Steam payment HUGE price increase!

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Originally Posted by dmitrykotov93

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Well, now we know for sure that they are investigating this problem, but it would still be nice to receive a message from the community manager with an update of the situation.

Complaining about the price is an argument about fairness. The facts are, that a company expects X dollars per subscriber as it takes into account operation costs. The fact that economies vary per country, while unfortunate or inconvenient, is not something SE can change. To put it simply, they're selling a product at a price point, and some people will buy and some won't. Even if Brazilian subscribers decrease, if each is paying the standard amount, everything adds up on the business end and SE is now receiving sales proportional to the upkeep. I think that's completely rational.

Ok people, the moderator already said the topic isn't about that. Let them do what they think is right, as said before we have some examples of prices adjusted for many games because of the country economy. The problem is that we don't know SE position in this, was this a wrong change in the system? Is it going to stay like that?

Get real, peace out.

However, this is an adjustment asked by a certain platform venue. Does this mean that SE will go out of its way to make the same conveniences to other platforms? Why should people using steam pay much less for a subscription than players playing on console? It's the same access to the same game on the same servers.

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Originally Posted by Mahrze

However, this is an adjustment asked by a certain platform venue. Does this mean that SE will go out of its way to make the same conveniences to other platforms? Why should people using steam pay much less for a subscription than players playing on console? It's the same access to the same game on the same servers.

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Just stop please.

Also, people playing on PS4 can pay their sub using steam wallet. It's just another payment method.

No russian servers, horrible ping, no localizations - pay more then a game each month for sub.. lol really.
700 RUB original game 880 RUB sub.. just how..

You increased your subscription threefold ????? Why ???? I can not pay more, in Russia they live differently, if you do not understand this, then why should we deal with you, if you do not have stability, you want to inflate players for money, perfectly !!! Then say goodbye to you

Is this only through steam? Does mogstation or timecard through amazon give any better prices for you?

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Originally Posted by PharisHanasaki

Also, people playing on PS4 can pay their sub using steam wallet. It's just another payment method.

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I'm not aware of being able to do that, and I'm on PS4. I pay through Mogstation. And everything I could find while searching(through PSN and Google) says the only way to do it while on PS4 is through Mogstation because the PSN store would funnel the funds to PlayStation, and not SE. If you can point me in the direction where it says that, I would definitely like to be able to read up on that as an alternative way of paying.

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Originally Posted by PharisHanasaki

Just stop please.

Also, people playing on PS4 can pay their sub using steam wallet. It's just another payment method.

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And yet iirc, steam has the same rate as if you buy it elsewhere (from my local currency at least, the savings are trivial). The cost for the price of membership via Steam and Mogstation/Timecards and otherwise (roughly) remains the same.


Why ask to stop when they are asking to make a decision catering to an issue endemic to certain regions while others have a similar issue. I'm not arguing economics, I'm pointing out a flaw in the logic being used.

First of all we must know it, all regions of the world are differents, Brazilians, Russians, Europeans and North Americans have their ways to live. We cannot sort them in the same budget as well as manners, habits, routines, addictions and what else matter they are uniques on it.

Heading my explanation let us check our prices on Steam by www.steamprices.com.

On the image below you could see the difference of prices for brazilians, all world knows about our poor economy and to increase your gains SE increase the prices for Brazilians on the basic pack of FFXIV comparing to US and EU. As you well see Stormblood is a little bit cheaper than US and EU.

https://image.ibb.co/gRRVQQ/01.png

My guess since all payments are really in USD that an adjustment was made for currency exchange rates. The only way to be sure is to read the terms you agreed to when you signed up for Steam and/or FFV XIV. They should have documented somewhere in the terms how foreign currency is handled and how the exchange rate is adjusted.

That is not a exclusive for Final Fantasy XIV almost all games are the same price policy comparing to US and EU.

Bayonetta by Platinum Games

https://image.ibb.co/btNqs5/02.png

Final Fantasy X and X-II by Square Enix

https://image.ibb.co/g6hZKk/03.png

XCOM 2 and XCOM 2: War of the Chosen by 2k Games

https://image.ibb.co/ehpEKk/04.png

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt by CD Projekt Red

https://image.ibb.co/kZ1Bzk/05.png

With all these exemples why that weird price for our subscription ? Impossible for our reality... I can only say so long FFXIV, was outstanding play it until now.

Is the price of a months sub the same when purchasing through the MogStation?

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Originally Posted by Brunus

With all these exemples why that weird price for our subscription ? Impossible for our reality... I can only say so long FFXIV, was outstanding play it until now.

