Australia & EU Region Subscription Costs

[Intrinsic]

If you look at the conversion rates from the available subscription costs into the yen (JPY) it is as follows:

1480 JPY is the standard 30 day subscription fee for Japan.
(taken from here: http://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/product/)

8.99 GBP = 1417.97 JPY
12.99 EUR = 1731.90 JPY
14.99 USD = 1502.60 JPY

(taken from current conversion rates, I'm aware it will fluctuate)

It becomes quite apparent why they would go out of their way to make as many people to pay in Euros as possible. While GBP and USD are reasonably close to the monthly JPY subscription cost, everyone else using the Euro is paying more to play a month.

So not only on top of the higher conversion cost from currencies like the AUD, NZD and SGD to the EUR, you are also being charged more per month to play the game than other people fortunate enough to be using an account that can pay in GBP or USD.

Is it ethical? I'm not sure it really depends on the reasoning behind the increased costs. Maybe it has to do with local taxes? But even so, it does seem like they've gone out of their way to try and get the subscription costs as close as possible for currencies other than the EUR.

Ultimately, I personally agree. If you're going to be made to pay in a currency that isn't your own, then you should be able to pick from those available so you can at least pick the cheapest to convert to.

[ToraFomalhaut]

If you look at the conversion rates from the available subscription costs into the yen (JPY) it is as follows:

1480 JPY is the standard 30 day subscription fee for Japan.
(taken from here: http://jp.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/product/)

8.99 GBP = 1417.97 JPY
12.99 EUR = 1731.90 JPY
14.99 USD = 1502.60 JPY

(taken from current conversion rates, I'm aware it will fluctuate)

It becomes quite apparent why they would go out of their way to make as many people to pay in Euros as possible. While GBP and USD are reasonably close to the monthly JPY subscription cost, everyone else using the Euro is paying more to play a month.

So not only on top of the higher conversion cost from currencies like the AUD, NZD and SGD to the EUR, you are also being charged more per month to play the game than other people fortunate enough to be using an account that can pay in GBP or USD.

Is it ethical? I'm not sure it really depends on the reasoning behind the increased costs. Maybe it has to do with local taxes? But even so, it does seem like they've gone out of their way to try and get the subscription costs as close as possible for currencies other than the EUR.

Ultimately, I personally agree. If you're going to be made to pay in a currency that isn't your own, then you should be able to pick from those available so you can at least pick the cheapest to convert to.

I stole this and added it to the first post I hope you don't mind, please let me know if you do and I'll remove it.

[Intrinsic]

I stole this and added it to the first post I hope you don't mind, please let me know if you do and I'll remove it.

No worries that's fine. If you dig a bit further and look at the AUD to JPY conversions it's even more intresting.

8.99 GBP as you said is roughly 15.55 AUD which in turn is equal to roughly 1448.37 JPY. So it's a closer translation of the AUD to the base JPY cost of 1480 per month. Instead of being forced to pay the 19.96 AUD for converting to 12.99 EUR, which then equals 1793.93 JPY. In a prettier and easier to understand format (I hope):

8.99 GBP : 15.55 AUD : 1448.37 JPY
while
12.99 EUR : 19.96 AUD : 1793:93 JPY

For your Singaporean and New Zealand friends:

8.99 GBP : 17.95 SGD : 1418.79 JPY
12.99 GBP : 22.22 SGD : 1756.30 JPY

8.99 GBP : 17.96 NZD : 1448.89 JPY
12.99 GBP : 22.23 NZD : 1798.60 JPY

[ToraFomalhaut]

No worries that's fine. If you dig a bit further and look at the AUD to JPY conversions it's even more intresting.

8.99 GBP as you said is roughly 15.55 AUD which in turn is equal to roughly 1448.37 JPY. So it's a closer translation of the AUD to the base JPY cost of 1480 per month. Instead of being forced to pay the 19.96 AUD for converting to 12.99 EUR, which then equals 1793.93 JPY. In a prettier and easier to understand format (I hope):

8.99 GBP : 15.55 AUD : 1448.37 JPY
while
12.99 EUR : 19.96 AUD : 1793:93 JPY

For your Singaporean and New Zealand friends:

8.99 GBP : 17.95 SGD : 1418.79 JPY
12.99 GBP : 22.22 SGD : 1756.30 JPY

8.99 GBP : 17.96 NZD : 1448.89 JPY
12.99 GBP : 22.23 NZD : 1798.60 JPY

Nabbed and updated the first post again, thanks for taking the time to look all this up.

After all that I'm now, even more than before, hoping for at least some form of explanation or comment for both the pricing mismatch, as well as the reasoning behind the needlessly wasted money most of us are having to pay when converting to a higher costing currency.