Regional Price Adjustment - January 2024

[KaanLinov]

Maybe Sega is greedy, but it's a publisher for a lot of studios, yet it's Total War series failing that hard. They hate it specifically, or something? Also, Sega was willing to provide 100 mils for such suspicious project as Hyenas?

As I was told, it was precisely because of such costs for the development of another stillborn shooter from strategy developers that Sega took advantage of its position and raised the cost of games and its latest DLC, not paying attention to the opinion of buyers and the quality of the product. But we see that they understood. And now I think they will take more deliberate steps (but prices are still high and will remain the same

 

[Cuke]

First of all - thank you very much for actually announcing your price changes in advance before sales seasons. It gives us an opportunity to clear our heads, think hard about our entertainment and, possibly, re-consider rage-quitting.

On average, active base games will see an increase of about 70 % in RUB.

Excuse me? Again?
In terms of EU IV (ultimate bundle) it means an increase from 8500 to 26500 RUB over 2022-2023. It's a 3-fold increase. Wages don't go up this much in almost any country (Russia included).
Fair enough, you're a Swedish company with a major market in USD, but still: you are going from 100 bucks in Jan 2022 to 265 bucks in Jan 2024. Again, a 2.5-fold increase.
One could claim Ultimate bundle is cumulative and not representative of individual titles, OK. Look at Dharma DLC (2018): it goes from 485 to 710 to 1200. Again, a doubling of price over two years. Meanwhile, per capita income has only gone up by 25%, and the exchange rate has changed by similar 30-40%.
I had a quick look at Crusader Kings III (most certainly an active title with new DLCs in the pipeline) - they end up with a similar 2-3 fold increase.

You're pricing out your customers. It's just not sustainable and it's a clear invitation to abandon Paradox games.

Speaking of benchmarks - the award-winning BG3 is 2000 rub, which is less than CK3+1 major expansion or less than 2 years' worth of EU4 DLCs (4 dlcs since origins).

 

[Belonogy]

I remember there is another company with a monopoly in a genre called Creative Assembly, who wanted to cover their 100 mil failure called Hyenas by rising price for the subpar DLC and selling a DLC for a 40$ game as a standalone for 70$. Didn't go well for them. But your choices are your choices.


If your salary in Moscow region is 215$, you should have more pressing issues than worrying about PDX games prices. Or any games, before actually finding a job...

Thank you for identifying my problems for me.

 

[elektrizikekswerk]

We do not talk about... less legal alternatives of obtaining games here. Last warning.

 

[Comrade Suhov]

Well, guess 2023 will be the last year I'll buy products from Paradox. New prices as seen witch Cities: Skylines 2 and CK3 DLC's are already way past my comfort zone and Paradox wants to raise them again by 40%. Madness.

 

[MattiasPDX]

Why is the price going up for the CIS region?

The price changes in the CIS region for our active titles are primarily related to a few identified discrepancies in our catalogue. On average the adjustments will be about 5 % and most active games and DLC will be unaffected.

Take the same Russia, you raise the price by 70%. Exactly a year ago you already raised it by about 60%.

That’s correct. Our benchmark has been updated and part of that is the weakened Ruble, and it’s necessary for publishers - us included - to continue adjusting game prices to reflect that. We acknowledge that this is unfortunate, but not adjusting the price to reflect these trends increases the likelihood of regional price abuse since it’s one of the currencies with the largest discounts to the USD both today and after the adjustments go into effect in January 2024.

What is the expected price increase in JPY?
I'm particularly interested in EU4.

The JPY will increase about 20 % for EU4.

 

[Ujin]

it’s one of the currencies with the largest discounts to the USD

Come on, someone outside of Russia is trying to change their region to Russia when there are less problematic and cheaper regions?

Personally, I see that many Russians have "moved" to Turkey or Kazakhstan.

 

[Legat74]

The price increase just happened this year, in the spring. Those who live in the CIS countries did not have higher salaries. Realize that by raising prices [...] to buy at these prices become simply difficult. In the end, both the company and the community lose out.

/mod-edit: removed some problematic bits.

 

[tribnia]

AGAIN?

 

[pjerbezukhov]

On average, active base games will see an increase of about 70 % in RUB.

Hi Mattias!

First of all, thank you for warning us a month in advance.
I understand the need to raise prices, inflation and all that.
But.
I'm curious why prices in rubles will be increased by 70%?
Let's talk in numbers:

1. The last time you raised ruble prices was 02/01/2023, a year ago, since then the ruble has fallen by 26% against the euro and 24% against the dollar.
   Not 70%.
2. If you want to cover fluctuations risk - at the worst moment (ECB still displays that rate) the ruble was 17% lower than now. 37% lower since your last price increase.
   Not 70%.
3. As mentioned above, most RU gamers' incomes have not grown by 70% this year. Let's look at the richest region from which you have the most buyers - Moscow (because the median salary throughout the country is ~535 eur). There, only 33% of residents earn more than 1,000 euros per month after taxes, 25% of residents - more than 1,300 eur, 10% - more than 2,000 eur. Now the full edition of Stellaris costs ~85 eur on Russian Steam, +70% would give 144 eur, a fair increase would be up to 100-110 eur (15-25%). The psychological threshold for buying a game is 10% of your salary. So you cut off ~12% of buyers. Assuming that the percentage pf Paradox gamers is the same in different income groups, but likely the richer a person is, the less often he plays historical grand strategies; he rather turns his life into a grand strategy, especially in Russia. How much revenue and LTV will you lose?
4. (with a bit of joke) For Russians, how can I say this, it is extremely important to express somewhere the desire to fight compete with other countries (I can explain why, but don't block me), and let these better be your strategies. We have already lost Total War at an adequate price, thanks to Sega. Your current prices are not reasonable (look at the BG3 price in RU Steam, DLC Tours & Tournaments with mixed reviews should not cost more than 50% of the GOTY 2023 price, this is very strange for such amount of new content), but still affordable. We love your games and respect the company for accessible and deep strategies, for the opportunity to play them with friends in co-op, your sales, online and activity on the forum certainly confirm this - despite the some restrictions with paying from Russia, we continue to buy your products, I can't say the same about e.g. Ubisoft products.
   Think about the impact you will have on future geopolitics.
   
