Time to talk seriously about Hi-Rez gem fraud in CIS countries.

[Harem Route]

First things first, this is not necessarily a hate post. I advise people against harassing Hi-Rez employees or fellow community members.

However, I feel like I have to bring attention to this situation to as many people as possible.

Ok, without further ado, here is a synopsis of what has happened:
There exists such a thing as "regional prices". Games and services have different cost, depending on the country. For example, if a game costs 60$, often it will also cost 60€, even though $ does not equal €. In a large number of CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan etc.), prices are often cheaper. Now, I'm not here to argue about if it's fair or not, it is just how it is. Be it just economy, piracy or whatnot, but it's for the most part agreed that prices have to be lower there for the games to sale at all. This, in turn, comes with a number of disadvantages, like games being region locked for example, or sometimes having no English localization in them, inability to gift games outside the region etc., to prevent abusing the system. Which is, let's be honest, a fair trade.

But that's just a general situation. Now, back to Smite and Hi-Rez.
The cost of gems, since at the very least 2016 (I apologize, I do not have the data prior to it), has been consistent. In Russia, the most expensive pack cost 1663 RUB (around 26$ give or take). But before screaming "omg, it's so cheap, don't complain!!!" remember, that economy and salaries are very different here, compared to, say, USA.
However, recently, the price for gems has quite literally doubled. For the most expensive one, it has become 3150 RUB (and I apologize, I can only present numbers in RUB, because while I know that this issue is present in other CIS countries, I do not know the exact numbers).

Sometimes, mistakes happen. In the last year, a number of games has come out with prices converted from Dollars to Roubles. For example, "Injustice 2". The price, however, was fixed to regional within a week.

So, assuming that was an honest mistake, because, I remind you, the price has been consistent since at least 2016, I wrote to Smite support, asking for further elaboration. So here I would like to provide you our conversation, so nothing is taken out of context. It was short, but informative.

Originally posted by me:

Good daytime.

After logging in recently, I have discovered that the price of buying gems in my country (as well as a few others, but they do not concern me right now) has been increased. Almost doubled.

I want to ask if this is a bug or an intended change.

If this is a bug, then I understand, things like this happen, but I really hope you will prioritize fixing it, because this severely affects your Divine Uprising event, or specifically my ability to pay for it. Which is in turn bad for you.

If this is not a bug, but instead is an undocumented change that you have not warned your customers about, then I would like to request a refund for everything I have spend during this event, because this sudden price increase has screwed me over, and getting the final reward will be simply impossible.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Originally posted by HiRez:

Greetings,

The increase of pricing was as intended given the exchange rate of the Ruble to the Dollar, we've had to make an adjustment to the localized pricing for Russian players.

This was a decision that is out of our control and we apologize for the inconvenience that this may have caused you.

If you need any further assistance from customer support please let us know.

Thank you for contacting Hi-Rez Studios Customer Support

Originally posted by Me:

In that case, if you are not going to revert the prices, then like I mentioned, I would like to receive a refund or an otherwise compensation, in money or gems, for everything that I have spent during the Divine Uprising event (for which, if needed, I can provide a full sum and dates of purchases made).

I know of your policy on refunds, but this is a different issue. It is not me buying something by mistake. It is not me being unsatisfied with the skins. It is, for all intents and purposes, you changing the price of the skin (Tier 5 Bellona) in the middle of transaction, which is a fraud.
You gave absolutely no warning to your players that this would happen, and I have been spending money on this event expecting the final reward. But now that you have, again, with absolutely no prior notification, doubled the gem prices, you have made it virtually impossible to get it (twice as expensive).

The prices in the game stayed the same since at the very least 2016 and the exchange rate was even higher back then, so do not tell me it was out of your hands. It was a calculated decision that, pardon my language, screwed the huge chunk of your players over. I am sad to say it as a player, who has been playing this game for at least 3 years, who loves it, has been and still wants to support it (both in terms of positive recommendations and monetarily), but an "apology" is just not enough. This is a huge scam, and I just can't leave it as is. And I feel like I have to remind you, that you are not the first studio that tried something like this. "Paradox" did it once, and it ended up in a huge backlash. I advise you to google that case, a lot of media has covered it.

