Crown prices in China have exploded and it was not due to exchange rate

starkerealm

KennyFknPowers wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Average monthly income in Russia is 400$, in Australia it's 4000$, can't belive people can be so dumb...

Even if you had to pay two times more than them, you still are earning 10 times more...

Okay, I checked. The median income in Russia is just over 32k Rubles a month, which works out to be about $550 USD.

Another salient datapoint I'm seeing is that the Ruble tanked hard in 2015. I mean, yeah, I kinda knew that happened at the time. Their economy went into a tailspin, and the value (in comparison to the US Dollar) dropped to almost half what it was.

And now the Crown pack has doubled in price for them. Which, shouldn't really come as much of a surprise.

Now, here's the hard issue. Knowing how to convert currencies isn't the full story. You also need to consider things like Purchasing Power Parity. I'm not going to dig up the P3 score for Russia over the last few years and really crunch the numbers. But, it tanked in 2015.

Now, the short version is, yes, video games in general, in Russia, are horrifically overpriced. The price adjustment for crowns now, is roughly consistent with market changes two years ago.

Now, here's the fun and screwy part of all of this. The reason the pricing, on Steam, is roughly the same, and probably the reason the crown packs were bumped up, was players setting their account to Russian (and possibly even using a Russian proxy for their IP), and then buying the packs at less than half price. Probably via ESO's site as well. This kind of stuff does happen, and Steam's taken steps in the past to deal with it, but ultimately, it may very well have been what caught up with the Russian players today.

starkerealm

ScytheNL wrote: »

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

Having the same amounz regardless of country seems weird...35 eur for 5k crowns for me as a person with a good salary from a rich country seems very expensive, in most other nations this seems insane probably...prices are usually adjusted for ppp...i mean the average salary in poland i sloke 1000 eur? In my country its 5000 eur, you cant expect them to pay the same

AVERAGE salary is 5000 euro??? Where the hell do you live?

You want to have your head implode, check the average income for Lichtenstein.

Axoinus

All companies do this sort of thing. Par for the course. Price is a function of supply and demand.

Do the same research on pharmaceutical companies and let me know how that works for you.

ManwithBeard9

Communism is a sonofa, isnt it.

sudaki_eso

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

sudaki_eso wrote: »

I am surprised that nobody suggested that OP should look for a new hobby if gaming gets too expensive for him. Thats what usually happens at my local gaming forum when people complaining about prizes

I can understand you OP that you are mad about the new prizes and like someone else mentioned here, if this would have happend to the US, people would be spamming the forums. But...crowns are optional for this game and if it bothers you dont spend...

It would seem they are upset because crowns are not optional. You comment as if the person expressing concern has the option to play dlc without buying it where in all cases, you have to buy crowns for all dlc except the gold edition if you're new and Morrowind.

Not sure how it is on a PC but on a PS4 you can play/buy all the content without buying crowns. So from my point of view, crowns are optional

NewBlacksmurf

sudaki_eso wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

sudaki_eso wrote: »

I am surprised that nobody suggested that OP should look for a new hobby if gaming gets too expensive for him. Thats what usually happens at my local gaming forum when people complaining about prizes

I can understand you OP that you are mad about the new prizes and like someone else mentioned here, if this would have happend to the US, people would be spamming the forums. But...crowns are optional for this game and if it bothers you dont spend...

It would seem they are upset because crowns are not optional. You comment as if the person expressing concern has the option to play dlc without buying it where in all cases, you have to buy crowns for all dlc except the gold edition if you're new and Morrowind.

Not sure how it is on a PC but on a PS4 you can play/buy all the content without buying crowns. So from my point of view, crowns are optional

@sudaki_eso
Regardless of platform dlc isn't free so unless you're sharing someone else's content on PS4 dlc is not accessible without buying crowns directly or buying crowns via what's named as eso Plus.

Refer to a few of their earlier comments on the cost changes for them. I think they are identifying legit concerns that the ZOS comment logically influenced their reaction and resulted in the OP.

Tommy_The_Gun

I read all this comments and I noticed something...
Prices for Crowns went up and some people seems to be... happy about it.... ? !

Malacthulhu

You do not need crowns. If people stop buying them, then prices will go down. If people are buying them then clearly they can afford it.

