It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussionRegional Priced Games on GOG(2343 posts)(2343 posts)
(2343 posts)
Pages:
1
25
49
50
51
52
53
75
100
125
150
157
This is my favourite topic
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames: Does this look unfair to you? The only one that stands out to me is Russia, which is getting a really good deal.
Not egregiously so, but we've had other regional priced games whose variant prices where minimal as well. I'm talking about the phenomenon as a whole, not just particular cases. The perceived offense of using regional pricing is separate from the degree of that offense.
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
Phc7006: So, what's your price for Russia ? USD price + Russian VAT ?
People in Russia actually get a much better price, relatively speaking. It's the only way they would be able to afford the game at all. Asking people there to pay dollar prices would be pretty unfair.
avatar
IAmSinistar: Not egregiously so, but we've had other regional priced games whose variant prices where minimal as well. I'm talking about the phenomenon as a whole, not just particular cases. The perceived offense of using regional pricing is separate from the degree of that offense.
Well, I've heard of people paying much more in Australia for games with no good reason. (Actually, I think that it's the AUS retailers forcing publishers to jack up prices, but that's just a rumor).

I think that's ridiculous, myself. That's why I made sure the AUS price was reasonable.
Post edited November 06, 2014 by RocketBearGames
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames:
Thank you for taking the time to answer the community.

Since is a rare opportunity to gain insight into the frame of mind behind regional pricing, could you please explain why you offer such a huge discount to clients in Russia?
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames: Does this look unfair to you? The only one that stands out to me is Russia, which is getting a really good deal.
LOL, you're the first developer that actually managed to make one of those self-entitled whiners backpedal.
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames:
avatar
mrkgnao: Thank you for taking the time to answer the community.

Since is a rare opportunity to gain insight into the frame of mind behind regional pricing, could you please explain why you offer such a huge discount to clients in Russia?
Honestly, it's not something that's well thought out.

On Steam, I use their recommended prices - they have a billion currencies these days and it's too hard to set them individually. I just set the US price and Steam does the rest. My understanding is that Steam has lower RUB prices because of lower median incomes in Russia.

For GOG, I just asked them to match the Steam prices.
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames: The reason that I asked GOG to match Steam prices was because of VAT. European governments have decided that all good and services should cost 20% more. I think that's rather high, living in Canada - we pay about 13% here. That said, people in Europe seem to have better social services.

My understanding is that GOG doesn't include VAT in the price. You don't have to pay it, but the developer and GOG still have to send the 20% to the government. That 20% has to come from somewhere.

If I could, I'd just ask GOG to charge the appropriate VAT amount on top of the game price. I don't think their system supports that, though. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the EU price for Infested Planet should be the same as USD + VAT.
So... every European has to pay 20% more because you said to add VAT to it... ok... I need to research this more since my understanding was that not every country in Europe has to pay this 20% which was decided by the European Union, so only applying to countries being in the European Union... I`ll research this, just in cause that I might be wrong...
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames: Hi there, I'm the dev for this game.
This seems to be a touchy issue around here. Not something I expected, to be honest.

I'm curious about why you feel so strongly about this. It seems like you feel that regional pricing is unfair. I'm willing to listen.
I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to engage in a discussion about the problem people here on GOG have with regional pricing. Others have already made valid points in my absence on how regional pricing is negatively perceived here especially from independent developers that should try and look out for the best interest of their customers that want to support them.

I would also like to mention that GOG offers a fair price package to make up the difference in price against the USD as the base price, which is actually unfair to them in the long run as well since no other digital distribution service would even consider doing such a thing for their customers.
Post edited November 06, 2014 by stg83
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
moonshineshadow: So... every European has to pay 20% more because you said to add VAT to it... ok... I need to research this more since my understanding was that not every country in Europe has to pay this 20% which was decided by the European Union, so only applying to countries being in the European Union... I`ll research this, just in cause that I might be wrong...
Going off of this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax

Looks like almost all EU countries have >20% VAT tax rate. I agree that it would suck if a country got charged Euro prices, but didn't have VAT. That would be unfair.

I would prefer that GOG have VAT as a separate item when you buy the game. Just like when you go to the store and buy a game - the tax is added onto the price. I guess it's too hard to implement, because GOG doesn't do it.
avatar
stg83: I would also like to mention that GOG offers a fair price package to make up the difference in price against the USD as the base price, which is actually unfair to them in the long run as well since no other digital distribution service would even consider doing such a thing for their customers.
Yes, I would say that GOG is the only portal other than Steam that does something really cool. Really happy to have Covert Action and Another World in my GOG library. :)

I expect that if GOG ever became big enough to take on Steam, they'd force developers to use their pricing.
Post edited November 06, 2014 by RocketBearGames
Posted November 06, 2014
high rated
avatar
RocketBearGames: Honestly, it's not something that's well thought out.

On Steam, I use their recommended prices - they have a billion currencies these days and it's too hard to set them individually. I just set the US price and Steam does the rest. My understanding is that Steam has lower RUB prices because of lower median incomes in Russia.

