The Chrome Extension

Steam Regional Prices is a Chrome Extension that enables you to compare prices for a Steam game across most regions simultaneously.

I created this extension for the initial purpose of personally being able to instantly click a button and see the prices in other regions without having to reload the page again and again for each region. I then decided I would share it with anyone who wants it.

Using the Chrome Extension is as easy as pie. Simply install the extension from here and it should do the rest automagically. There are 3 different ways you can use it:

  1. Current Page (Auto): Visit any Steam game url and the prices will automatically be checked. This option is pm by default and can be switched off through the extension settings in Chrome
  2. Current Page: Visit any Steam game url and right click somewhere blank on the page and click "Look up current page"
  3. Target URL: Right click on any hyperlink directed towards a steam game (eg: Here) and click "Look up prices for..." (Note: For greater security this must be on either store.steampowered.com or this website)

 

How does it work?

Each game is indexed on user request, but to save on both my bandwidth and to make it run faster, each game can only be indexed once every 12 hours (for now at least). If it is requested again within the 12 hours it will pull the result from my database so as to leave Steam's server alone which in turn should make it load substantially quicker. Note: The images are still loaded from the Steam servers.

So basically the first time its indexed (in the 12 hour window) it will take a little longer as it gets the data from all regions - but from that point on anyone else who checks should get the result almost instantly. So within reason, the more people use it the faster it should be.

The extension allows the user to select from a range of currencies for the prices to be converted to. The exchange rates are all just an estimate and are updated every 12 hours.

 

The Website

The website, in all honesty is an afterthought to the extension. It provides anyone the ability to paste a Steam game URL into the search box to check prices for all regions in the same way as the extension does. It also provides a snapshot as to the most recent and popular searches.

Down the track, and if people are interested, I might add more to this website.

 

What data do I save?

I save the following and only the following information whenever a search is performed:

  • The current time
  • Title
  • Steam ID
  • Steam Type (App or Sub)
  • Image URL
  • AU Price
  • US Price
  • UK Price
  • EU Tier 1 Price
  • EU Tier 2 Price
  • Russian Price
  • How many searches in last 12 hours
  • How many searches all time