Scraelos

starkerealm wrote: »

KennyFknPowers wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Average monthly income in Russia is 400$, in Australia it's 4000$, can't belive people can be so dumb...

Even if you had to pay two times more than them, you still are earning 10 times more...

...
Now, the short version is, yes, video games in general, in Russia, are horrifically overpriced.

...

sudaki_eso wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

sudaki_eso wrote: »

I am surprised that nobody suggested that OP should look for a new hobby if gaming gets too expensive for him. Thats what usually happens at my local gaming forum when people complaining about prizes

I can understand you OP that you are mad about the new prizes and like someone else mentioned here, if this would have happend to the US, people would be spamming the forums. But...crowns are optional for this game and if it bothers you dont spend...

It would seem they are upset because crowns are not optional. You comment as if the person expressing concern has the option to play dlc without buying it where in all cases, you have to buy crowns for all dlc except the gold edition if you're new and Morrowind.

Not sure how it is on a PC but on a PS4 you can play/buy all the content without buying crowns. So from my point of view, crowns are optional

Oh, you can buy crown store items on ps4 without buying crowns? Sounds great.

As for Russia, person with median income($550) spends it on food, clothes, roof above head, transport, medicine and/or cheap alcohol.

Denyiir

starkerealm wrote: »

KennyFknPowers wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Average monthly income in Russia is 400$, in Australia it's 4000$, can't belive people can be so dumb...

Even if you had to pay two times more than them, you still are earning 10 times more...

Okay, I checked. The median income in Russia is just over 32k Rubles a month, which works out to be about $550 USD.

Another salient datapoint I'm seeing is that the Ruble tanked hard in 2015. I mean, yeah, I kinda knew that happened at the time. Their economy went into a tailspin, and the value (in comparison to the US Dollar) dropped to almost half what it was.

And now the Crown pack has doubled in price for them. Which, shouldn't really come as much of a surprise.

Now, here's the hard issue. Knowing how to convert currencies isn't the full story. You also need to consider things like Purchasing Power Parity. I'm not going to dig up the P3 score for Russia over the last few years and really crunch the numbers. But, it tanked in 2015.

Now, the short version is, yes, video games in general, in Russia, are horrifically overpriced. The price adjustment for crowns now, is roughly consistent with market changes two years ago.

Now, here's the fun and screwy part of all of this. The reason the pricing, on Steam, is roughly the same, and probably the reason the crown packs were bumped up, was players setting their account to Russian (and possibly even using a Russian proxy for their IP), and then buying the packs at less than half price. Probably via ESO's site as well. This kind of stuff does happen, and Steam's taken steps in the past to deal with it, but ultimately, it may very well have been what caught up with the Russian players today.

Yeah I looked up again, and it was 438 Euros, not Dollars so you're right.

Also if you're right about using Russian IP by people from west to get cheaper crowns, well then surely they screwed them good now with their greed

sudaki_eso

Scraelos wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

KennyFknPowers wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Average monthly income in Russia is 400$, in Australia it's 4000$, can't belive people can be so dumb...

Even if you had to pay two times more than them, you still are earning 10 times more...

...
Now, the short version is, yes, video games in general, in Russia, are horrifically overpriced.

...

sudaki_eso wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

sudaki_eso wrote: »

I am surprised that nobody suggested that OP should look for a new hobby if gaming gets too expensive for him. Thats what usually happens at my local gaming forum when people complaining about prizes

I can understand you OP that you are mad about the new prizes and like someone else mentioned here, if this would have happend to the US, people would be spamming the forums. But...crowns are optional for this game and if it bothers you dont spend...

It would seem they are upset because crowns are not optional. You comment as if the person expressing concern has the option to play dlc without buying it where in all cases, you have to buy crowns for all dlc except the gold edition if you're new and Morrowind.

Not sure how it is on a PC but on a PS4 you can play/buy all the content without buying crowns. So from my point of view, crowns are optional

Oh, you can buy crown store items on ps4 without buying crowns? Sounds great.

As for Russia, person with median income($550) spends it on food, clothes, roof above head, transport, medicine and/or cheap alcohol.

