How to Price a Game on Steam: Regional Pricing and Discounts

1. Start with similar games

The most reliable starting point is the Steam pages of games that resemble yours in genre, length and visual quality. Players see your price next to these games in the store, and a game that is clearly more expensive than its peers has to justify the difference in its description.

When comparing, look at the launch price as well as the current one; many games show up discounted some time after release.

2. Game length and the refund rule

Steam accepts refund requests for games bought within the last 14 days and played for less than 2 hours (at the time of writing). That is why putting a high price on a short game that can be finished in two hours raises the refund risk.

For short games, a lower price, or content that keeps players around after the first hours (replayability, multiple endings, difficulty levels), is the better choice.

3. A dollar base price, regional prices for the rest

In Steamworks you first enter a base price in US dollars. From that, Steam shows suggested regional prices for the other currencies; you can accept these suggestions, which take local purchasing power into account, in one click or set each currency by hand.

For most small teams, accepting the suggested prices is a good start. Pricing far above the suggestion in a country can cut sales there, while pricing far below it can invite cheap key reselling from other regions.

4. Steam prices in Turkey are in dollars

Since 2023, Steam has sold games in Turkey in US dollars instead of Turkish lira, and the suggested price for Turkey is based on that dollar region. This matters for a game aimed at Turkish players: they see the price in dollars and pay with their own card.

So when pricing for players in Turkey, compare against what similar games cost in that region in dollars rather than thinking in lira.

5. Plan for discounts from the start

A large share of Steam sales comes during discount periods: the big seasonal sales, genre festivals and weeklong discounts you set up yourself. A short launch discount can also be set at release.

Discounts have rules: for example, you cannot run a discount for a while after raising the price, and there is a cooldown between two discounts. Check the current periods in the Steamworks documentation before planning. Choosing a base price that still makes sense after future discounts makes life easier.

6. Early access and changing the price later

If the game launches in Early Access, pricing it for its current content and saying clearly on the store page that the price will rise at full release keeps players' trust. Early buyers then know they paid less for coming in early.

Lowering a price later is usually received better than raising it; an increase can upset players. When in doubt, starting at the same level as similar games, not far below, is the safer path.

Fees, timeline and income

We covered the fee, waiting periods and store page work for putting a game on Steam in Publishing a Game on Steam, and where games make their money in How Much Do Mobile Games Earn?.

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