Price changes in selected territories [Updated December 2022]

[konbendith]

You can check the latest official update below in this thread just here [December 2022].

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Some of the veterans of the community most certainly remember back in 2017 when the company initiated some changes to the pricing of our games. Those were interesting times, to say the least, and Fred Wester, our CEO at the time, made a pledge about improving our transparency when it comes to this, which you can still find right here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ate-read-post-68.1031121/page-4#post-23000490

Since then, our sales team has kept studying the question and has run benchmarks of our prices in various countries, and we’ve now decided to act on this and proceed with some price harmonization for our future releases... but hold your pitchforks! First, as Fred promised after last time, we want to be transparent here and give you a heads-up, and we also want to make clear that changes will only affect future releases; products that are already live won’t receive new local pricing.

Adjustments will be made for releases of future games in specific markets where we’ve identified significant gaps between our prices and the standard; territories concerned are Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Not all changes will be increases in the price tag! In Australia, for example, this will result in a slight price decrease.

Overall, our target is always to have our games available everywhere at a fair price for our players all around the world. We’ll keep making these kinds of adjustments, keeping people informed in advance, and staying true to our principle of not retroactively changing things.

 

[Pellaken]

How do Paradoxes price choices match up with the difference between a simple currency conversion and various PPP indexes (like the 'big mac index')

For example, lets assume an example game is set at $60 US. A direct currency conversion would say the game should be $82.30 australian dollars; but the PPP 'big mac index' (which takes into account cost of living) suggests it should be $68.22 australian dollars.

As such, where, approximately, within that range (between $82.30 and $68.22) would you ideally target the game to sit.

For example would you favour PPP and go $70, favour direct exchange and go $80, or split the difference and go $75?

 

[konbendith]

How do Paradoxes price choices match up with the difference between a simple currency conversion and various PPP indexes (like the 'big mac index')

For example, lets assume an example game is set at $60 US. A direct currency conversion would say the game should be $82.30 australian dollars; but the PPP 'big mac index' (which takes into account cost of living) suggests it should be $68.22 australian dollars.

As such, where, approximately, within that range (between $82.30 and $68.22) would you ideally target the game to sit.

For example would you favour PPP and go $70, favour direct exchange and go $80, or split the difference and go $75?

Had a chat with our sales team to provide the correct answers

The baseline is indeed determined by a PPP index, territories are then adjusted on an individual basis, based on local and regional deviations from the index and our own benchmarks. We then carry out sanity checks, especially with local partners in these locations, to make sure that the prices reflect what we believe people should pay in each region. So the baseline is very much the PPP index, but there are several other inputs after that.

For your example above, it's very much decided on a case by case basis using the process described above. The team is pretty happy with the results they're getting from that, but they're also reviewing it regularly, in case we might want to update our methodology.

 

[Pellaken]

Thank you for not only taking the time to respond, but to get the proper information!!

 

[RagingMonkey]

As an Australian, this is welcome news.

 

[wazp]

Hey everyone!

My name is Viktor Stadler, and I’m in charge of Sales at Paradox, which means, among other things, that I spend a lot of time looking at the prices of our games. As you can assume, if I’m posting in this thread, it’s because some changes are coming, and I’ll get into some details of what, why, how and when.

First, as explained before, our aim is to make sure that our games have fair prices that are adjusted and adapted to various markets globally. A game doesn’t have the same price in the US, in Brazil or in Vietnam. Several factors play into that, from difference in purchasing power to currencies. You can have a look at the messages above for some answers on how we benchmark our prices. As you can imagine, markets evolve, currency values fluctuate, and none of this is carved in stone. This is why most companies do regular reviews of their prices (generally once a year) to adapt to this reality.

Historically at Paradox, we’ve been quite bad at it and haven’t been adjusting our prices. When we did it back in 2017, the change was quite brutal, and communicated rather poorly, so we rolled back and got back to the drawing board. We have worked on it since, made some changes on new products as highlighted above, but we’re still in a situation where in several regions, we believe that our prices are inferior to what they should be, sometimes by a significant margin. This is based on our benchmarks, and generally on the difference between the value proposition of our games and the local markets. As a business, this is something we, of course, want to address.

So, what’s going to happen?

• On May 23rd, a month from today, we’ll be adjusting some of our regional prices.
• Prices in USD, EUR and GBP won’t be affected, as they are in line with our benchmark, but most other regions and prices will.
• This will affect some of our existing games, not only new & future titles. For live games, we have set a general limit for price change of about 30% at this revision. There might be some slight deviations, but not all prices will see as much of an increase either.
• We intend to make this process a recurring and expected thing, so you should expect in the future to see this kind of adjustment about once a year.
• While right now, this generally means an increase in price, depending on how markets evolve, this might also lead to some prices going down for some countries as we had in the past.

I trust that raising prices is never going to be a popular decision, but we’ll be doing our best to make it a fair and transparent process.

 

[pevergreen]

Hi @wazp - thanks for giving us a heads up.

