[muzani]

Also a huge point to consider is that games also have to be as cheap as Steam. I used to buy pirated DVDs once upon a time because the real thing would cost about a month salary. Now Steam games in third world countries are so cheap I just buy a bunch I don't intend to play.

Even the discount sites and Humble Bundle aren't able to match up against Steam in third world countries.

[andybak]

https://isthereanydeal.com/ regularly shows me titles on my wishlist that are cheaper on somewhere other than on Steam.

[muzani]

Steam sells up to 4 times cheaper to people who live in certain poorer regions, and this also gets the usual discount. So some old game sold for $10, might get a 75% winter sales discount, plus a further 75% off in poor countries, down to about 60 cents.

It's clever because it takes purchasing power into account. So a game that's about 1 hour salary in the US would cost about 1 hour on a Indonesian salary as well.

This is going to be really hard for many competitors to match.