The Yen has been an extremely weak currency for a few years now. Just 5 years ago, 1€ would give you 130¥, now it's 180¥. But Japanese purchasing power has not risen accordingly. So games would simply be unaffordable to Japanese people (way more so than they currently are to Europeans) if they priced them like the Euro prices.
this post was submitted on 30 Mar 2026
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Same with Konami and Nintendo. Japanese game companies have very quickly made their stuff very expensive in the west while still launching somewhat affordable in their home country. I don‘t buy their new releases. They‘re out of their goddamn mind.
Nintendo is probably the worst offender here because not only they release games at insane prices, but they rarely discount them more than a 10%. Years after the release, their games still cost the same.
Worst of all is that they proved it works, people keep buying their games and the nintendo shills will always give you a 2-hour essay if you ever dare to complain about their pricing policy in front of them. Never seen a worse fanbase in the videogaming community.
Japan’s currency is weak as shit. So when you convert that to Euros of course it will look cheap. However Japan’s economy has been experiencing deflation for the last thirty years thus Japanese wages haven’t gone up by much either. While the rest of the world’s economy did experience inflation hence why prices in Japan look cheap but in Japan the buying power stayed the same so to the Japanese games didn’t become cheaper. Also in the West games haven’t been adjusted for inflation for decades until publishers have decided to bump the price by a tenner the last two years. So before the price hike, adjusted for inflation games did become cheaper by the years.
If you want real rip off prices. Look at AU$
I raise you CHF.
It's no surprise that Swiss Franc has the worst regional pricing as it's a "safe haven" currency to begin with.
AU$120 for sit down meal 😎
CHF120 for sit down meal 💀
Check out the Big Mac Index for Switzerland.
Well. That is on you for not joining the euro :P
Criminals on that level won't commit to a powerful economic union without staying in their foxholes.
Don't get me started at default pricing in PLN.
I mean, is Polish Zloty a strong currency to begin with? I've heard that at one point it was weak like 3-4 years ago but it has gotten stable and strengthed since, but the publisher or Steam has not updated regional pricing for Poland still retaining the old exchange rate, like as if they've not kept tabs on PLN plus 23% VAT imposed by your government by the way.
That's completely on the publisher. And they do it because, sadly, they get away with it thanks to mindless customers.
Nobody ever hesitates to pay such money for a game, so why would the publisher even try to lower the price? If they're selling well at 80€, why lower it to 50€?
For me to pay more than 30€ for a videogame, it really has to be THE game. And it rarely is. Most of the time, I can wait a few months and get it at a honest price. Heck, even paying 30€ for a game it's already something that I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally consider carefully. Past the 20€ it has to be a great game for me to pay for it.
If you ever visited Japan and have an old Suica/Pasmo card lying around, I wonder if there’s a way of transferring money to it and using it for online payments.
Those can't be used for online payments. You can pretty easily buy Japanese eShop and PSN cards though.
Euro teuro or euro=expensive for no valid reason.
Why are you saying such a stupid thing?
Education? Propaganda? Ignorance?
We'll know after your next reply.