Steam payment HUGE price increase!

[Lillriah]

[...] Being a super big company, we all know multiple divisions exists and they have superiors. This message is aimed right at you people. And who am I to confirm this? No one: Just one more affected costumer. Just one. But I am inclined to believe in this, with some past Square Enix moves on the last years as a company. So I think... why? Why this disrespect for all of your developers divisions? That is a demonstration of a great lack of respect on your business for not having the right knonwledgement about the sitiuation and reallity of your costumers and lack of honesty on making this change, be it as horrible as it is, public due to our own right of at least knowing. (not to mention the user agreement again). It's disrespectul to PEOPLE.

Again, it's sad to see something like this happening this way. And to think that their works inspires me. [...]

[Rymm]

Just a heads up, Lillriah, you can circumvent the character restriction per post by going back and editing in what you wanted to say, rather than making multiple posts.

[Lillriah]

[...] All the work put on it not only by me, to get this kind of move coming from the company itself, the name "Square Enix". not the name of an artist, not the name of an programmer, planner, designer, producer or user. But only to Square Enix.

Now, what am I to do? I guess just sit and watch one more disrespectful move against people being made, and an official announcement to say sorry. But in the end, nothing changing.

Well, good people from all this community, let me see that I'm wrong on my previous statement. Because I would love to be.

Thank you for your attention, and may we all walk by the light of the crystal, with respect, and honesty.

(Sorry for the chain posts, but... letters limits...)

[Lillriah]

Just a heads up, Lillriah, you can circumvent the character restriction per post by going back and editing in what you wanted to say, rather than making multiple posts.

OPS!

I'm noob at forums, sorry, won't happen again >.<

Thanks for the heads up

[IncogniJM]

I would really like if the prices were changed back to how they were once.

I will only give my brief opinion on all of this:


Every region has a different economy. So 15 USD in US has a different weight than 15 USD in Brazil. Some companies understand that. Blizzard for example, gives a different price for the monthly subscription for brazilians, because most of us can't afford to pay near 50 reais each month for a game. I think the same principle can be applied to russians.

I know that for most outsiders and even SQEX this may be unfair, but I honestly don't think it is.

Please, change back the prices.

[Sinistral]

This is not about being fair or unfair, it's just "good" shady business. Quote from reddit.

"Using extremely simplified numbers let's say it costs them $8 USD a month per player in server maintenance, development, and other miscellaneous costs. That means their $12 sub is now generating $4 in profit. Let's assume then that they charge a Brazilian player the equivalent of $8 USD to lessen the financial burden to that region's playerbase. Their net profit from that player is now $0."

They should have made an official statement before doing the change tho.

[Niwashi]

There's no way that SE can be held accountable for the inconsistencies between economies in various parts of the world, the vagaries of exchange rates, or new taxation laws on money transfers. If all of those things turn into a need to adjust prices in certain parts of the world, that part might be unavoidable. Indeed, if it's been handled so differently on Steam than it is on direct subscriptions through SE's own MogStation, there's even something to be said for getting those two more in sync with each other.

But none of that excuses their lack of notification that the change was going to happen. They promised 30 days notification before changing the prices in any of the primary currencies they deal with directly. They should have given the same 30 days notification before changing the prices in Reals and Rubles. Players in Brazil and Russia bought and are playing the same game as those of us in the US, the EU, and Japan. They should be entitled to the same consideration.

[ScaQueen]

Please, if any staff is reading it right now, somethings i'd like answers to:

1 - Is there going to be an official word from SE about the prices adjustment?

2 - The US dollar changes its value every day, so how often are we going to see steam adjustments? weekly? monthly?

3 - The autorenew option will stay as current price or will it get adjustments too?

Again, please, i'm not debating fairness or not, the adjustment is real and it has happened, so please just make an official word explaining it for us

Thank you

[DoppelShifter]

Please, if any staff is reading it right now, somethings i'd like answers to:

1 - Is there going to be an official word from SE about the prices adjustment?

2 - The US dollar changes its value every day, so how often are we going to see steam adjustments? weekly? monthly?

3 - The autorenew option will stay as current price or will it get adjustments too?

Again, please, i'm not debating fairness or not, the adjustment is real and it has happened, so please just make an official word explaining it for us

Thank you

No need to be a SE employee to answer the second point: the conversion is calculated after you commit it to your Steam transaction, so it'll always be calculated at standard currency exchange at the time of the transaction. So yes, it will float every single day.

[Freyar]

I've been following this for the better part of a day or two and I'm just having a hard time understanding why this move was made in the first place, let alone so close to Stormblood's launch. Even worse is that I have a gut feeling this came from someone completely unrelated to the actual project who has zero concern over what Final Fantasy XIV Online really meant as far as communication, trust, and commitment to doing right by the fanbase.

Final Fantasy XIV was a failure in 2010. It was because people who weren't mindful of what they should be doing were calling the shots. This, even as a North American player, concerns me greatly that something this severe is put into effect four years after the release of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. Are we seeing a case where SquareEnix's business units are swapping back and forth from Astral and Umbral eras?

This damages the game, the community, the goodwill that was generated over the course of the re-development and various launch issues. I am so disappointed that not only this was done without warning, but that it was done with an attempt to fall back on technicalities to avoid the obvious question regarding price changes on subscriptions.

I do see that other games did also make changes to BRL currencies. Blizzard did the same thing with notice but did not make such a drastic change and not at currency parity.

July 12, 2016
Exchange Rate: UD$3.30 to R $1.00

• Recurring Subscription (30-Day): R $24.75 or US$7.50
• Game Time (Non-Recurring) (30-Day): R $23,90 or US$7.24

If Blizzard were to do the same today...
July 20th, 2017
Exchange Rate: US$3.14 to R $1.00

• Recurring Subscription (30-Day) R $23.55 or US$7.50
• Game Time (Non-Recurring) (30-Day): R $23,90 or US$7.61

In comparison to yesterdays's straight exchange rates for Final Fantasy XIV Online...
July 20th, 2017
Exchange Rate: US$3.14 to R $1.00

• Game Time (30-Day): R $47.10 or USD$15.00

Making this decision 97% more costly than competing titles..

FURTHER

Average Income
April 2017
Brazil: R $2109 or ~US$671.12
United States: $3,436 (As reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Earning Power
US 5:1 Brazil