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You're comparing licensing on full games which lose cost over time vs a subscription that retains value as long as the publisher decides it does.


Full games and their DLC lose value and appeal over time, which leads to services like steam, gog, humble bundle, etc. to offer promos on them due to striking licensing agreements with publishers.


This is basically comparing apples vs oranges.

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Originally Posted by Mahrze

You're comparing licensing on full games which lose cost over time vs a subscription that retains value as long as the publisher decides it does.


Full games and their DLC lose value and appeal over time, which leads to services like steam, gog, humble bundle, etc. to offer promos on them due to striking licensing agreements with publishers.


This is basically comparing apples vs oranges.

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We pay less for subiscription too like WOW: USD 7,50 in Brazil.
https://image.ibb.co/gPvE25/wow.png

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Originally Posted by Brunus

We pay less for subiscription too like WOW: USD 7,50 in Brazil.

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That is decided by Blizzard as a company. It's not a requirement of a company to do so. They can decide if they want to make the game appealing to the market they want to reach. Blizzard likely saw a growing market in Brazil and decided to make the game accessible to the region. SE can do the same, but it doesn't mean it has to.

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Originally Posted by Nezia

Just ignore that troll, he will eventually go away if you don't feed him, let's keep the focus!

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Having a conversation about different points of view to an issue is considered being a troll? TIL alright.

I think SE just want to see how many will cut and how this will turn out at the end, and after week or so they will be like "Oh sorry there was a bug and we turned prices back" if too many players will stop play and buy item in MogStation.. or they just leave as is if some of the players will stay and that will be > more income at the end
289RUB and 890RUB big difefrence so one will stay and cover 2 others who leaved the game this still will be profit for the company

Maybe they want to artificially stop some players to pay and play the game because servers, worke and ect cost money and they cant handle too much players on 1 server and thats why we crash on Ixion... well you got the point - no pain no game

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Originally Posted by Mahrze

That is decided by Blizzard as a company. It's not a requirement of a company to do so. They can decide if they want to make the game appealing to the market they want to reach. Blizzard likely saw a growing market in Brazil and decided to make the game accessible to the region. SE can do the same, but it doesn't mean it has to.
Having a conversation about different points of view to an issue is considered being a troll? TIL alright.

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Which leads us to the question in this thread: Why has it changed after 2+ years? It's not something new this price. Why are you questioning these things? We don't know if this was a decision from SE. My god lol

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Originally Posted by Zanes

Which leads us to the question in this thread: Why has it changed after 2+ years? It's not something new this price. Why are you questioning these things? We don't know if this was a decision from SE. My god lol

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The question on this thread has been more about why there was no announcement than why change but Ok.

And I can question the logic when you see the argument behind the question. But yeah sure.

If you read most of the thread, it's already assumed it's from SE.

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Originally Posted by Mahrze

The question on this thread has been more about why there was no announcement than why change but Ok.

And I can question the logic when you see the argument behind the question. But yeah sure.

If you read most of the thread, it's already assumed it's from SE.

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Judging by the responses people have gotten from SE after sending them tickets, it's actually still pretty unclear if it was a deliberate decision or a random error. There's no way for us to know until SE oficially speaks about the matter. Right now, the only thing people affected by it (like myself and many others in this thread) can do is voice their opinions and hope they'll listen to us. Which is why we're still here.

I hope that this is an error, and even if it turns out it is not, any kind of announcement - either by steam or square enix - would have been much appreciated. People might have to cancel the formation of statics and even disband FCs because of such price increase. I'm not even going to try the auto-renewal method until we're certain if this change is for real.

I'm a middle-class brazilian, and even the current price is way too much for me, or any sub-based mmo, honestly. I wouldn't even have bought stormblood expansion if I knew this was coming, sigh.

The game is worth its money - 13 euros.

I think I am being a bit thick
Let me just clarify. The new price now falls in line with the price in other countries but that is a huge problem because the average disposable income in Brazil is much lower?

But that is how exchange rates work isn't it? They look at a countries average income, levels of unemployment, cost of living, GDP and many many other economic factors and say OK my 1 USD is the relative value of your 3.15 BRL.

So while I appreciate that an anoucement would have been courteous if not required by the ToS I must be missing something if this has suddenly become totally unaffordable when the relative value in real terms is now the same as in every other country

So... any news about the price increased ?
I can afford to pay, but my friends not, what is a MMORPG without people that you care ?

I should also note that the price change applies to Mogstation itself in general, not only subscription.

