Price Increase

[Zephyrus9k]

Long time EU4 player though I don't think I've posted on these forums before. I just wanted to post here in agreement with the OP, this price increase is completely unacceptable and just before a sale, shows an utter lack of integrity from this company. I'm in the US and certain items I was watching also significantly increased in price. Half an hour ago, I literally logged onto steam with the intention to buy Stellaris and a couple EU4 DLCs. Did a double take at new prices, no thanks, closed steam.

It's not about the price itself even, but the practice. I saw there are a lot of new rightfully earned negative steam reviews from this deceptive practice too. Was it worth it Paradox? Is it worth the attempt at quick $$$ for further long term loss of reputation and customers?

I don't know if I'll ever post on these forums again but just wanted to voice my opinion on why I didn't make the purchases from this company today and probably will not in the future either. The endless overpriced DLC policy is one thing, but this is a whole new level.

 

[La Es]

It would cost you to pay $1000 to play 1k hours. Most expensive game ever. If subscription model were to be introduced, it should be something like WOW does.

I told that game has no start price at all and upper boarder $60/100/150 for example. It means that you will pay $0.2 per an hour, but no more than $60/100/150 for 1k-100k hours.

 

[HungryEd]

I see that Fred has come out to justify the equalization of price points across the globe for their games. But beyond that, has Paradox explained why they increased prices at various points in 2017 just for the duration of a sale/discount?

Source:
https://www.steamprices.com/us/app/255710/cities-skylines
https://www.steamprices.com/us/app/281990/stellaris

With all due respect, raising prices to give the illusion of a larger discount percentage is highly unethical to say the least. May I know what was Paradox's rationale for doing that?

 

[henricosta]

As this post is really, really long, I only read a few posts in diagonal if I'm perfectly honnest.

If I do any job, I'll always charge the same amount for the same job done. If you live in Poland, Russia, Germany, UK, Brasil, my running cost will be the same, the money I need to make each month too... So I'll charge constantly, using the same currency as a basis. This is something I can do as I rely essentially on the local market.

Where is this related to this Paradox pricing issue? It's just they sell worldwide. They do need all the customer they can get, wherever they live. They need to make them pay a price they can afford. So they did that for a long time now...

This is not true. You'd ask for different prices as you're in different markets that pays differently. The question is to be reasonable and competitive. If you ask $50 for a job in the US is not the same as asking $50 in Brazil if people here asks for $30 to do the same thing. All prices are based on local market. Steam sales are based on local market. I pay in BRL not in USD.

 

[include]

Sorry but I don't have money for PDX this summer. I think that it is time to fix this craziness ~19.99 euro for DLC ... no chance.
GG

 

[enkhuush]

Sorry but I don't have money for PDX this summer. I think that it is time to fix this craziness ~19.99 euro for DLC ... no chance.
GG

Same here. I will purchase different games until Paradox's corporate strategy becomes clear.

 

[SolSys]

If/when they fulfill the wishes of many and release a World of Darkness Vampire game, I suspect that many CK, EU, Stellaris, etc players will give it an extended look simply because it would be a PDS game.

PDS won't be developing the WoD franchise as they don't have the necessary tools to do so.
The new game -- Werewolf: The Apocalypse -- is currently being developed by the studio Cyanide -- makers of Styx: Master of Shadows, Blood Bowl, etc. -- which belongs to Focus Home Interactive.


Edit: Just to clarify -- PDS is the studio and PDX is the publisher. White Wolf Publishing [World of Darkness] is owned by PDX.

 

[SolSys]

But beyond that, has Paradox explained why they increased prices at various points in 2017 just for the duration of a sale/discount?
...
With all due respect, raising prices to give the illusion of a larger discount percentage is highly unethical to say the least. May I know what was Paradox's rationale for doing that?

I've checked the given sources against ITAD.

