Regional pricing on Steam, the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store and elsewhere has been causing issues for players in certain areas for years now. To combat this, Embark Studios, the outfit behind Arc Raiders, which features ex-Battlefield and Star Wars: Battlefront talent, has adjusted the prices for specific territories to keep things fair for players globally.
Valve’s marketplace offers scaled price tags across different countries and currencies. When you list a game, there’s an automatic conversion for people outside the United States. The problem is, users in other regions have discovered they’re paying more for the same product, thanks in part to Valve reportedly using outdated currency data.
A similar situation happens with Sony and Microsoft, with countries such as Brazil and Argentina suffering quite severe upticks. This puts the onus of charging fairer rates on individual publishers and developers, hence Embark now rectifying the gap on Arc Raiders pre-orders. The game's price has been lowered in several countries, with refunds for the difference now being processed.
The countries with a new price are: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Vietnam.
This started yesterday, October 7, 2025. “[We want] to ensure a fair price point for all," says an announcement on the official Discord server. "If you already made the purchase in one of those locations, you will receive a refund automatically, though this can take a few days depending on the platform."
Though a welcome move, this just serves to highlight what a headache this is becoming for consumers and publishers alike. Several more countries not on that list, such as Poland, have purportedly high gaps between what the people there pay versus the USD equivalent.
This is a lot of financial admin that seems rather needless. Hopefully, more games like Arc Raiders follow suit, perhaps pushing market forces to make more systemic alterations.
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