Absurd Prices On Third World Regions

[Dr. Jester]

There's absolutely no reason whatsoever for us, from the third world with weaker economies, to subsidize the low prices in civilized and well-off countries.

ED, I do expect a better answer than "it is based on the dollar". Especially because you guys had regional pricing before(mostly).

------

Initially, I wasn't going to write this, but ED has forced me to do so, with yet another post of mine(and other) deleted on steam. Their excuse is that we are being rude, I had the presence of mind to take a screenshot this time, with an archive before they did it: https://i.imgur.com/jOMZ2r6.png
Anyway, I'm writing this as a note of protest from people who live in third world countries. ED refuses, like other publishers/devs to use regional pricing properly, like Bethesda and EA.
They need to understand that we would love to pay for your products, but once they price us out of our affordable range it becomes impossible to do so. I also know this may not be a very popular post on Hoggit, but I needed not only to vent, but share to others what is happening.

ED needs to understand that we will **ALWAYS** give priority to food over one of their modules. They can't possibly be receiveing the same amount of money or the same amount of people from third world countries purchasing their products as before.

They used to, somewhat, have some regional pricing a while ago. Now, it is to the point that is just not possible, unless we either cut food for a week, or weeks(depending on the region). I wish ED had a direct competitor, like they do on WWII. Since Great Battles and Cliffs of Dover came into play, I haven't purchased a single WWII module from ED since. The last one was the Mustang a few months after release. If a competitor comes along, it will happen the same thing for ED.


To make a point, the last product I purchased(and under serious protest on my part) was the Supercarrier. Since then, with their increase in prices, and complete elimination of regional pricing, I have refused to buy any of their products. I have a feeling I might not be the only one.

Here is what Xsolla, one of the payment processors for Steam, Epic Games and other stores have to say about regional pricing.

>> Take Metro Exodus, for example, with its current base price of $39.99. **In Argentina or Kazakhstan, it’s half that, while in Japan it is almost $60.** You can, of course, set one price for all regions, **but this will prevent some potential buyers from purchasing your game, which may result in fewer sales overall**. With Steam, regional pricing can be set automatically, so you don’t need to bother with checking local currencies.

https://xsolla.com/blog/how-to-set-the-right-price-for-your-game


You can say, **But what about people who cheats and purchases games outside their region?** A very good question that Steam has been trying to solve for a while, creating blocks and severely punishing your account if you do so. But does that mean that you lose sales, gatekeeping thrid world countries from your products, and price them out of their purchasing power to stop that? No. Just like you don't jail an innocent person in hopes of jailing 3 guilty ones.

Another excuse , **But it is a niche market**. Yes, it is, but other niche products also use regional pricing, allowing more people to buy their products, and offsetting some of their cost to people in other regions.

Here are a few examples(one of the posts I made that got deleted on steam by ED and I had no presence of mind on archiving it):


 


Euro Truck 2 https://steamdb.info/app/227300/:

Region | Price(US$)
---|---
Argentina(lowest) | $2.97
Europe(highest) | $23.16


 



X-Plane https://steamdb.info/app/269950/:

Region | Price(US$)
---|---
Argentina(lowest) | $6.55
Europe(highest) | $75.31



 


MSFS https://steamdb.info/app/1250410/:

Region | Price(US$)
---|---
Turkey(lowest) | $38.46
Israel(highest) | $83.26



 


Train Sim World 2 https://steamdb.info/app/1282590/:

Region | Price(US$)
---|---
Argentina(lowest) | $3.32
Europe(highest) | $34.75



 


TACVIEW https://steamdb.info/app/1177050/: (Nothing more niche than this)

Region | Price(US$)
---|---
Argentine(lowest) | $7.67
Israel(highest) | $82.01

Now imagine, at least in my region(approximate numbers so I don't doxx myself), with an average **PER MONTH** wage of US$380, imagine paying US$55 for a module like that. (And gas prices here are going over US$5 per gallon). Let's take Peru as an example, with a net average wage of s/.1500, and AH-64 costing s/.229.59. So, imagine, for one moment, your monthly wage was US$1500, and AH-64D costed US$229.59. Would you still buy it?

https://preciosmundi.com/peru/precio-vivienda-salarios

DCS: AH-34D https://steamdb.info/app/1770580/:

Region | Price(US$)
---|---
Japan(lowest) | $54.03
Kuwait(highest) | $57.94

Our purchasing power is not on the same level as those in America or Europe. Stop gatekeeping us out of your products. Because the more one overprices a product, the higher the chance of people finding alternative methods to enjoy their products. Reason why in these regions piracy is so rampant(including multiple sales of pirated/burned CDs or illegal serial numbers on the local version of Ebay for these countries). We want to give money to ED, but somehow, it is impossible to do so when we have to choose between food or a module.

I have been saving money for nearly two years to get this one(at the expense of getting the other modules, it was initially for Syria, but the price was unreal. Less money to ED, but they don't care), I may end up purchasing it, because the normal price is 1/3 of a monthly wage where I live, but will do so under serious protest, and may be the last module I buy(and as a Phantom phanatic, as many here know me to be, I may even give that a pass if they ever release it).

