Steam payment HUGE price increase!

[Drakanoth]

The problem with steam reviews is they are not based on region, eo now there are a lot of "sub increased 3x with no warning" reviews with no explanation that wouldnt impact anyone other than those in 2 countries. The sub also only increased if you used steam, the base sub for the game did not change on the official site .

While this does suck for those effected, a lot of those reviews are misleading. Its also not the devs fault, they are not in control of the company financing.

How are those reviews misleading? Have you at least read them or are you like those people who see negative rates and move on to another game?

[Princess_Momoka]

That is not how things work. First it depends how much currency the country has in circulation. After that it depends on the county's ability to buy and sell things (thus making a demand for the currency) Say the USA government decides to print 1 duotrigintillion (yes I looked it up) USD, you really think the USD currency exchange rates would still be favorable? So no you can't base it on exchange rates alone.

Meh thought I quote myself since it is last post on the page.
http://www.economist.com/content/big-mac-index
I went to look at this rq and in January it said Brazil was slightly overvalued in the exchange rate and now it is significantly undervalued. This means they went paying a bit less then what SE could ask for, to overpaying by a significant amount, if we base it on PPP. Thus I can definitely see why this thread was made, assuming if SE is going by exchange rates alone and keep adjusting the cost based off it.

Russia since July 2014 though, wow >< Basically the dollar exchange rate got really favorable for the USD in the last 3-4 years or so vs everywhere.

[EriShvakh]

snip

SE had full control over prices all this time. Some items in mog shop were sold at 100% of their value, jump portions and transfers for example. So up until the exact month since SB release they were perfectly fine with our payment model. It's not life RUB suddenly dropped in price. It happened years ago. But for some reason, only after we bought new expansion and played it for a month, SE suddenly realised that RUB exchange rate has dropped. I'm sorry I don't believe in coincidences.

[JunseiKei]

SE had full control over prices all this time. Some items in mog shop were sold at 100% of their value, jump portions and transfers for example. So up until the exact month since SB release they were perfectly fine with our payment model. It's not life RUB suddenly dropped in price. It happened years ago. But for some reason, only after we bought new expansion and played it for a month, SE suddenly realised that RUB exchange rate has dropped. I'm sorry I don't believe in coincidences.

Kindly read the whole post. Thank you.

EDIT:

I'll just say it because apparently reading is hard or simply cherry picking points on my post.

BR and RU players abused the reduced rates on Steam Wallet to buy Mogstation items. They then re-sold the items for profit (I want to say I remember seeing Sleipnir being sold for around $15.00 compared to $24.00 from the store directly). This was roughly 1 month before Stormblood. Investigations to find the reason why takes time. While it has been apparently made impossible to buy items from the Mogstation through Steam (not in that area nor do I use Steam for FFXIV so I do not know the validity of this claim), this lends causation.

So no, it's not a coincidence at all, nor have I tried saying that at all.

[EriShvakh]

Russia since July 2014 though, wow >< Basically the dollar exchange rate got really favorable for them in the last 3-4 years or so vs everywhere.

It's the other way around. It got extremely unfavourable. We went from 30rub to 55rub per dollar, while salaries remained the same. So everything got 2 times more expensive.

[gorky]

well I can understand the price increase in steam, but wait, you could say, hey guys freebies ended we raise prices, but ... we understand that a one-time increase in payment by 100-300% will hit hard on some of our players. we apologize or something like that...

[EriShvakh]

Kindly read the whole post. Thank you.

Ok, let's see.

There were no news about changes to steam's cut. Russian tax on digital sales got introduced a year(?) ago. RUB exchange rate is stable. Nope, sorry, I don't see a reason for a sudden change. Why they didn't change it back in 2014 when rub dropped two times in price? Why they didn't change it when tax was introduced? Why change it exactly a month after SB release? Why not on SB release? Why not before? Really makes you almonds crack, huh?

[Drakanoth]

Kindly read the whole post. Thank you.

EDIT:

I'll just say it because apparently reading is hard or simply cherry picking points on my post.

BR and RU players abused the reduced rates on Steam Wallet to buy Mogstation items. They then re-sold the items for profit. This was roughly 1 month before Stormblood. Investigations to find the reason why takes time.

Yes, its the classic case of "this is why we can't have nice things". The majority losing good stuff because some people abuse it. The article you mentioned on your post is very interesting, but I don't think it hits straight to the point of why we are upset. Alright, the price raised, but why did they do this the first patch after the expansion, without any blog post or previous notice? This is the main reason a lot of people are upset. They spent money on the expansion they might not play now because its on a price range they might not be willing to pay. Its just too shady.

[EriShvakh]

BR and RU players abused the reduced rates on Steam Wallet to buy Mogstation items. They then re-sold the items for profit

So there is this revolutionary solution. Like. I just came up with it. I must be a genius. But. BUT! Hear me out.

What if we increase prices for cosmetic items? Like, we're already selling Jump potions for a full price, so why not do the same thing for other items.

That way we can get more money from RU and BR, kill reselling market, and keep thousands of players from waging holy war against us!

A-MA-ZING. SE needs to hire me right now.

[Rofel]

Yknow whats the problem with your theory, Junsei? At this point, its just speculation. Thats exactly why we need more transparency from SE about this issue.

We are fully aware of the many possible reasons to change the rate. The few FACTS we have so far are: most of the userbase from these regions are dealing with more than a little increase on how much the game costs now. The timing was terrible, people just spent money on SB and doubling the amount they have to pay monthly in order to enjoy it is baffling. The lack of communication, prior and even now, just puts salt in the wound.

We understand you like the game (we do to, believe!) but as customers, we are allowed to share our opinions and do what we can in order to be heard. I am really sorry if this subject upsets you but that lost single post isn't enough when the damage was silent done.