Please read my first comment in this thread, i am with OP that the prices are crazy....I just added that you dont really need crowns to play the game and you guys are going nuts
Of course you cant buy crown items via the psn store silly.
What you can however is to get a eso+ membership with real money where you get access to all the dlcs without spending crowns - @NewBlacksmurf thinks that this is not possible. Morrorwind can be bought with real money too, crowns are only needed for cosmetic reasons or if you dont want to spend money on an eso+ membership.

Tommy_The_Gun

I read all this comments in all topics about crown prices and I noticed something...
Prices for Crowns went up and some people are actually... happy about it.... ? !
Really ?! Is that what is happening ? !

Rohamad_Ali

I'm no math expert but who ever is making the exchange rate for ZOS looks worse at math then me . So I'm feeling pretty smart today .

Scraelos

sudaki_eso wrote: »

Scraelos wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

KennyFknPowers wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Average monthly income in Russia is 400$, in Australia it's 4000$, can't belive people can be so dumb...

Even if you had to pay two times more than them, you still are earning 10 times more...

...
Now, the short version is, yes, video games in general, in Russia, are horrifically overpriced.

...

sudaki_eso wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

sudaki_eso wrote: »

I am surprised that nobody suggested that OP should look for a new hobby if gaming gets too expensive for him. Thats what usually happens at my local gaming forum when people complaining about prizes

I can understand you OP that you are mad about the new prizes and like someone else mentioned here, if this would have happend to the US, people would be spamming the forums. But...crowns are optional for this game and if it bothers you dont spend...

It would seem they are upset because crowns are not optional. You comment as if the person expressing concern has the option to play dlc without buying it where in all cases, you have to buy crowns for all dlc except the gold edition if you're new and Morrowind.

Not sure how it is on a PC but on a PS4 you can play/buy all the content without buying crowns. So from my point of view, crowns are optional

Oh, you can buy crown store items on ps4 without buying crowns? Sounds great.

As for Russia, person with median income($550) spends it on food, clothes, roof above head, transport, medicine and/or cheap alcohol.

Please read my first comment in this thread, i am with OP that the prices are crazy....I just added that you dont really need crowns to play the game and you guys are going nuts
Of course you cant buy crown items via the psn store silly.
What you can however is to get a eso+ membership with real money where you get access to all the dlcs without spending crowns - @NewBlacksmurf thinks that this is not possible. Morrorwind can be bought with real money too, crowns are only needed for cosmetic reasons or if you dont want to spend money on an eso+ membership.

We have an options: buy DLCs or subscribe. People who don't want to subscribe need crowns. I agree that ppl who buy mounts for 5k crowns are crazy(from $550 median income perspective). But what about DLCs, race change tokens or exclusive houses only affordable for crowns?

Ihatenightblades

Darth_Trumpious wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

Darth_Trumpious wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Cant believe you didn't read on the first part re steam pricing policy.

the bit that was rewarding your country for piracy? and now you arent being rewarded for it. and paying about the same as everyone else.

Haters gonna hate. If you don't really bother reading and get an understanding then you can keep being salty. As for me, I am not going waste my time feeding trolls.

No offense but im glad you have to pay the same as rest us now. The game is made in america why would another country get cheaper crowns..

NewBlacksmurf

sudaki_eso wrote: »

Scraelos wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

KennyFknPowers wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Average monthly income in Russia is 400$, in Australia it's 4000$, can't belive people can be so dumb...

Even if you had to pay two times more than them, you still are earning 10 times more...

...
Now, the short version is, yes, video games in general, in Russia, are horrifically overpriced.

...

sudaki_eso wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

sudaki_eso wrote: »

I am surprised that nobody suggested that OP should look for a new hobby if gaming gets too expensive for him. Thats what usually happens at my local gaming forum when people complaining about prizes

I can understand you OP that you are mad about the new prizes and like someone else mentioned here, if this would have happend to the US, people would be spamming the forums. But...crowns are optional for this game and if it bothers you dont spend...

It would seem they are upset because crowns are not optional. You comment as if the person expressing concern has the option to play dlc without buying it where in all cases, you have to buy crowns for all dlc except the gold edition if you're new and Morrowind.