____________


***Q: If you own a PC capable of running DCS, why are you complaining about the price?***

 

It is true, my PC can run DCS quite well, the 1080ti I bought years ago is great. But you have to remember, people's conditions change, ED increase prices, and eliminated regional pricing. We are in the middle of a pandemic, people losing their jobs, inflation and all those things. Including purchasing power of a country is not the same in the other. It is unfair to charge an American US$60 and a British US$60 for the same product when the British has a better purchasing power than an American.

Think of it like this, *You own a car, why are you complaining that you have to pay US$6 the gallon?*

***Q: They took regional pricing out because of VPN***

 


Like I said above, sure, good question. But Valve has done multple attempts to stop this. Now you can only purchase a product if you own a method to pay it from the country the VPN IP is based on. Plus, you get absolutely sanctioned and your account in danger if Valve finds out. There are also region locks, prohibiting people from gifting copies from one region to the other. You can read more about it here: https://dotesports.com/business/news/valve-changes-steam-store-policy-to-further-restrict-usage-of-vpns-to-buy-games-in-other-regions

Anyway, eliminating regional pricing because some users use VPN is the same thing as throwing the baby with the bath water. Or eliminating CC purchase online because of CC fraud.

[spike2071]

They've stated it's because of piracy. People were buying in Russia, Argentina, etc. when they lived in the North America/Europe.

Steam has apparently cracked down on buying outside your normal region, but I would guess they don't have that ability on their standalone, which would still be open to that abuse.

If their research showed they made more money with regional pricing than without, then they'd still have regional pricing.

I'm not arguing against you, just stating their reasons. Many people don't get regional pricing combined with purchasing power. I had a post comparing South African monthly wages to Canadian wages, and hopefully it helped some people.

[Dr. Jester]

Originally posted by spike2071:

They've stated it's because of piracy. People were buying in Russia, Argentina, etc. when they lived in the North America/Europe.

Steam has apparently cracked down on buying outside your normal region, but I would guess they don't have that ability on their standalone, which would still be open to that abuse.

If their research showed they made more money with regional pricing than without, then they'd still have regional pricing.

I'm not arguing against you, just stating their reasons. Many people don't get regional pricing combined with purchasing power. I had a post comparing South African monthly wages to Canadian wages, and hopefully it helped some people.

Then leave standalone with the normal prices, say US$70, while do regional pricing on Steam. They can do that. Since standalone is different from Steam.

Standalone means I need to get an international CC, which is a difficult thing, + taxes in international purchase, currency conversion tax, and the currency conversion done by the bank which is always overwhelmingly on their advantage

EDIT: And one can only purchase a product with the local regional price if the person has a payment method from that country. Steam's attempt to stop that.

But like I said on the OP, punishing us for something somewhere does is not right.

[Richardus]

- Buy all modules via Steam in cheap countries
- Link them to an ED account
- Transfer all the modules to the account
- Sell the ED account on the black market to someone in an expensive country for some profit

Don't underestimate the lengths people in western countries go to to save a buck, and the "entrepeneuring" spirit in others

[spike2071]

Sadly, everyone is punished for what others do. We all have to deal with crappy DRM because of pirates. In an ideal world, there would be no DRM, we'd all pay full price for everything because we'd all have enough money for everything.

And like I said (assumed), they make more money without regional pricing.

[Sparky]

Damn that's some brutal pricing.

[Necroth]

gaming is a luxury, if you cant afford it, tough luck

[Sparky]

Originally posted by Necroth:

gaming is a luxury, if you cant afford it, tough luck

Yeah but also the regional pricing is insane. In some countries you'd have to live like a king to afford this game. That's why pretty much everybody adjusts prices for different areas, which is why this is kinda brutal. Hell I'm in Canada so pretty much every plane costs $100 or more for me.

[Necroth]

that is not the developers fault, they want what they think is a fair price for their time and effort, if you cant afford that, wait for a sale, cant afford that either, tough luck.
nobody forces you at gunpoint to buy stuff

[Sparky]

Originally posted by Necroth:

that is not the developers fault, they want what they think is a fair price for their time and effort, if you cant afford that, wait for a sale, cant afford that either, tough luck.
nobody forces you at gunpoint to buy stuff

The devs have exclusive control over the regional prices so it's 100% their fault. Also yes, nobody forces you to buy it, but you can still not like it and it's kind of the industry standard to adjust the price in different regions.

Plus that's not very considerate of most of the rest of the world that gets bent over by this pricing. The US dollar is one of the most valued around the world, so the price very quickly spirals out of control compared to what you'd pay for every other game.

[bignewy]

Sorry you are not happy, but the answer is not going to change, I have already told you that all prices are based on the US dollar conversion.

Our Eshop and Steam prices must match, the Eshop can not use regional prices so there is no way we can use regional prices on steam.

We have regular sales which may help some, and always participate in the steam sales.

Thank you

The Eagle Dynamics Team

[bignewy]

Please do not reopen a thread that has already been answered and closed.