   You may apply a fair increase by 25%. Probably, I am wrong, and your data-driven rationale is better, then please share it.

 

[pjerbezukhov]

The price changes in the CIS region for our active titles are primarily related to a few identified discrepancies in our catalogue. On average the adjustments will be about 5 % and most active games and DLC will be unaffected.

Are CIS and RU the different regions for your prices? Or CIS includes Russia?

not adjusting the price to reflect these trends increases the likelihood of regional price abuse

Do you have statistics about regional price abuse? It is very unlikely that non RU residents try to buy games in RU steam with disabled ALL payment methods just to abuse prices...
+ Steam has its own antifraud system, they monitor suspicious country changes.

 

[laxfeed1]

That’s correct. Our benchmark has been updated and part of that is the weakened Ruble, and it’s necessary for publishers - us included - to continue adjusting game prices to reflect that. We acknowledge that this is unfortunate, but not adjusting the price to reflect these trends increases the likelihood of regional price abuse since it’s one of the currencies with the largest discounts to the USD both today and after the adjustments go into effect in January 2024.

It's just ridiculous. Would anyone in their right mind decide to change the region to Russia, given that many major publishers have restricted the sale of games in the region? And this is against the backdrop of the fact that Steam has recently been calculating such smart people and forcibly changing their regmoIt's just ridiculous. Would anyone in their right mind decide to change the region to Russia, given that many major publishers have restricted the sale of games in the region? And this is against the backdrop of the fact that Steam has recently been calculating such smart people and forcibly changing their region .

These adjustments will not help stabilize the market, you will simply lose a large percentage of buyers from Russia, whom the price adjustment will not be able to compensate.

 

[idk_pineapple]

What is the change for CAD? I’m mainly curious about EU4, Stellaris and CK3.

 

[Mrakvampire]

Our benchmark has been updated and part of that is the weakened Ruble

Ruble has not weakened by 70% during this year, this is not even close to that.

 

[Panin Ilya]

I support it, the ruble has not weakened so much
I am saddened by the trend when the currency is falling - prices are rising
When the currency grows, prices rise again, I will also ask the publisher to take into account the fact that we also overpay because it is not possible to transfer money directly in our region.

 

[Mrakvampire]

This is just sad, still it's PDX decision, I just hope that this won't backfire them and they will not lose in the long run due to this pricing decision.
No market will be able to accomodate several huge price increases in scope of 1.5 years without major impact on sales, especially if we are talking about +70% price increases. This is just very strange business decision, it looks as if PDX just wants to shut down Russian sales and close Russian market for themselves.

 

[Inspecta]

Hi! Let me ask you, on what titles will be increase for RUB currency, I'm particularly interested in Vic3, how much increase is planned for it, but if you say something about other titles like HoI4, EU4, Stellaris and CK3, I would be appreciated for sure.

Vicky 3 price will increase by 10%, meanwhile Cities Skylines 2 and one other game that recently released and failed will increase by 20%.

 

[Helel89]

On average, active base games will see an increase of about 70 % in RUB. However, Victoria 3 released more recently and already has a higher price in RUB, so it will increase about 10 %.

Hi!

Can you provide more information about Stellaris in RUB?

How much of an increase for base version of the game we can expect?
And, more importantly, how much on an increase for future DLC's?

Thanks!

 

[Ujin]

I support it, the ruble has not weakened so much
I am saddened by the trend when the currency is falling - prices are rising
When the currency grows, prices rise again, I will also ask the publisher to take into account the fact that we also overpay because it is not possible to transfer money directly in our region.

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[Brynjar]

The last time you raised ruble prices was 02/01/2023, a year ago, since then the ruble has fallen by 26% against the euro and 24% against the dollar.

How convenient to use the exchange rates from when the change occured, and not when it was decided. That just so happened to be the week the ruble spiked significantly compared to USD and EUR...

Do an early December to early December comparison and you end up with around 50%...

The ruble is fluctating wildly and Paradox certainly is not to blame for that.

Speaking of benchmarks - the award-winning BG3 is 2000 rub, which is less than CK3+1 major expansion or less than 2 years' worth of EU4 DLCs (4 dlcs since origins).

That is also the case for the USD price of the games. While you can argue that Paradox products are too expensive compared to some other games, that isn't really related to local/regional pricing.

Also, have Steam updated their regional pricing suggestions yet this autumn as they announced in October last year that they would start doing annually? I know they announced changes to region changes such as forcing USD prices for Turkey and Argentina, but I haven't found any other changes. If not, you may still be in for a nasty surprise when it comes to a lot of non-Paradox games.