I.e. Brazil players got a +70-80%~ increase and Russian players got +300% (lol, wut? it's first time i see something like this) increase in pricing of Mogstation items. (aka glams, emotes, dye's, etcwhatever)
p.s. I'd say with +300% increase forget about anything from it, it's outrageous at this point.

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Originally Posted by Indefiinable

But that is how exchange rates work isn't it?

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Read the thread, since this point has already been discussed.

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Originally Posted by Zeonsilt

p.s. I'd say with +300% increase forget about anything from it, it's outrageous at this point.

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If it's kinda hard on brazilian players (that decided to play the game only because of steam currency system), I can't even imagine what it is for our fellow russians. We deserved at least a warning, honestly.

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Originally Posted by Indefiinable

So while I appreciate that an anoucement would have been courteous if not required by the ToS I must be missing something if this has suddenly become totally unaffordable when the relative value in real terms is now the same as in every other country

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A big concern with brazillian players is that they don't have voice acting, translations, official webpages, data centers, forums, or customer support in their native language. But with this very sudden no-warning update they are being charged the same price as all of the people who do get those things.

I think it wouldn't be as big of a deal if they got even the fraction of support that people who are fluent in English, German, French, and Japanese do. Like, just bare bones a general for people who don't speak those languages would be nice so people who can't speak English to complain about this won't get their posts deleted for not speaking English.
(just to note, I'm from Texas)

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Originally Posted by Indefiinable

I think I am being a bit thick

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You are, yes. Let me explain this to you really simply. Tomorrow when you decide to pay your sub, you suddenly discover that it costs you 35$ instead of 15$. What's the big deal, it's just 20$ more, who cares!

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Originally Posted by Indefiinable

I think I am being a bit thick
But that is how exchange rates work isn't it? They look at a countries average income, levels of unemployment, cost of living, GDP and many many other economic factors and say OK my 1 USD is the relative value of your 3.15 BRL.

So while I appreciate that an announcement would have been courteous if not required by the ToS I must be missing something if this has suddenly become totally unaffordable when the relative value in real terms is now the same as in every other country

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I'm not an economist, but i doubt that exchange rates are calculated on the way you said. Japanese's Yen have an exchange rate even worse than Brazilian's Real and Japan is a first world country and in a way better shape than Brazil, but it's interesting for Japan to keep yen cheaper so they can export more products than importing and they do produce a lot of things, unlike Brazil. So yeah it's not that easy. Best way to compare this things would be to check the monthly minimum wage on each country and convert it to dollar so you'd discover how much that person can buy in dollar.

About it being interesting or not for square to have different prices in different regions of the world, it's probably all about the potencial of each market. Russia and Brazil (among some other countries) have a lower incoming but they can potentially have a lot of customers for square cause their population is huge (Brazil is the 5th biggest country in population, Russia the 9th) and on top of that most of them can't afford high spec computers to run other games so an MMO is a good alternative as they normally require lower specs like ffxiv. And with square having no cost with servers in this regions (that is why we play with 200~300ms latency) and not even with translation costs (have you noticed that this game only have translations on rich countries?) it ends up being a good deal for them.

So that is probably why we had a different deal. To accommodate the reality of the country vs getting a lot of paying customers. This is actually pretty standard nowadays most games have a cheaper price on poor markets that have a huge sale potential so they can inflate their numbers (having a game that sells a lot is good for their business cause it brings even more attention to the game, people get attracted by this numbers and also selling it cheaper on this countries but selling more means more incoming).

Another good example is China, it's not a rich country but it's the biggest country of the world in population. They have so much potential that they have their own ffxiv server, with exclusive itens that we don't even have on NA or get it months later after much crying, Windows is a lot cheaper there and I dunno if you noticed but a lot of blockbuster movie's are being co-produced with China, cause China have a law that only allows a small number of foreign movies per year to be exhibited there unless they're co-produced. and their market is so huge that it's interesting for movie producers cause even if the movie don't go so well in the US it gets saved by the Chinese box office.

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Originally Posted by Legewiel

EXACTLY

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Which also explains why some korean MMOs have their own beta first at Russia and China and sometimes doesn't even get a NA server, or only get it after a long time (black desert for example).

How would you like the end of PS3 support done this style? Everything is nice and calm until 4.05, but then you download the patch and suddenly you have to buy PS4. Cannot afford it? Wouldn't have bought Stormblood if you knew about it beforhand? Who cares!

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Originally Posted by EriShvakh

You are, yes. Let me explain this to you really simply. Tomorrow when you decide to pay your sub, you suddenly discover that it costs you 35$ instead of 15$. What's the big deal, it's just 20$ more, who cares!

