Posted December 05, 2014
Minimum wage per country.
So, let's assume a game with flat pricing of $10, and people working at minimum wage in different countries. Someone working in Greece has to work 2 hours to afford said game, someone working in Brazil has to work for 5 hours, someone working in the United Kingdom has to work 1 hour, someone working in Afghanistan has to work for 20 hours. The price is the same, the cost of the game is not. This is flat pricing.
Now, assume on the other hand that the game costs 2 hours at minimum wage. For Greece that would be $10.12, for Brazil it would be $3.96, for the United Kingdom it would be $19.66, for Afghanistan it would be $1.14. You claim that this pricing isn't fair.
Regional pricing can be fair, but so far I haven't seen a proper implementation of it. GOG has the best I've seen so far (for the customer), but it is far from perfect.
Graph source
So, let's assume a game with flat pricing of $10, and people working at minimum wage in different countries. Someone working in Greece has to work 2 hours to afford said game, someone working in Brazil has to work for 5 hours, someone working in the United Kingdom has to work 1 hour, someone working in Afghanistan has to work for 20 hours. The price is the same, the cost of the game is not. This is flat pricing.
Now, assume on the other hand that the game costs 2 hours at minimum wage. For Greece that would be $10.12, for Brazil it would be $3.96, for the United Kingdom it would be $19.66, for Afghanistan it would be $1.14. You claim that this pricing isn't fair.
Regional pricing can be fair, but so far I haven't seen a proper implementation of it. GOG has the best I've seen so far (for the customer), but it is far from perfect.
Graph source