I noticed this in the patch notes for Update 40, in the Base Game 'Fixes and Improvements' section:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/645725/pc-mac-patch-notes-v9-2-5-update-40#latest wrote:

Crowns for players residing in Japan will now expire within 6 months from acquisition. Please see our Terms of Service for more details.

Does anyone know why this change has been made, or if it could be rolled out to other regions over time?

This is what the ToS says:

https://account.elderscrollsonline.com/en-gb/terms-of-service wrote:

EXPIRING VIRTUAL CURRENCY FOR RESIDENTS OF JAPAN

IF YOU LIVE IN JAPAN the terms in this paragraph will apply. Virtual Currency shall be valid for ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY (180) DAYS from the date on which the acquisition of Virtual Currency is recorded on Your Account. Virtual Currency is used in order of its respective expiration date, where Virtual Currency with the earliest expiration date is used PRIOR TO any other Virtual Currency. If Purchased Virtual Currency and Complimentary Virtual Currency are issued concurrently, Purchased Virtual Currency is used prior to Complimentary Virtual Currency. Upon the expiration of the period for which Virtual Currency is valid, such Virtual Currency will expire and have no further value. Even if Your Account or Your access to or receipt, play or use of some or any Services is restricted or suspended in accordance with these Terms of Service, such restriction or suspension does not interrupt the period for which Virtual Currency is valid, and Virtual Currency will expire upon the expiration of such period. If Your Account or Your access to or use, receipt or play of some or any Services is terminated in accordance with these Terms of Service, all Virtual Currency held by You will expire immediately upon such termination. ZeniMax may limit the amount of Virtual Currency that You can purchase, hold, or use within a certain period.

There's nothing in there to say why this change was made or why it's specific to Japan and I'm not familiar enough with Japanese law to know if this is something ZOS are required to do or something they've chosen to do and might be trialling before rolling it out to other regions.

I'm concerned though because I normally buy more crowns than I need right away (especially if I buy them during a sale) and leave the ones I don't spend sitting on my account until I find something I want. I've never kept track of it but it's very likely I've sometimes had crowns for more than 6 months before spending them. If this change gets rolled out to other regions I'd have to buy smaller crown packs (which work out more expensive over all) and then make sure I spend any remaining crowns before they expire, even if it means buying something I don't really want. Obviously that's preferable for ZOS because it gets them more money overall (which is why I think they might be trialing this before rolling it out to everyone) but it's not at all appealing to me. In practice it might go the other way and put me off buying crowns unless I think the thing I'm getting is worth the full cost of whichever crown pack I have to buy to get it, which would lead to me buying less overall.