NoScript users will have to allow "appspot.com" in NoScript to see the percentages.

Opera

• Select "Tools" -> "Preferences"
• Go to "Advanced", select "Content"
• Press "JavaScript Options", then "Choose"
• Use the browse dialog to make a new folder somewhere on your hard drive and make sure that folder is selected
• OK (three times)
• Right-click "Get the script!" on the right part of this page and save the file in the folder you just created

Chrome

• Click "Get the script!" on the right part of this page.
• You should see an install dialog. Press "Continue" to install.