Steam payment HUGE price increase!

[Misanna]

Yeah you should've told us before launching the expansion, so we wouldn't have spent our money buying it! Dirty work you did...
My husband and I are leaving the game as soon as our 26 days of previous subscription end. Thanks for this.

[Niwashi]

However, "Recurring Fees" would refer to things like Auto Renew NOT one time subscription purchases. You are buying 30 days of game time (essentially a product with a defined length and expiration)but you are not signing up for a recurring fee, technically, unless you choose auto renew.

The NA version of the user agreement, it promises 30 days advance notice for changes to recurring fees, and it also defines it:
"A 'Recurring Fee' is a fee that will be charged on a recurring basis until you terminate your subscription."
The subscription fee itself is a recurring fee because it's charged repeatedly. Whether you pay it automatically or manually doesn't change the fact that you have to pay it repeatedly in order to maintain your sub. It's even pointed out in the opening of that paragraph:
"In order to access SQUARE ENIX's servers to play the Game, you must agree to a recurring subscription ("Subscription") with a minimum subscription term of 30 days, and pay a recurring subscription fee ("FFXIV Subscription Fee")."

In the EU version of the user agreement, the part about the 30 day notice doesn't even mention the fact that it's recurring, just mentioning subscription fees:
"FINAL FANTASY XIV Subscription Fee rates will be posted at http://sqex.to/ffxivfees_eu, and any changes to those rates will be posted with 30 days’ advance notice and notice will be provided to the Game community and by email to User’s registered email addresses."

By neither version would automatic versus manual payments of that recurring subscription fee make any difference to SE's promise that it won't change without 30 days advance notice.


EDIT:
It seems they may be getting around the rule by only listing prices in euros and pounds on the EU site, only in US dollars on the NA site, and only in yen on the JP site. Maybe they're treating it as though it's only those currencies that are (temporarily) guaranteed, and screw anyone else.

[Zarabeth]

I'm not even going to get into the argument of whether or not it's "fair" that the two countries should pay the same in USD.

I am in no way condoning what Squeenix did. I was simply curious about another country. I'm a nosy person and love information. I tried looking it up online but it didn't make a lot of sense to me, Your reply did so thank you. I don't pay fo0r my sub, a friend does because I can't afford the price of the sub each month. So, I do understand how upsetting this is.
One thing that is bugging me is all the comparisons to North America when the USA and Canada have nothing at all to do with any of this. This game is Japanese. The people running it are Japanese. You should be comparing to Japan or to the Yen.

[Ayerinn]

After all, Steam is still the largest PC gaming storefront. And FFXIV's page is basically defaced with an ever-shrinking review score, with multiple negative reviews from veteran players (currently at 53% and still dropping).

I think people are being a little ridiculous...Yes, it was bad business practice for SE to raise prices without notice. Yes, it is very poor (and very suspect to be honest) timing being one month after an Expansion launch (aka 30+ days which is a standard return policy for goods - though software tends to be shorter.) However, in the end no matter how horrible the situation was handled with lack of communication before any changes occurred - it is in their right to change prices. It sucks and you have your right to voice your opinion in forums and on Steam, but it is what it is. Writing bad reviews to tank a games "score" just because you are upset it costs too much after a price change, though, is in my mind just as ridiculous as SE changing pricing without notice. If the reasoning for a low score was changing prices without notice, that is a little more reasonable though that is more of a reflection on a corporations pricing policies and NOT the actual end product (not to say those policies have no relevance.) This is basically the equivalent of people protesting in front of a store...99% of the time I find those people are best ignored.

[JumperX]

snip

I welcome any type of real shareholder person to this conversation. As you know the shares are bought according to the individual risk. More people like you should speak up and show your concern with the company and shareholders with a bigger share. I am sure many people facing this problem would like to your voice and other minority shareholders voices to join their cause.

[Rymm]

One thing that is bugging me is all the comparisons to North America when the USA and Canada have nothing at all to do with any of this. This game is Japanese. The people running it are Japanese. You should be comparing to Japan or to the Yen.

