You may have heard yesterday that Steam suddenly implemented region locking on its games. What you may not have heard is part of the reason why – which is also why Apple suddenly shut down its App Store in Russia.
Russia's ruble took a nosedive in value last Tuesday, leading to prices for consumer goods, such as games, to reach dangerously low levels. This meant different game economies were also drastically affected, and so Apple and Valve had to take action.
For Apple, this meant temporarily shutting down the App Store completely, so that the company could review pricing as they claimed. Apple shared this statement:
Due to extreme fluctuations in the value of the ruble, our online store in Russia is currently unavailable while we review pricing. We apologize to customers for any inconvenience.
On Steam's end, they are impacted not only in terms of regional pricing, but also because of the opportunity to take advantage of game trading or gifting. Valve shared this statement in turn regarding their move:
What we're doing immediately in response to the Ruble drop is limiting trading and gifting from Russia to prevent people from taking advantage of the situation. We have been applying a gifting and trading lock of this type on all newly created packages on Steam since mid-2014.
While consumers are obviously impacted by these changes, it is likely even worse for game companies with studios in Russia, or countries whose economies are impacted by Russia. As of this writing, Russian president Vladimir Putin has stated in a year ender address that their economy will go back on track within two years. We hope the best for the people in the industry who are living in the region.