I do apologize if I sound agitated, but this is a very serious issue, that involves quite a substantial sum of money. It is not just a minor inconvenience. So I sincerely hope that you will deal with it appropriately.

Thank you.

Originally posted by HiRez:

Greetings,

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused.
Unfortunately Customer Support can offer no compensation regarding this matter.

Regrettably we cannot process a refund for any in-game items because the user does not like them, the item was purchased by accident or the availability of the item has been changed or altered. You can read our full refund policy here:

http://hirezstudios.force.com/support/articles/en_US/Knowledge/refunds

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

If you need any further assistance from customer support please let us know.

Thank you for contacting Hi-Rez Studios Customer Support

And that concludes our conversation. Absolutely to no surprise, they refuse their fault in the matter, say that it is out of their hands and refuse any sort of compensation.

However, I still think that my point stands. This whole situation, should it happen at any other time in the game's life, would be sad, disappointing, but overall no big deal. However, with it happening in the middle of the "Divine Uprising" event, it pretty much is the same as increasing the skin price in the middle of transaction.
Imagine if you are paying for anything, but instead of the product, you receive a notification, that you - oops - need to pay twice as much. And no, you can't get what you already payed back.

To me, it is the definition of "fraud".

So, like I said in the beginning, I'm not here to harass HiRez employees (and if I need to remove our conversation, just say so, I will edit this post, just summarizing the point), especially the support who was polite and to the point. I still love the game. But I think people should be aware of it, and people should be vocal about this issue. Be it in the reviews, forum, reddit posts or other media. This is nothing to just brush off. This is a very serious issue of a company abusing their power, scamming their customers and us being unable to do anything about it, except just one thing. Not be silent. Talk.

Thank you for your time.

[Harem Route]

Originally posted by RecalledDread:

How do you know they didn't inform anyone? Maybe it's not somewhere you would normally go (as in, a specific twitter account, official forums, reddit etc).

If it's not in an obvious source, where everyone can see it, then it is purposfully obscured. Which is again, very shady. And I think we can agree that this is an important information that the clients should know.

[2H2K Rachie]

It's a free game. They can charge what they like. I know it might be "expensive" but you don't have to buy anything. I love that they added you can get 4 free chest unlocks though, so it ain't all bad :)

[Ha!SpidersCan'tJump]

The final idea is pretty simple: don't buy gems, or even stop playing. I loved to support Smite developers, really, my 522 skins say it out loud, but not any more. I could see the cryes here about "no non exclusive skins" or "chest only skins", but that was not a problem back then, because i could spend reasonable ammount of money to get what i wanted even from chests. As i sayed, not any more. Prices on skins and chests rise, price on gems doubles, guess i will skip the odyssey in this year, if prices on gems will not return. All the word throwing will not help, it never helps. Hit with money, and playerbase

[Harem Route]

Originally posted by Ha!SpidersCan'tJump:

The final idea is pretty simple: don't buy gems, or even stop playing. I loved to support Smite developers, really, my 522 skins say it out loud, but not any more. I could see the cryes here about "no non exclusive skins" or "chest only skins", but that was not a problem back then, because i could spend reasonable ammount of money to get what i wanted even from chests. As i sayed, not any more. Prices on skins and chests rise, price on gems doubles, guess i will skip the odyssey in this year, if prices on gems will not return. All the word throwing will not help, it never helps. Hit with money, and playerbase

I agree with you, except for the last part.
Here's an article[www.polygon.com] about a somewhat similar issue with Paradox.
I'm not saying that it always helps, but talking about these issues, leaving negative reviews mentioning them etc. does have an impact. Nobody wants bad publicity. And the more people know and talk about it - the better.

[RhodosGuard]

You still have to, at some point, realize that no matter the circumstance, compared to the rest of the world you already, and still do, have low prices.
Look at this site.
And tell me again, at that the prices are unfair towards you.
https://www.xbox-now.com/en/dlc/79/8000-gems

[MrBloodworth]

Welcome to adulting and international currency exchanges? 3,150 Russian Ruble equals
49.64 United States Dollar. 2000 Gems cost 49.99, 4000 costs 99.99 (US Client prices).

Whats the issue?

