And I think something that needs to be pointed out that eludes many people here.

The truth is, no matter how much more expensive the regional pricing vs. the U.S., for anyone who is continually buying games here, I pay more for the games than anyone in Europe.

You may ask how that can be if a game is $14.99 in Europe but $9.99...it's because you don't pay $14.99, you pay $14.99 and get $5 credit for the next game, so you are only paying $9.99. Why am I paying more? Because VAT is included, and at least in my state, I am expected to pay state sales taxes on Internet purchases. So you ultimately pay $9.99. I pay $9.99 plus 6% sales tax.

Now granted, many people do not pay the internet sales tax. I've heard its not enforced, but I'm not taking the chance to be audited later and charged late fees for not paying it in the first place. And for the record, they don't make you itemize your purchases. They have an estimated tax due based on income. So it's not necessarily exactly 6%, but I am paying taxes in addition to the price.

Going back to business as usual: a new game with surcharges!

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The newly added game Turmoil is regionally priced:

>>> It is $11.25 instead of $9.99 in NO, SE
>>> It is $11.19 instead of $9.99 in PL
>>> It is $11.09 instead of $9.99 in CH, regCZ, regDE, DK, regIT, MC, MT, NL, SK
>>> It is $8.96 instead of $9.99 in GB
>>> It is $7.59 instead of $9.99 in AU, NZ
>>> It is $6.26 instead of $9.99 in regAR, BR, CL, CO, MX, PE
>>> It is $3.75 instead of $9.99 in RU, UA, regUZ

That makes the whole thing just more ridiculous. They should just charge the same price to everyone (I'll leave lower prices for countries out of this) and then add the specific taxes onto it if necessary. Then there would be no need for giving store credit or anything and everyone be paying the same base price with just the addition of the country specific taxes.

That would be certainly great, but the sole idea of GOG having to keep up with the tax systems of every single country on Earth makes me shudder... :S

But gaming industry seems to be the only one were thieves get a reward. Too much piracy in Russia? Let's give away the games for next to nothing. Not so much piracy in Germany? Let's pay them even more!

And taking the Lamborghini example: Like games it's a luxury article. If you can't afford it, you have to save money or buy a cheaper car. You don't get a 90% discount just because you are from a "poor region".

Except that would make it worse. There are non-compete clauses at work where GoG cannot advertise a regular price lower than "X".

Do you really want GoG to charge the same as the highest price on Steam and charge VAT or other taxes on top of that?

Unfortunately, Gog cannot change the fact that regional distributors demand contracts asking to be the lowest advertised price and that every region has a different contract often based on the different price required to ship boxed physical goods to the given region which can include shipping, import tariffs and any number of a variety of other factors.

GoG cannot help the fact that these derived pricing schemes have carried over to Steam, the industry leader and their chief competitor.

For GoG to buck this trend, they would have to remove any developer who refuses flat pricing. I remember the outcry over Nordic. What would the outcry be if 25% of the catalog disappeared overnight.

At the end of the day, GoG is essentially forced to adapt to the model lest they fail to expand. The way they implemented "Fair Pricing" was a clever way around this issue. They get very little credit for it, but with these rebates, they aren't advertising a lower price even though it is in these regions.
I'm with you there, but alas, since Steam and big developers have chosen to discount these games there, I don't see how GoG can buck it. I remember when GoG did have truly flat pricing and we had another common weekly/daily thread, the one from the Eastern bloc talking about how overpriced the games were here vs. Steam because they would get discounts there.

More regionally priced news! A new game with discounts for the 'usual suspects', plus an incoming game that fixes an erroneous initial price (probably) and doesn't surcharge anybody (except, of course, and by default, the 'rest of the world' regions):

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The newly added game GoNNER: Press Jump To Die Edition [Upcoming] is regionally priced:

>>> It is $8.09 instead of $12.99 in regAR, BR, CL, CO, MX, PE
>>> It is $4.39 instead of $12.99 in RU, UA, regUZ

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

Pricing changed for Hybrid Wars [Upcoming]

>>> Base price changed from $49.99 to $17.99

>>> Game is now regionally priced ($17.89 instead of $17.99) in PL
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($17.83 instead of $17.99) in DK
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($17.79 instead of $17.99) in regCZ, NL, SK
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($17.49 instead of $17.99) in GB
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($17.39 instead of $17.99) in CH
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($16.89 instead of $17.99) in KR
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($16.09 instead of $17.99) in CA
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($15.99 instead of $17.99) in NZ
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($15.39 instead of $17.99) in NO
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($15.29 instead of $17.99) in AE, AU
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($14.19 instead of $17.99) in HK
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($13.99 instead of $17.99) in ZA
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($13.89 instead of $17.99) in TW
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($13.39 instead of $17.99) in SA
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($13.19 instead of $17.99) in PE, SG
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($12.99 instead of $17.99) in CL
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($12.09 instead of $17.99) in CO
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($10.59 instead of $17.99) in BR
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($9.79 instead of $17.99) in TH
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($9.69 instead of $17.99) in PH
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($9.59 instead of $17.99) in ID
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($9.18 instead of $17.99) in RU
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($9.09 instead of $17.99) in TR
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($8.99 instead of $17.99) in regUZ
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($8.69 instead of $17.99) in MX
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($8.49 instead of $17.99) in MY
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($8.39 instead of $17.99) in IN
>>> Game is now regionally priced ($3.59 instead of $17.99) in UA

Oy, 29 different prices. And odd that the eurozone otherwise has the same price as the US and the "rest of the world" (and eastern EU), yet Netherlands gets lumped with a couple of poorer central EU countries.

Ok, I'm moving to Ukraine! :)

It's great that you've come forward as their personal representative to carry their voice. Good job, congrats!

Looks like someone had fun fiddling with GOG's pricing system! ;-D

Though I would have had a bigger laugh, if the outcome wouldn't be actually sad.

Why not russia? ;)

At least nobody has to pay more than the base price. And while I would still argue about some of the discounts, I would say that they spent some thoughts on their pricing model. It's far from being perfect, but much better than many of the other regional pricings we've seen in the past.

Because, reasons. :)