Valve’s digital download service is picking up steam in Russia. The Portal 2 developer has announced that it’s now supporting Rubles, the currency of Russia, making it even easier for Russian PC gamers to download games on Steam. "PC Gaming has always been strong in Russia, and we're excited to help improve the experience for Steam customers," said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development. "We're hoping to make gamers happy over the coming months by improving their access to great games."
Before, citizens of the Russian Federation needed to use other services, like WebMoney, Visa, Mastercard, or ClickandBuy, but now that Valve officially supports the nation’s currency, gamers can just slide a few Rubles into their CD tray and start enjoying the thousands of games available to buy on Steam (editor’s note: that’s actually not how it works, but whatever).
But why now? For one, Valve now has more competitors than ever, with EA pushing hard with Origin and GameStop buying Impulse. Besides that, it’s likely related to the impending release of Dota 2, as the original Dota has always been popular over in Russia. Either way, we’re happy to see Valve’s service grow further, and being more accessible to Russia’s 141 million citizens should help developers get their games into even more homes.
Sep 12, 2011