Square Enix statement

[Zumi]

As someone posted previously the UK minimum wage is 6.50, if a convert that to dollars its $9.57. That is a lot more income for the common people who in the US get $7.25. Company executives in the US would throw a fit if they had to pay their employees 25% more income, because it would cut in to the top 1%'s money.

I can see why some things cost more in the UK cause of stuff like this. Nobody in the US can really live off of minimum wage because its not a living wage which makes people get 2 jobs often.

[Snugglebutt]

As someone posted previously the UK minimum wage is 6.50, if a convert that to dollars its $9.57. That is a lot more income for the common people who in the US get $7.25. Company executives in the US would throw a fit if they had to pay their employees 25% more income, because it would cut in to the top 1%'s money.

I can see why some things cost more in the UK cause of stuff like this. Nobody in the US can really live off of minimum wage because its not a living wage which makes people get 2 jobs often.

Living costs in the US are on average cheaper then the UK after doing some quick google searches, our average house price is in USD if converted around $264,773.14 across England and Wales. The average house price in the US is $199,600.0, the average monthly disposable salary across the US is $2,970.53 and the average in the UK is in USD around $2,522.33. Unemployment rate current in UK is around 5.7%, in the US around 5.5%.

Now these figures are gained from multiple sources but obviously might find other sources with different results and there will be regional difference obviously within each country. So maybe the US should be the ones paying almost $200 for their version since they seem to be in a better position financially based on national averages.

Statistics can be used for or against people in many ways but the reality is it is not fair that us UK customers have to pay the equivalent of $191.73 for the expansion which only really contains a small plastic dragon figurine, an art book etc and rest is mostly digital stuff get with digital CE anyways for around 1/3rd of the price of the physical edition.

The digital CE is actually well priced and comparable in a fair way to the US and EU version but the physical CE is an extortionate price for the UK version in which we are expected to pay roughly in USD around $126 extra on top of the digital CE version for measly small plastic dragon and an art book, also around $70 more than the US customer is paying for the same thing. It is not unreasonable to demand SE explains themselves on this discrepancy and unfair pricing.

[Risvertasashi]

Living costs in the US are on average cheaper then the UK after doing some quick google searches, our average house price is in USD if converted around $264,773.14 across England and Wales. The average house price in the US is $199,600.0, the average monthly disposable salary across the US is $2,970.53 and the average in the UK is in USD around $2,522.33. Unemployment rate current in UK is around 5.7%, in the US around 5.5%. Now these figures are gained from multiple sources but obviously might find other sources with different results. So maybe the US should be the ones paying almost $200 for their version since they seem to be in a better position financially based on national averages.

If you take a statistics course, you'll find that averages really do not tell the whole story, and as mentioned, there are different government services available in each country. Median might be a better consideration here, but it's moot. The entire US and UK population (holistically) are not SE's demographic, which is what really matters. Rather, it's a subset, and we would need numbers for that subset to really get a meaningful answer. SE's accounting/marketing isn't going to share that, however. I think it is a fair assumption that a number of XIV players are at or close to minimum wage, and someone already did the math on that.

[Snugglebutt]

If you take a statistics course, you'll find that averages really do not tell the whole story, and as mentioned, there are different government services available in each country..

Of course it does not tell the whole story but given you tried to use the NMW which falls into the same pitfalls of not telling the whole story either, my statistics are as relevant as your original argument justifying the price difference using NMW. The other person made a blanket statement assuming average US customer is worse off, my statistics merely showed it is the opposite based on national average.

[axemtitanium]

If we exclude taxes. We can draw the following conclusion based on the current mininum wage of Japan, UK and USA.

Japan 14,800 yen (17hrs-22hrs)
Ranges from 677 Japanese yen to 888 yen per hour; set on a prefectural and industry basis.[109]

UK 130.00 (17-20hrs)
The UK "living wage" - an hourly rate based on the amount needed to cover the basic costs of living - has been raised by 20p to £7.85. The voluntary wage - set by the Living Wage Foundation - is now 21% higher than the compulsory National Minimum Wage, which is currently £6.50 an hour.Nov 3, 2014

USA 130.00 (18hrs)
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires a minimum wage of $2.13 for tipped workers with the expectation that wages plus tips total no less than $7.25 per hour. The employer must pay the difference if total income does not add up to $7.25 per hour.

Shocking isn't it? UK with mininum wage actually pay about the same as Japan with similar mininum wage, not only that but on the low end of mininum wage Japan actually pays more for the product meanwhile it takes USA an additional hour to be able to purchase the product.

So for all the complaining about the cost being "expensive" the truth is in the mininum wage and while taxes weren't taking into account over this that's a variable which honestly isn't SE's issue they most likely focus on the aspect of mininum wage and income of people in said area.

This guy gets it.

[Kasha]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't subscription prices adjusted based on the exchange rate? Cause if that's the case...

[DrOstler]

UK getting screwed over on prices? What's new?

[Blindheart]

Just move to America if you don't like the prices!

[aerolol]

The USD is a lot weaker than the Euro right now, [...]

Wrong.

The US Dollar has never been so close to Euro as it is now, and it's RISING.
http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/
set the graph plot for like 5 years...

and you should see something like this:





See that the dollar value has reached its peak compared to euro on the last 2 months, and it's still rising even more.
It's very likely that 1 Euro will be worth less than 1 Dollar on the next months.


The historic average is 1 USD = 0.75 EUR (roughly, as seen on the 5 year graph)
Right now 1 USD = 0.95 EUR

So my friend, that statement of yours is wrong.

[beowulf81]

Some of the arguments in this thread are just mind bogglingly terrible, imo. Minimum wage counts more than disposable income because you think the majority of ffxiv players are on minimum wage? Really? and as far as purchasing power is concerned; the average salary in the US is 25.47% higher than the average salary in the UK, but a resident of the UK has to pay 48% more for the same product? hahahawut?

I'm not going to laugh at the fact that people with absolutely no grasp of economics whatsoever are trying to lecture others on it as if they're an authority on the matter. But I will say this. The physical CE is 130.00EUR, and it is also 130.00GBP. If you are in the UK, you cannot pay in euros, even though you can at many other retailers (such as amazon). You must pay the price in sterling. GBP:EUR is currently 1:1.38. Which means if you are in the UK, you will effectively be forced to pay 179.40EUR if you want the physical CE.

Whether you are in Berlin or London or Athens, where will your physical CE be sent from when its released? The midlands. in the UK. So if you are in the UK, you will have to pay approx. 50EUR more to receive something being sent from within the UK, then someone outside the UK will, even though their product, identical to yours, will also be sent from within the UK (i.e. outside the country they reside in).

Why on earth would anyone defend this?