I don't expect you to give a full list of prices and titles that may be changing, but it would be good to get a rough idea for some of the major regions?

For example, CK3 is available today on steam for 50 usd, 50 euro and 42 gbp.
I understand purchasing power and all of that, and how the exchange rate may mean that its cheaper in america than in europe so I will specifically ask about Australia. Ck3 is currently listed at AUD$70 - in line with your comment about 30%, should I expect that price to raise to AUD$90?

I do remember when games came out at a cost of AUD$100 (even approaching 110 in the mid ps2 era) but we had the excuse then of shipping physical copies and a terrible exchange rate (1 usd = 2 aud / 1 gbp = 3 aud)

Given the usd to aud exchange rate has 50 usd to 67 aud (roughly), i'd be surprised about any increase in price for australia

I guess to summarise my question: is it possible to get a rough guide of the general increase for some of your more active regions?

 

[wazp]

Hi @wazp - thanks for giving us a heads up.

I don't expect you to give a full list of prices and titles that may be changing, but it would be good to get a rough idea for some of the major regions?

For example, CK3 is available today on steam for 50 usd, 50 euro and 42 gbp.
I understand purchasing power and all of that, and how the exchange rate may mean that its cheaper in america than in europe so I will specifically ask about Australia. Ck3 is currently listed at AUD$70 - in line with your comment about 30%, should I expect that price to raise to AUD$90?

I do remember when games came out at a cost of AUD$100 (even approaching 110 in the mid ps2 era) but we had the excuse then of shipping physical copies and a terrible exchange rate (1 usd = 2 aud / 1 gbp = 3 aud)

Given the usd to aud exchange rate has 50 usd to 67 aud (roughly), i'd be surprised about any increase in price for australia

I guess to summarise my question: is it possible to get a rough guide of the general increase for some of your more active regions?

As you are indicating the list of games, DLC and currencies is pretty long. I'll look into if we can put together a general summary, in the meanwhile I can confirm we are not planning for any changes for Australia in May.

 

[master_kong]

Hey everyone!

My name is Viktor Stadler, and I’m in charge of Sales at Paradox, which means, among other things, that I spend a lot of time looking at the prices of our games. As you can assume, if I’m posting in this thread, it’s because some changes are coming, and I’ll get into some details of what, why, how and when.

First, as explained before, our aim is to make sure that our games have fair prices that are adjusted and adapted to various markets globally. A game doesn’t have the same price in the US, in Brazil or in Vietnam. Several factors play into that, from difference in purchasing power to currencies. You can have a look at the messages above for some answers on how we benchmark our prices. As you can imagine, markets evolve, currency values fluctuate, and none of this is carved in stone. This is why most companies do regular reviews of their prices (generally once a year) to adapt to this reality.

Historically at Paradox, we’ve been quite bad at it and haven’t been adjusting our prices. When we did it back in 2017, the change was quite brutal, and communicated rather poorly, so we rolled back and got back to the drawing board. We have worked on it since, made some changes on new products as highlighted above, but we’re still in a situation where in several regions, we believe that our prices are inferior to what they should be, sometimes by a significant margin. This is based on our benchmarks, and generally on the difference between the value proposition of our games and the local markets. As a business, this is something we, of course, want to address.

So, what’s going to happen?

• On May 23rd, a month from today, we’ll be adjusting some of our regional prices.
• Prices in USD, EUR and GBP won’t be affected, as they are in line with our benchmark, but most other regions and prices will.
• This will affect some of our existing games, not only new & future titles. For live games, we have set a general limit for price change of about 30% at this revision. There might be some slight deviations, but not all prices will see as much of an increase either.
• We intend to make this process a recurring and expected thing, so you should expect in the future to see this kind of adjustment about once a year.
• While right now, this generally means an increase in price, depending on how markets evolve, this might also lead to some prices going down for some countries as we had in the past.

I trust that raising prices is never going to be a popular decision, but we’ll be doing our best to make it a fair and transparent process.

I can definitely understand the reasoning, as that's the case for pricing policy for most other gaming companies as well. But the problem with Paradox pricing is, there are lots of DLCs for titles and those DLCs are part of the core gameplay experience. On top of that, you guys as a policy don't apply over 50% discount on DLCs too. Yes, you make purchasing the base game or even playing it on different platforms without paying extra money easier.. to encourage further DLC purchases. Everyone knows that the base game of Paradox titles are like demos, the real gem is the complete package with all the DLCs.

Therefore, not implementing regional pricing on lots of essential for gameplay DLCs which won't go over 50% discount ever would make me not purchase your products at all in the first place. And I believe I wouldn't be alone. I know I'm talking beforehand, but I wanted to give my feedback to the upcoming pricing changes according to the signs you've given.

I suggest you to at least consider to make purchasing your games as a complete package easier, more accessible over time. Implement real discounts on DLCs that released years ago and offer some nice packages, collections in your games which you already have in some of your games in a limited fashion.