Because they are now charging us the equivalent of $15 USD, not ¥1,666.12 JPY. When SE starts charging us in yen and not dollars, I'm sure people will start making the comparisons.

[Ayerinn]

The NA version of the user agreement, it promises 30 days advance notice for changes to recurring fees, and it also defines it:
"A 'Recurring Fee' is a fee that will be charged on a recurring basis until you terminate your subscription."
The subscription fee itself is a recurring fee because it's charged repeatedly. Whether you pay it automatically or manually doesn't change the fact that you have to pay it repeatedly in order to maintain your sub. It's even pointed out in the opening of that paragraph:"In order to access SQUARE ENIX's servers to play the Game, you must agree to a recurring subscription ("Subscription") with a minimum subscription term of 30 days, and pay a recurring subscription fee ("FFXIV Subscription Fee")."

In the EU version of the user agreement, the part about the 30 day notice doesn't even mention the fact that it's recurring, just mentioning subscription fees:
"FINAL FANTASY XIV Subscription Fee rates will be posted at http://sqex.to/ffxivfees_eu, and any changes to those rates will be posted with 30 days’ advance notice and notice will be provided to the Game community and by email to User’s registered email addresses."

By neither version would automatic versus manual payments of that recurring subscription fee make any difference to SE's promise that it won't change without 30 days advance notice.


EDIT:
It seems they may be getting around the rule by only listing prices in euros and pounds on the EU site, and only in US dollars on the NA site. Maybe they're treating it as though only those currencies are (temporarily) guaranteed, and screw anyone else.

I disagree with your interpretation (for NA ONLY...so the BRL change)- if you are not agreeing to auto renewal you are NOT incurring recurring fees...you have the choice every 30 days to purchase another product aka 30 day subscription. you literally purchased 30 days of subscription time with no recurring fees attached - if you do nothing, it ends, you are not charged anything other than what you paid upfront for those 30 days. UNLESS you agree to auto renewal - in which case you ARE incurring a recurring fee because you agreed to it. I agree that the next line of text makes it a little murky but I would be willing to bet the lawyers could successfully argue the interpretation.

The EU version is not as clean and they screwed themselves on that one - it can not be interpreted the same and they INDEED did not follow their own ToS/U. EU has a case...NA I do not believe does - at least imo.

I also think, after saying all that above, that they could argue that they didn't actually change prices on anything...technically, like you were sort of pointing out, the official pricing is in $/Euro/Pounds - they could easily argue it was an update to currency exchange rates and leave it at that.

[Zarabeth]

Because they are now charging us the equivalent of $15 USD, not ¥1,666.12 JPY. When SE starts charging us in yen and not dollars, I'm sure people will start making the comparisons.

You misunderstood what I'm saying. I see many comparisons to north America being better off than south America. While this is true financially (at least for some) it has nothing at all to do with this situation. I also watched the youtube video about this and again all the comparisons are to north America. SE is not an American company, it's Japanese.

[Zarabeth]

I disagree with your interpretation (for NA ONLY...so the BRL change)- if you are not agreeing to auto renewal you are NOT incurring recurring fees...you have the choice every 30 days to purchase another product aka 30 day subscription. you literally purchased 30 days of subscription time with no recurring fees attached - if you do nothing, it ends, you are not charged anything other than what you paid upfront for those 30 days. UNLESS you agree to auto renewal - in which case you ARE incurring a recurring fee because you agreed to it. I agree that the next line of text makes it a little murky but I would be willing to bet the lawyers could successfully argue the interpretation.

You are correct in the way you interpret this as far as the US goes. I'm not sure if the ToS is different for your country.

[Moonlite]

snip

Do you not feel a game that runs on a monthly sub should be reviewed based on administration? Stuff outside the game can greatly affect a persons enjoyment of the game. Based on the angry Data center moves, server stability, players per world, and cash shop. The game receives a lot of positive scores from the dev team cares so much. Why wouldn't the opposite be true? I do admit individual expansion scores are a little bit harder. Admin scores should more go to the main game. But most companies don't attach reviews in that way.