Hello everyone. I know this is a pc gaming forum and I'm a console player but since there are no official playstation community forums and I really like this forum, I'm posting this here. Please note that I'm just expressing my experience, thoughts and feelings in this post. Hope you can respect that 🙏🏻
Playstation has always been a huge part of my whole life. Since the first days of PS1 till the end of PS4 era. From getting my first Playstation as a birthday gift to working hard and buying a PS4 for myself.
I live in Iran. The country with the least valued currency in the world. But it hasn't always been like this. Our currency is called IR Rials, but since it has too many zeroes, in common daily usage we take one zero out and call it Tomans. For example 10,000 Rials is called 1000 Tomans. To give you a better feel of how it should campare to USD in worth, every 1000T bill is like a single dollar to us.
When Iran was a kingdom before the 1979 islamic revolution and before we became a third world country, our currency was really valuable. To be exact, it was ten times more valuable than 1USD. But after the mullahs took over, the downward spiral quickly began. I remember when PS1 came out, our currency got to be at almost the same level as USD. Not bad at all. Our working class could still afford most stuff.
By the time PS4 arrived in 2013-2014, IR Rials had shrunk to 1/3 of it's value. 1USD was about 3000T. For buying the console I had to save up a whole month of salary. But since I had no serious responsibilities in my life I could do it. Gaming was a great distraction from all the issues caused by our horrible government.
But then here we are in 2020. The year most Iranian gamers have to say goodbye to their hobby. At least for the next gen experience. You wanna have a guess at IR Rials worth now? I'll spare you the google search. It's freaking 1/30 of a US dollar. Can you believe that? Literally the least valued currency in the whole world. The disc version of PS5 is $500 but for us is something like $15,000. If you come here with your own currency in pocket, you'll be a king. Rich af. Jokes aside It's just not worth it to game anymore. Unfortunately I had to sell my ps4 and ps vita to take care of my cats' veterinary costs so it's gonna be a while till I can game anhmore.
Also just to reiterate the numbers I gave were only to give a general feeling. By 1/30 I meant Tomans. It means for every US dollar you can get 30,000 Tomans or 300,000 Rials.
Another thing to explain is that Iran has two different exchange rates. One is the official one that the government announces to the world and one is that you can actually get inside the country.
For example the banks say that every dollar is about 5000T Tomans right now. But when you go to the bank to exchange the currency is always "unavailable". They rarely allow anyone to actually get anything with that rate.
So the practical one is the one you can find in exchange market and not the banks.
Imagine a country like China always gives the world a much smaller number of deaths from a tragedy. Just to save face.
It's the same in Iran but with the currency. It's a matter of technicality and practicallity.
I can only prove my point by asking you to google "least valued currency" or "least valued currency in the world"
So farewell Playstation. You gave us lots and lots of great memories. I sincerely wish a wonderful generation of gaming for all you amazing people. I know I'll get hate for this but I really had to lift it off of my chest. It really is not that deep but just remember to enjoy your life fully and not take anything no matter how little for granted.
Much love and respect from fellow gamer in Iran 🎮
Playstation has always been a huge part of my whole life. Since the first days of PS1 till the end of PS4 era. From getting my first Playstation as a birthday gift to working hard and buying a PS4 for myself.
I live in Iran. The country with the least valued currency in the world. But it hasn't always been like this. Our currency is called IR Rials, but since it has too many zeroes, in common daily usage we take one zero out and call it Tomans. For example 10,000 Rials is called 1000 Tomans. To give you a better feel of how it should campare to USD in worth, every 1000T bill is like a single dollar to us.
When Iran was a kingdom before the 1979 islamic revolution and before we became a third world country, our currency was really valuable. To be exact, it was ten times more valuable than 1USD. But after the mullahs took over, the downward spiral quickly began. I remember when PS1 came out, our currency got to be at almost the same level as USD. Not bad at all. Our working class could still afford most stuff.
By the time PS4 arrived in 2013-2014, IR Rials had shrunk to 1/3 of it's value. 1USD was about 3000T. For buying the console I had to save up a whole month of salary. But since I had no serious responsibilities in my life I could do it. Gaming was a great distraction from all the issues caused by our horrible government.
But then here we are in 2020. The year most Iranian gamers have to say goodbye to their hobby. At least for the next gen experience. You wanna have a guess at IR Rials worth now? I'll spare you the google search. It's freaking 1/30 of a US dollar. Can you believe that? Literally the least valued currency in the whole world. The disc version of PS5 is $500 but for us is something like $15,000. If you come here with your own currency in pocket, you'll be a king. Rich af. Jokes aside It's just not worth it to game anymore. Unfortunately I had to sell my ps4 and ps vita to take care of my cats' veterinary costs so it's gonna be a while till I can game anhmore.
Also just to reiterate the numbers I gave were only to give a general feeling. By 1/30 I meant Tomans. It means for every US dollar you can get 30,000 Tomans or 300,000 Rials.
Another thing to explain is that Iran has two different exchange rates. One is the official one that the government announces to the world and one is that you can actually get inside the country.
For example the banks say that every dollar is about 5000T Tomans right now. But when you go to the bank to exchange the currency is always "unavailable". They rarely allow anyone to actually get anything with that rate.
So the practical one is the one you can find in exchange market and not the banks.
Imagine a country like China always gives the world a much smaller number of deaths from a tragedy. Just to save face.
It's the same in Iran but with the currency. It's a matter of technicality and practicallity.
I can only prove my point by asking you to google "least valued currency" or "least valued currency in the world"
So farewell Playstation. You gave us lots and lots of great memories. I sincerely wish a wonderful generation of gaming for all you amazing people. I know I'll get hate for this but I really had to lift it off of my chest. It really is not that deep but just remember to enjoy your life fully and not take anything no matter how little for granted.
Much love and respect from fellow gamer in Iran 🎮
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