cura on 06 February 2011
I think it is to keep the prices on par with retail copies of the games. 3 years ago (or there abouts) all games were priced same as in the US steam (e.g. $49.99)...if only that was the case now.
i like steam because I can download games and start playing ASAP. Ebay has cheap games that you can import from Honk Kong - I'd check them out if you don't want to pay $89 for black ops, etc.