That's all from me, good luck!

 

[orochi2k]

1, If I remember correctly, Steam does not allow any discount within the next 4 weeks from a price increase.
May 23rd seems dangerously close to the date of the Steam summer sale.
Just a friendly reminder, please make sure the schedule does not have any conflicts with the Steam summer sale.

2, It may be also nice to have a sale before the price increase as that may help reduce any potential emotional damage to everyone who waits for a sale while only getting a price increase instead. But, don't mind me. This may be just my wishful thinking.

 

[BrotherJonathan]

This doesn't really affect me since I pay in USD, but appreciate the transparency nonetheless.

 

[Xetfield]

Hey everyone!

My name is Viktor Stadler, and I’m in charge of Sales at Paradox, which means, among other things, that I spend a lot of time looking at the prices of our games. As you can assume, if I’m posting in this thread, it’s because some changes are coming, and I’ll get into some details of what, why, how and when.

First, as explained before, our aim is to make sure that our games have fair prices that are adjusted and adapted to various markets globally. A game doesn’t have the same price in the US, in Brazil or in Vietnam. Several factors play into that, from difference in purchasing power to currencies. You can have a look at the messages above for some answers on how we benchmark our prices. As you can imagine, markets evolve, currency values fluctuate, and none of this is carved in stone. This is why most companies do regular reviews of their prices (generally once a year) to adapt to this reality.

Historically at Paradox, we’ve been quite bad at it and haven’t been adjusting our prices. When we did it back in 2017, the change was quite brutal, and communicated rather poorly, so we rolled back and got back to the drawing board. We have worked on it since, made some changes on new products as highlighted above, but we’re still in a situation where in several regions, we believe that our prices are inferior to what they should be, sometimes by a significant margin. This is based on our benchmarks, and generally on the difference between the value proposition of our games and the local markets. As a business, this is something we, of course, want to address.

So, what’s going to happen?

• On May 23rd, a month from today, we’ll be adjusting some of our regional prices.
• Prices in USD, EUR and GBP won’t be affected, as they are in line with our benchmark, but most other regions and prices will.
• This will affect some of our existing games, not only new & future titles. For live games, we have set a general limit for price change of about 30% at this revision. There might be some slight deviations, but not all prices will see as much of an increase either.
• We intend to make this process a recurring and expected thing, so you should expect in the future to see this kind of adjustment about once a year.
• While right now, this generally means an increase in price, depending on how markets evolve, this might also lead to some prices going down for some countries as we had in the past.

I trust that raising prices is never going to be a popular decision, but we’ll be doing our best to make it a fair and transparent process.

Will the price in rubles be increased too?

 

[wazp]

First, I want to thank you for the super valuable feedback. As I highlighted in my previous post this is an important topic for us and we will continue working with it. Several good points has been raised here that I can confirm me and my team are working on!

1, If I remember correctly, Steam does not allow any discount within the next 4 weeks from a price increase.
May 23rd seems dangerously close to the date of the Steam summer sale.
Just a friendly reminder, please make sure the schedule does not have any conflicts with the Steam summer sale.

2, It may be also nice to have a sale before the price increase as that may help reduce any potential emotional damage to everyone who waits for a sale while only getting a price increase instead. But, don't mind me. This may be just my wishful thinking.

I can't go into details, but I can assure you that both points has been considered in our planning!

Will the price in rubles be increased too?

We won’t have any changes for the prices in rubles next month. This is not to say we won’t ever revise our prices in Russia, but with the current international situation and instability of that market, it would make little sense to make any changes right now.

 

[withche.07]

Are you gonna update prices in Turkish liras?

 

[NilsFabian]

I am very much in favor to giving everyone an affordable access to the PDX games.
What would be interesting to know, though I can accept a sorry trade secret, is if some regions subsidy other regions.
Somehow your games need to make money, obviously but some prices seem to be extremely cheap when "translated" into European prices.

So, are some regions operating at a loss overall, are some regions a nice addition to your revenue or are all prices calculated in a way that those low price regions are equally essential to the overall income?

 

[maxk94]

Its going up for Switzerland

 

[TinyWiking]

Are you gonna update prices in Turkish liras?

Yes, Turkey will see an increase and no, I don't have any specific numbers . That's for Wazp to tackle !

 

[Pellaken]

what are the plans for canada? I know twitch specifically singled us out for higher prices, and am hoping we keep lower prices elsewhere.

 

[Pellaken]

I got a question about taxes. Are the the prices that are shown on Steam with taxes included? Normally for my friends in Europe and the UK they say taxes are included within the price itself. In Canada and the USA this is not the case.

Curious how all of this works?

 

[Wagonlitz]

I got a question about taxes. Are the the prices that are shown on Steam with taxes included? Normally for my friends in Europe and the UK they say taxes are included within the price itself. In Canada and the USA this is not the case.

Curious how all of this works?

For the EU at least prices are always shown including VAT, no matter the store, unless it's a wholesale store selling to companies.