Quote Originally Posted by Grizzlebeard View Post
Maybe you'd care to enlighten me then. For example, how, if the average wage/disposable income in the UK is significantly lower than in the US is it acceptable to charge the same price for a third of the product.
Bear in mind Cost of Living expenses. Wikipedia may show a higher 'disposable income', but that figure's just gross wages minus statutory taxes and doesn't take into account the country's economy, secondary tax rates (sales tax, alcohol/cigarette/fuel levies), eg the cost of 'gas' in the US is very low compared to the UK.

Let's take two identical new products - from amazon.co.uk, the new Judas Priest album is £13.99 which today converts to $23.92. From amazon.com, the same album is $11.88 - no special sales or discounts. The album costs twice as much in the UK as it does in the US in direct terms. This isn't because of production costs and distribution, it's because that is how much a music album costs in each market.

Quote Originally Posted by Grizzlebeard View Post
I'm not sure what's more depressing, the fact that you believe people whose earnings are in that level range would blindly throw money at S-E or the fact you actually believe there are 2,000 European FFXIV players who earn circa £108k ($185k)?
Sorry, I threw 'salaried' in there for ease of calculation so we didn't have to deal with tax. £37.5 x 40hrs x 52 weeks is £67.6k. If you'd like, change my two hours to four hours, my point remains. Around two million accounts atm isn't it? 500k EU? 2,000 of them earn £67.6k+, yeah I think so. And it's not 'blindly' is it? It may be frivolously, but I'm not alone in supporting S-E; buying CEs of each of their games, subscriptions to MMOs, a range of plushies (for my kids, honest!), and audio CDs/Blu-Rays... and for some reason a box with a crappy pewter talisman in it sent form Japan, idk. A lot of people have done the same.

Quote Originally Posted by Kuwagami View Post
Rich people have no clue about what the world really is.
In my experience, the reverse is true, but clearly that opinion is based on your own perspective.

Quote Originally Posted by Grizzlebeard View Post
Or FFXIV for that matter.

However, unless they're the kids of rich people you generally find people who earn their millions have a distinctly thrifty view on their expenditure.
Yeah, I doubt there are many people earning millions who have time for FFXIV or the like. However, you don't need to be approaching anywhere near well-off to be able to afford £65 for a Fanfest.