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They do not understand this, they need to raise prices three times, as they did for Russian players, let all increase the subscription price by 300%, then it will be interesting to see ....

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Originally Posted by Esmart

How would you like the end of PS3 support done this style? Everything is nice and calm until 4.05, but then you download the patch and suddenly you have to buy PS4. Cannot afford it? Wouldn't have bought Stormblood if you knew about it beforhand? Who cares!

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As you argue, comparing the prices for one and the support of other platforms is different, let's not argue! Nobody needs it!

I'm going to use some words loosely since I don't know why they decided to charge you so little in the first place.

It seems like they charged you ''wrong'' in the first place and you were paying less then you should have.

Now you are paying the correct (???) price. ($13.3USD rather then $9.20USD)

Heck, you were paying the same as a Legacy Character on a 6 month payment block! That was definitely wrong.

Standard US per month is 30 days = $14.99 on the NA webpage.

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They do not understand this, they need to raise prices three times, as they did for Russian players, let all increase the subscription price by 300%, then it will be interesting to see ....

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That would mean they will close the game as it would go from 15 $ to 45 $.
Sorry to hear that this happened to you guys, but others which pay the full price in Euro or dollars even thou are not paid in the same coin will play the same amount ( which is in my case 13 euro regardless of market fluctuations to exchange rates).
Now , some of us understand that it's not pretty when something discriminatory positive is taken away (as this is what is ) , but also try to understand that until a formal answer from SE side is received all this talk is irrelevant and without any surprise will attract negative backlash from the other player communities .
Regardless of the above said, I hope this is cleared it up soon and everything will go into the normal flow .

@Niqote that is steam business plan for regions which don't have the gdp on par with other western countries and there is no reason to go aggressive towards the players + awesome signature , really gains/retains attention.
Still, I find it very curious that in 48h there is no official answer from either Steam or SE....

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Originally Posted by Niqote

I'm going to use some words loosely since I don't know why they decided to charge you so little in the first place.

It seems like they charged you ''wrong'' in the first place and you were paying less then you should have.

Now you are paying the correct (???) price. ($13.3USD rather then $9.20USD)

Heck, you were paying the same as a Legacy Character on a 6 month payment block! That was definitely wrong.

Standard US per month is 30 days = $14.99 on the NA webpage.

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Let me explain a little.
Indignation in Russia and I think Brazil has emerged mainly because the level of income in these countries is lower than in the same Europe or the United States.
You pay $ 15 for a subscription, for you it's a trifle, less than 1% of your salary. In russia and in brazil these 15 dollars can be 10% of the monthly salary and even more.
It is at this and causes a protest.

Low price in regions is not some sort of charity. It's companies looking at the markets and saying "We can have hundreds of subscribers for this high price or thousands for this low price. What do we choose?" And the numbers do depend on average income. I'm sure SE have legal right to triple the cost without warning, it's just bad manners to do so. Especially just after people have bought the expansion they cannot now afford.

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Originally Posted by Tjil

Let me explain a little.
Indignation in Russia and I think Brazil has emerged mainly because the level of income in these countries is lower than in the same Europe or the United States.
You pay $ 15 for a subscription, for you it's a trifle, less than 1% of your salary. In russia and in brazil these 15 dollars can be 10% of the monthly salary and even more.
It is at this and causes a protest.

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Ah, I see. It was my assumption there would be some kind of 'middle ground' regarding the pricing structure.
Thanks for the information!

With all respect to SE, we deserved leastways a warning, notification or, at least, few words about this situation. Just because suddenly triple increasing prices after more then 2 years and right after Stormblood update - it's unfair and uneceptable. It's raises questions about the attitude towards clients. More high price for familiar product is always sad story, but this pill can became a little sweeter if only SE would give us a normal announcement: "Ok, guys, this is your new reality in Eorzea. Sad but true". But not like this, just not.

I'm still waiting for some official reaction from SE.

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Originally Posted by Tjil

Let me explain a little.
Indignation in Russia and I think Brazil has emerged mainly because the level of income in these countries is lower than in the same Europe or the United States.
You pay $ 15 for a subscription, for you it's a trifle, less than 1% of your salary. In russia and in brazil these 15 dollars can be 10% of the monthly salary and even more.
It is at this and causes a protest.

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There are countries that have the same level of income that don't have these lower prices. I live in one, and our level of income is the same as Brasil, yet we always had to pay the same as everyone else. This change brings everyone to the same level. Why would they be able to pay less than me, when we're in the same boat? Buy 2 less pizzas a month and you can afford the sub.