Not sure how it is on a PC but on a PS4 you can play/buy all the content without buying crowns. So from my point of view, crowns are optional

Oh, you can buy crown store items on ps4 without buying crowns? Sounds great.

As for Russia, person with median income($550) spends it on food, clothes, roof above head, transport, medicine and/or cheap alcohol.

Please read my first comment in this thread, i am with OP that the prices are crazy....I just added that you dont really need crowns to play the game and you guys are going nuts
Of course you cant buy crown items via the psn store silly.
What you can however is to get a eso+ membership with real money where you get access to all the dlcs without spending crowns - @NewBlacksmurf thinks that this is not possible. Morrorwind can be bought with real money too, crowns are only needed for cosmetic reasons or if you dont want to spend money on an eso+ membership.

@sudaki_eso

It seems your preference on how you choose to spend your money is ignoring the obvious context of this discussion. As mentioned earlier by myself .... it comes off selfish to think and say ....My situation is X, Y or Z, ignoring the actual circumstance that the OP identifies.

Regardless of preference this context is specifically about crowns and therefore anything associated with crowns becomes an apparent requirement to purchase the crowns and the OP has identified "your" cost or "my" cost isn't of any real significance in this discussion as this about specifically about "their" cost.

Crowns are gained only by two methods....buying them or subscribing which is also buying them.
$1 doesn't equal 1in another currency, therefore the change in "their" actual cost using "their" currency has increased.

To discuss this in comparison to "your", "our" or "my" currency in any attempt to justify any opinion would be inaccurate. It would be most accurate to use the specifics commented earlier on "their" currency before and after.

In short....the price went up for some reason but whatever reason it changed, was not addressed in the staff comment because "their" currency isn't greater now than before.

That's what need to be understood, therefore they had a real question. Why did "their" cost of crowns increase?

Morrowind is purchased via real money but no actual changes occurred there so they have a solid question that lacks a meaningful and logical response. The question remains unanswered....

Scraelos

Ihatenightblades wrote: »

Darth_Trumpious wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

Darth_Trumpious wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Cant believe you didn't read on the first part re steam pricing policy.

the bit that was rewarding your country for piracy? and now you arent being rewarded for it. and paying about the same as everyone else.

Haters gonna hate. If you don't really bother reading and get an understanding then you can keep being salty. As for me, I am not going waste my time feeding trolls.

No offense but im glad you have to pay the same as rest us now. The game is made in america why would another country get cheaper crowns..

Digital product has production costs, but production of it's copies has zero costs. With such product nature you are free to set any price per copy which will give you maximum profit. Which will you choose: sell 100 items for 100$ per item or 1000 items for 50$ per item? And keep in mind that you have constant production costs no matter how many items you sold.

kargen27

A quick question. How much does the actual game and monthly subscription cost in these different countries?

The reason I ask luxury items are not treated the same as other items when it comes to import export. It could be argued the game itself is a luxury item and maybe the cost is the same really I don't know.

But if the game is lower in price as the OP suggests that is where the buying power would come into play. Crown are not needed. They are provided as a luxury to the players. That being the case it is easy to justify making everyone pay roughly the same price.

idk

Since the current price OP has stated is very close to that of the USD price I am unsure what the issue would be. I do not see what why the price should be less when purchased via steam.

Some posts in here are coming by way of foreign exchange and earning power of individuals in different countries, however, Zos has the right to discount prices to those countries or not. Steam is irrelevant to this conversation unless they force the issue with their vendors.

Besides, there could be other reasons at work as it steam, as described by OP, seems to be open to glitching that someone can make their account appear to be Russian or in China to purchase the game at a savings.. It is not that hard to spoof such things.

Basically, I could care less what the cost is indifferent countries personally, but there could be other issues at work that brought about the change.

anitajoneb17_ESO

Scraelos wrote: »

Digital product has production costs, but production of it's copies has zero costs. With such product nature you are free to set any price per copy which will give you maximum profit. Which will you choose: sell 100 items for 100$ per item or 1000 items for 50$ per item? And keep in mind that you have constant production costs no matter how many items you sold.