For GOG, I just asked them to match the Steam prices.
Since you're familiar with Steam, I have to wonder why you chose to put all and every European country into the EUR1 zone, which is the one with the highest prices. Even the EU is divided in more than one zone, not to mention that European countries not part of the EU don't even have VAT. And even countries in the same EU zone do not have comparing median incomes, so how exactly is this fair?

Every time this discussion comes up, Russia is brought as the prime example of regional pricing being fair and good, but this seems to imply that the world is divided into the US, Russia and the rest of the world.
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
mrkgnao: Thank you for taking the time to answer the community.

Since is a rare opportunity to gain insight into the frame of mind behind regional pricing, could you please explain why you offer such a huge discount to clients in Russia?
avatar
RocketBearGames: Honestly, it's not something that's well thought out.

On Steam, I use their recommended prices - they have a billion currencies these days and it's too hard to set them individually. I just set the US price and Steam does the rest. My understanding is that Steam has lower RUB prices because of lower median incomes in Russia.

For GOG, I just asked them to match the Steam prices.
I understand.

To the best of my knowledge, the median income in Russia is not that low. Dependent on the metric used, Russia is at around #50 out almost 200 countries. It is much higher than almost all the African countries (that pay the US price). It is also higher than quite a few countries that I believe pay the high European price (e.g. Bulgaria, Romania).

The common belief is that the low Russian price is a reward for the high piracy prevalent there, although I am not entirely convinced.
Post edited November 06, 2014 by mrkgnao
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames: Does this look unfair to you? The only one that stands out to me is Russia, which is getting a really good deal.
avatar
ixbt25i: LOL, you're the first developer that actually managed to make one of those self-entitled whiners backpedal.
Fail. Needs to work on reading comprehension.
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
HypersomniacLive: Since you're familiar with Steam, I have to wonder why you chose to put all and every European country into the EUR1 zone, which is the one with the highest prices. Even the EU is divided in more than one zone, not to mention that European countries not part of the EU don't even have VAT. And even countries in the same EU zone do not have comparing median incomes, so how exactly is this fair?
This... I had a look just now and since Swiss is not part of the European Union we would only have 8% taxes and not 20%... and I am sure this also applies to all other countries who were just put under "Europe" which are not part of the European Union.
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames: [...]

I would prefer that GOG have VAT as a separate item when you buy the game. Just like when you go to the store and buy a game - the tax is added onto the price. [...]
Perhaps in Canada and the US, but it's already included in the shelf-price in the EU, i.e. what you see is what you pay at the counter.
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
HypersomniacLive: Since you're familiar with Steam, I have to wonder why you chose to put all and every European country into the EUR1 zone, which is the one with the highest prices. Even the EU is divided in more than one zone, not to mention that European countries not part of the EU don't even have VAT. And even countries in the same EU zone do not have comparing median incomes, so how exactly is this fair?

Every time this discussion comes up, Russia is brought as the prime example of regional pricing being fair and good, but this seems to imply that the world is divided into the US, Russia and the rest of the world.
I don't really make the choice of which European country gets which price. Honestly, I don't even know how that works, so I'd appreciate if you informed me.

The Euro price is the only one that I was given the option to set by GOG. If they have the ability to split by different European countries, it sounds like it would be fair to do that (If only to factor in different VAT rates).
Posted November 06, 2014
avatar
RocketBearGames: The reason that I asked GOG to match Steam prices was because of VAT. European governments have decided that all good and services should cost 20% more. I think that's rather high, living in Canada - we pay about 13% here. That said, people in Europe seem to have better social services.

My understanding is that GOG doesn't include VAT in the price. You don't have to pay it, but the developer and GOG still have to send the 20% to the government. That 20% has to come from somewhere.

If I could, I'd just ask GOG to charge the appropriate VAT amount on top of the game price. I don't think their system supports that, though. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the EU price for Infested Planet should be the same as USD + VAT.
avatar
moonshineshadow: So... every European has to pay 20% more because you said to add VAT to it... ok... I need to research this more since my understanding was that not every country in Europe has to pay this 20% which was decided by the European Union, so only applying to countries being in the European Union... I`ll research this, just in cause that I might be wrong...
Vat rate depends on the EU(Not european in general) country the customer resides in.
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/rates/vat_rates_en.pdf

In theory anyone selling digital goods/good to a customer in the EU has to pay the countries VAT, in theory you have to register before allowed to sell in the EU.
I say in theory because smaller non EU businesses with offices in an EU country don't bother to register usually and they are seldomly gone after if ever.
Alot of small payment providers doesn't charge VAT either.

The time I cared looking up Vat was a few years back so this might have changed somewhat since then.
Post edited November 06, 2014 by Reaper9988
Pages:
1
25
49
50
51
52
53
75
100
125
150
157
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionRegional Priced Games on GOG(2343 posts)(2343 posts)
(2343 posts)