[Ha!SpidersCan'tJump]

Originally posted by MrBloodworth:

Welcome to adulting and international currency exchanges? 3,150 Russian Ruble equals
49.64 United States Dollar. 2000 Gems cost 49.99, 4000 costs 99.99 (US Client prices).

Whats the issue?

I can tell you. Look at average wage of ru and us. I will help you:
39085 rub ($615), this is monthly average, without tax (I can use wiki page, but it is in ru, so you can chack it for yourself)
And guess, or look, at usa one. Once again, i will help you:
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median personal income of $865 weekly for all full-time workers in 2017. The U.S Bureau of the Census has the annual real median personal income at $31,099 in 2016" again, i can guess that it is without tax.

So, this 100$ have really different value in usa and in ru. If in usa you can find 100$ to throw in the game you like, and it will be 0.3% of monthly income, but if you try to get the % in ru, you will get that you need to spend 50$, it will be 8%.
I guess there is no need to talk about real numbers here, that 39085 is higher then real numbers, that are 25000 or so, and i'm not talking about other countries that got there gem price doubled. That is the issue

[MrBloodworth]

Games are a luxury. All over the world.

[Hydrataur]

Originally posted by Amigo:

Now this is a different situation. Say you like ice hockey. You have equipment, you are an amateur and you play for fun and you love it. But there is only one ice field available in your city and another one is really far away and unfeasible for you to reach. Ok so the ice field owner tells you the price for your game is going to be doubled. You ask why and he says nothing. So what do you do? You either suck it up and pay double or you drop this ice hockey play all together.

So hirez here is the ice field owner. Scummy stuff.

More like they're telling you that you can still play hockey for free, but if you also want a special shirt you're going to need to pay more than previously. The shirt has no impact on how you play and you can play without it, but it's nice to have the shirt.

[Amigo]

This game has a shop alright. We are talking the prices in that shop. The fact that the game is f2p is irrelevant.

[MrBloodworth]

Originally posted by Amigo:

This game has a shop alright. We are talking the prices in that shop. The fact that the game is f2p is irrelevant.

Is it? They only sell cosmetics, all other content is free.

[Ragnoraok]

Originally posted by MrBloodworth:

Originally posted by Amigo:

This game has a shop alright. We are talking the prices in that shop. The fact that the game is f2p is irrelevant.

Is it? They only sell cosmetics, all other content is free.

Umm....there is very little that is free in the game.

In-game currency exchanges time invested in the game for favor and gems, which can be used to unlock content at a painstakingly slow pace. You can expedite this process by paying money IRL, but there is nothing free in SMITE besides free chest give-aways.

DOTA is more free since at least all heroes are automatically unlocked for free, where in SMTE you have to purchase them.

[Hydrataur]

Originally posted by Ragnoraok:

Originally posted by MrBloodworth:

Is it? They only sell cosmetics, all other content is free.

Umm....there is very little that is free in the game.

In-game currency exchanges time invested in the game for favor and gems, which can be used to unlock content at a painstakingly slow pace. You can expedite this process by paying money IRL, but there is nothing free in SMITE besides free chest give-aways.

DOTA is more free since at least all heroes are automatically unlocked for free, where in SMTE you have to purchase them.

Yeah, nothing's free apart from the entire game. The non-stop events, daily rewards, special weekends, giveaways etc... all cost you sooooo much money.
Before I bought the god pack I remember being able to get gods rather quickly. Just focus on the quests and FWOTD.

[PFC Demigo [29th ID]]

I see nothing Fraud.
Just the CIS country crying that a Company is Fixing the Economy Exchange rate to regain their Loss Profit.

Same thing Happen to Square Enix on their Final Fantasy XIV Subscription.

[Harem Route]

Originally posted by Hydrataur:

Before I bought the god pack I remember being able to get gods rather quickly. Just focus on the quests and FWOTD.

You know it's rather silly to say "hey, it worked for me, so it's fine for everyone else as well!"
I mean, people do have different jobs, families, overall availability of free time. How long have you been playing Smite to get 1500hrs on the record? And no, this is not a trick question or anything. I've been playing for 3 years and have 300hrs. It just shows you that everybody has different time they can spend gaming.
So once again, you can not simply say "worked for me = standard for everybody".