It would seem the source you gave had the occasional "hiccup" with games that have several editions on its main Steam page. For some reason, it displayed the higher edition's price as the regular edition's price just before a sale which is shown as a sudden price "raise".

I'd suggest bug-reporting the issue to the site in question.

 

[xianglingrui]

While I do not like price increases in general...I find the most cited reason against price increases hilarious.... It is like "you have to sell me this at discount, because I am poor"...why not be "you have to give this to me for free, because I do not have a penny to spare on games".... interesting way of thinking.

 

[Gauroroth]

Absurd is what it is. To my knowledge inflation has been dominant over purchasing power since the economic crisis. Just make your price for your game when its released, after that you can only decrease your price when there are sales or it wil decrease because of age. Increasing the price is just cash grabbing.

 

[Uglyr]

While I do not like price increases in general...I find the most cited reason against price increases hilarious.... It is like "you have to sell me this at discount, because I am poor"...why not be "you have to give this to me for free, because I do not have a penny to spare on games".... interesting way of thinking.

You read it wrong. It sounds like "I want to give you money, but can't give you as much as you ask. So either I'll give you small amount, or give you nothing. With second option I'm afraid you'll have a bit less money to invest in game greatness."

 

[Deblod]

You can always lose and earn money but when you lose the trust of your customers, it's irreversible. This is what Paradox did.
On top of that, Fred "the pigheaded CEO in his own words" implicitly compared their reactive customers acting as a gang with a mob mentality.

Here are his exact words from the announcement; "being a pig-headed CEO of a company"; "never to give in to mob mentality", "when people gang up on me/us to make us change our minds" You can check it also in the context.

For me, Paradox had lost much trust with the price changes and even dropped below zero after Fred's words. I'll be very very picky to purchase their games and DLCs if I do that at all again.

 

[Escher]

Hello people,

Here’s the latest on the price roll-back. Sorry for the wait, as you might imagine this is a somewhat complicated process so thank you for your patience whilst we sorted this out:

Prices on all Paradox products, in all currencies except USD (since USD prices were not changed), have reverted back to their pre-increase levels as of today. Additionally, now the price rollback has been completed prices will be frozen for a period of three months.

After exploring options with our sales partners, we’ve come to the conclusion that partial refunds (as in, refunding the price difference) aren’t practically possible. Instead, we will gift everyone who purchased any Paradox product between May 17 and today (including pre-orders of Steel Division: Normandy 44 made before May 17), in any currency except USD (where prices were not changed), a free copy of a full PC game or two DLC, as a gesture of goodwill.

The games on offer will be:

• Stellaris
• Hearts of Iron IV
• Crusader Kings 2
• Europa Universalis IV
• Magicka 2
• Tyranny

OR, if you prefer, TWO from the list of the following DLC:

• HoI IV: Death or Dishonor
• EU IV: Third Rome
• CK II: Monks and Mystics
• Stellaris: Utopia
• Tyranny: Tales from the Tiers

Should you happen to already own all of the above then the system will credit you equivalent giftable keys.

In order to claim your game/DLC’s you need to fill in the form at the following location: https://support.paradoxplaza.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=114093963414

IMPORTANT: We are accepting requests up to 23:59 CEST on the 9th August. You must submit your completed form by this date. Additionally, please note that you will not receive the content immediately, it will take some time for us to process all of the requests. The current deadline we are working towards is the 30th September 2017, check your email for further updates/next steps leading up to that date.

To be considered a “complete form” you need to include:

1. Your order ID
2. The currency used for the purchase
3. Details of the platform you redeemed your product on
4. A copy of your receipt
5. Your email
6. The requested product/s you’d like to receive

Finally, we’d like to take the opportunity to once again say we’re sorry about our handling of this issue. We value our community and the passion you have for our products, and we know we’re lucky to have you. Of course, it should go without saying that as a result of this experience we will be looking at our internal processes to ensure that we can improve for the future.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Additional FAQ

FAQ GoG
Q: I bought my product from GoG, which products will I be able to claim?
A: You will be able to claim a free game or DLC from our catalog on GoG. If you already own everything or do not wish to have any of our products on GoG, you can choose a Steam key from the selected titles.