Nothing says that lowering the price of crowns would lead to selling more of them. At least, not in a linear way.
Inversely, nothing says that increasing the price of crowns will lead to selling less of them. At least, not in a linear way.

grannas211

Crown store prices keep going up and up. But supply and demand I guess.

geonsocal

one of the things I enjoyed/enjoy the most about eso was the fact it involved folks from all over the world...

it's easy to get locked in to a very narrow, comfortable, provincial type perspective on the world...

this thread has really opened my eyes quite a bit...

understandable how this could be a bit of a touchy issue with different folks...

we are where we are, and, who we are - by a great deal of chance/fate - grace...with just a tiny bit of self-determination thrown in...

Tan9oSuccka

I don't see a problem with this.

What am I missing? Are you trying to say the Chinese purchasing power for non essential items is more costly because your overal earning potential is lower?

Jawasa

@Ihatenightblades
The reason countrys like Russia and chine got cheaper crowns and game was because the average person there makes a lot less money then in other countrys. So realtivley to there average income they still pay more then you and me. Unless they are rich chines and Russians that is.

Wabu

Darth_Trumpious wrote: »

Before ZOS' price adjustment: 5500 Crowns = US$19.99

Wauw that was cool. It is too bad they adjusted the price.
Should of registered an address in China when I had the chance.

Which country has the lowest crown prices now..

WhiteMage

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Scraelos wrote: »

Digital product has production costs, but production of it's copies has zero costs. With such product nature you are free to set any price per copy which will give you maximum profit. Which will you choose: sell 100 items for 100$ per item or 1000 items for 50$ per item? And keep in mind that you have constant production costs no matter how many items you sold.

Nothing says that lowering the price of crowns would lead to selling more of them. At least, not in a linear way.
Inversely, nothing says that increasing the price of crowns will lead to selling less of them. At least, not in a linear way.

If I allotted $35 dollars to buy crowns, how many packs would I buy if they cost $40? Zero.
If I allotted $35 dollars to buy crowns, how many packs would I buy if they cost $20? One.
If I allotted $35 dollars to buy crowns, how many packs would I buy if they cost $10? Three.
If I allotted $35 dollars to buy crowns, how many packs would I buy if they cost $5? Seven.

In this example, they stop making more money after they drop the price to $5, but the idea still stands that if I budget myself, the closer their price comes to a factor of the money I'm willing to give them, the more of it they can have. I am assumed to be an intelligent consumer here that will stick to my budget and not fall for the knock-off crown packs that come at the higher price per unit.

Slick_007

KennyFknPowers wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Average monthly income in Russia is 400$, in Australia it's 4000$, can't belive people can be so dumb...

Even if you had to pay two times more than them, you still are earning 10 times more...

average monthly income in australia is actually about 50% higher than that supposedly. my last job was then below average and my wage would still hire 100 philipinos.

OP complains that they just got screwed. Aussies have always been screwed.
and yes, as someone mentioned, we also get to pay for the privilege of higher ping. stupid physics!

Morgul667

Slick_007 wrote: »

KennyFknPowers wrote: »

Slick_007 wrote: »

so now you're getting charged about the same as everyone else.
currently 49.95 AUD = 39.72USD for 5500

cant believe you got away with paying half of everyone else.

Average monthly income in Russia is 400$, in Australia it's 4000$, can't belive people can be so dumb...

Even if you had to pay two times more than them, you still are earning 10 times more...

average monthly income in australia is actually about 50% higher than that supposedly. my last job was then below average and my wage would still hire 100 philipinos.

OP complains that they just got screwed. Aussies have always been screwed.
and yes, as someone mentioned, we also get to pay for the privilege of higher ping. stupid physics!

You have a tax for this, which is crazy indeed. But all players in asia/oceania get screwed over ping. In asia, at least we had cheaper crowns. I always suspected it was due to lower average income.

A simple counter to the cheating pattern mentioned above, would be to request a debit/credit card of the country in which store you do purchase crowns. If not, you get the US price. That would be simple way to determine if someone is really entitled or not to the country price.

I wont be buying more crowns. The increase is ridiculously high. I'll stick with my horse and costume.

Banana

Its because they do business with north korea

Cpt_Teemo

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

I read all this comments and I noticed something...
Prices for Crowns went up and some people seems to be... happy about it.... ? !

"The Happening" lol.