Valve has launched support for the rand in Steam, its online store for video games and software.

The company told its South African customers in an e-mail last week that it would support the rand soon.

It warned that if your Steam wallet has money in it on 10 November 2015, your US dollar balance will be converted into rand at the relevant market value exchange rate.

Rumours that Steam would sell video games in rand surfaced earlier this year when the Steam Database discovered ten new currencies within a beta build of the software.

Issues

PayPal is not currently a supported payment option for South Africa now, though. Visa and MasterCard credit cards, WebMoney, and Skrill/Moneybookers still appear to be supported.

It is also not possible to switch back to paying in US dollars, said Valve.

VAT is still not denoted separately on the invoice when you buy games, but Steam continues to display the message “VAT included in all prices where applicable” on product listings and at checkout.

After the switch to rand, there are also a number of games that are no longer available for purchase in South Africa.

Valve said this should be temporary, and that games should be available as soon as they are priced in ZAR.

“No changes have been made to the contents of your library. All of the languages and features in the games that existed when the store was priced in USD are still available.”

The table below shows a comparison between US prices converted to rand using the current exchange rate (R14.26 per dollar), and the new rand prices listed on Steam.

Game (normal price) USD ZAR Fallout 4 $59.99 (R855) R799 Assassin’s Creed Syndicate $59.99 (R855) R599 Grand Theft Auto V $59.99 (R855) R589 Football Manager 2016 $49.99 (R713) R489 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor $49.99 (R713) R489 Talos Principle $39.99 (R571) R409 Stasis Deluxe Edition $36.99 (R527) R349 Stasis $24.99 (R356) R249 Broforce $14.99 (R213) R159 Game (on promotion) USD ZAR Grand Theft Auto V (33% off) $40.19 (R573) R394.63 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (66% off) $16.99 (R242) R166.26 Talos Principle (66% off) $13.59 (R194) R139.06 Broforce (33% off) $10.04 (R143) R106.53 R/$ = R14.26

More on Steam and digital VAT

Steam store getting rand prices

Steam Controller confirmed for South Africa

Digital VAT in SA: who pays?