FAQ App Store
Q: I bought my product in the Apple store on my Mac, which products will I be able to claim?
A: You will be able to claim a free game from our Catalog on the app store. If you already own everything or do not wish to have any of our products from the app store, you can choose a Steam key from the selected titles.

FAQ Steam Key Re-seller and Steam
Q: I bought a Steam key through one of your approved re-sellers or the Steam store. Which products will I be able to claim?
A: You will be able to choose from the selected titles as mentioned in our main Pricing Discussion forum post.

FAQ Origin
Q: I bought a product on Origin, which products will I be able to claim?
A: The pricing update never went live on Origin, therefore you are NOT eligible.

FAQ Twitch
Q: I bought a product on Twitch, which products will I be able to claim?
A: Twitch only sells our products in USD, therefore you are NOT eligible.

FAQ General
Q: Who’s eligible for this?
A: Any customer who purchased one of our games from our approved re-sellers and didn’t pay in USD is eligible. The reason for this is that the USD price was never changed, hence you never paid the new, higher price point.

Q: How do I go about getting my requested games/DLC?
A: Please follow the instructions at the top of this post.

Q: I already own everything, what will I get?
A: You will receive Steam key/s for the product/s you choose from the selected titles.

Q: I made several orders during the price change, do I get one key per order?
A: No, each customer is eligible for one key, regardless of the number of orders or the size of the order/orders

 

[Uglyr]

Thanks for the gift, but I have some questions:

purchased any Paradox product

Do you mean Paradox as publisher or developer? So "Tyranny: Tales from the Tiers" is eligible?

A copy of your receipt

Can you elaborate more about what it is (where to get it), what is a copy and where to put it (attachment I think)? I'm not very great in English language and everything I recieve from Steam on mail is on Russian language, so I'm not sure if it will be of any use for you.

 

[TinyWiking]

Thanks for the gift, but I have some questions:
Do you mean Paradox as publisher or developer? So "Tyranny: Tales from the Tiers" is eligible?
Can you elaborate more about what it is (where to get it), what is a copy and where to put it (attachment I think)? I'm not very great in English language and everything I recieve from Steam on mail is on Russian language, so I'm not sure if it will be of any use for you.

Let's start at the top !

1. Paradox as a publisher or developer, basically any game from our catalog
2. You need to include a copy of your receipt as an attachment. In Steam, you can find that under your account (Click your account name in the top right > Account Details > View Purchase History > click the transaction).

 

[Paul31264]

Instead, we will gift everyone who purchased any Paradox product between May 17 and today (including pre-orders of Steel Division: Normandy 44 made before May 17), in any currency except USD (where prices were not changed), a free copy of a full PC game or two DLC, as a gesture of goodwill.

You did say "any Paradox product", but I just wanted to make sure there's no misunderstanding. Even if I only bought the Third Rome DLC for EU4 (which was only a minor DLC pack and therefore not too expensive), I'm still eligible for a full game?

 

[ptendof]

I was filling up the form but my currency: BRL (brazilian real) is unavailable. Anyone having the same issue?

 

[Alaqdas]

I was filling up the form but my currency: BRL (brazilian real) is unavailable. Anyone having the same issue?

Same problem, it seems that Paradox does not like Brazil itself. I ridiculed this.

 

[Escher]

You did say "any Paradox product", but I just wanted to make sure there's no misunderstanding. Even if I only bought the Third Rome DLC for EU4 (which was only a minor DLC pack and therefore not too expensive), I'm still eligible for a full game?

Correct!

Regarding the issues with Brazilian Real, I'm getting that looked into now! Apologies, please bear with us.

 

[TinyWiking]

Brazilian Real is now in the list, please refresh the form for it to update. Sorry about that!