We are the Turkish Gamers. Like the rest of the world, playing game is not only an entertainment tool for us. It’s not only a hobby either. The games that we play are parts of us because as long as we enjoy them, we get a bound between us. Some of us prefer FPS games, they like to aim and blow things up with their lightning reflexes. Some others fall in love with adventures, solving mysterious puzzles through mind-blowing stories. Some may like the competition in leagues and try to be the best player and raise in ladders games like League of Legends, DOTA 2 or Starcraft; maybe one day, they are going to be the “best”. We all like different genres but we all fall in love with same thing: “gaming”. We like listening to the game soundtracks, reading about the lore of the worlds, following art designers’ work and getting inspired by them, learning coding and mayhap creating our games in the future.

We all love gaming in different ways and Steam is a very important part of the gaming industry. Recently Steam started to support the Turkish currency. At first, we hadn’t hoped for a big change but when we checked Steam Store on that day, we felt like someone “finally” realized the ridiculously high game prices in Turkey and that seemed like Steam was trying to make some changes. All around the country, gamers cheered about new currency system because the prices were reasonable. But it was only a one-day long happiness as on the next day, the prices changed again and became worse than before the currency change on some specific products. At this point; let me tell you about what’s minimum and average wage in Turkey.

Minimum wage in Turkey now is 890 Turkish Lira which makes, with today’s dollar exchange rate, 397USD. Let’s take a look at Civilization: Beyond Earth. Before the Turkish currency change, the product’s price was 49.99USD / 112 Turkish Lira. On the first day of the currency change, it was 70 Turkish Lira and that was a very reasonable price when you consider the minimum wage in Turkey. But on the second day, the price got ridiculously high up to 170 Turkish Lira! Boom! More than %100 raise, 75USD! Far more expensive than the normal sale price (49.99USD) for a digital copy. More expensive than the EU and USA sale prices. You can see the same price change for Borderlands Pre-Sequel too and we are sure that more will follow soon. Indie prices are fine with currency change but AAA titles rocketed high up suddenly… What is the logical reason?

Let’s have a look and say that the average wage in Turkey is 2000 Turkish Lira. Even when you calculate wages from this amount, buying more than one game in a month becomes a luxury. I am not even mentioning the computer hardware parts if you want to keep your rig updated. And not mentioning rent, food, bills and other imperative expenses for a normal human being. A father may like to buy for his son/daughter a game as a present, or a student may want to save his money for a long time waited AAA title. But with those prices, that’s impossible, and I am sorry that Turkey’s economy is not that good to support it. Maybe AAA games’ distributors in Turkey panicked and complained about the new prices on Steam? As Turkish gamers, it’s the only logical explanation for this absurd increase rate of game prices.

Countries like Russia (from G2A you can buy Civ: Beyond Earth Russian Steam Activation Key for 22USD only!), Argentina, Mexico –I am sure that there are more countries like these- get reduced price tags in Steam. What makes Turkey so special? Our country’s economy is not better than Russia, that’s a fact. Why a Turkish gamer must pay more money for a digital Steam copy than its actual Europe price? We are not pumping oil in our cars’ tanks here, we are talking about the gaming industry (World’s most expensive gas is sold in Turkey by the way. One litre is 2USD).

Another example is Riot Games. Those dudes successfully opened their Turkish Office in Istanbul and decreased their prices to Turkish Standards and now Riot Istanbul is the most profitable overseas branch of Riot Games.

We want to support gaming companies (especially indie companies need every penny they can earn), no one likes to play pirated games and nothing tastes as sweet as an original game. But let’s be realistic and consider the economy of Turkey. Turkish Lira currency swap is a big change on Steam and all we want is reasonable digital Turkish currency prices on Steam. As Turkish Gamers, we all trust in our Lord and Saviour Gaben. If he hears about this petition, we are sure that Valve will make a long waited change in the Turkish gaming market via Steam and lower the prices to a reasonable level. We don’t want something extraordinary or exceptional, we only want what other similar countries already have.

We are Gamers and we want to support game companies with buying their products. And for that, in Turkey, we need a big change. Question is: Will Valve lit the green light to Turkish Gamers?

Please support our campaign. Gamers United!! Need your aid . Thanks in advance.

LINK

Edit: Another useful THREAD. Don't miss that...