In Mass Effect 1? I believe that was always free on the PC-version.

Bring Down the Sky is, indeed; Pinnacle Station, otoh, is apparently only free to owners of the Mass Effect Trilogy (some sort of special edition).

I see this is another case of Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition, price-jacking, and regional pricing. Not that I'm really surprised, but thanks EA, and GOG, always nice to be treated like a sucker.

I̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶"̶l̶i̶t̶t̶l̶e̶"̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶o̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶u̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶M̶c̶D̶o̶n̶a̶l̶d̶'̶s̶,̶ ̶S̶o̶n̶y̶,̶ ̶M̶i̶c̶r̶o̶s̶o̶f̶t̶,̶ ̶B̶M̶W̶,̶ ̶e̶t̶c̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶d̶u̶c̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶l̶i̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶i̶o̶n̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶p̶r̶i̶c̶e̶d̶ ̶(̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶u̶s̶ ̶c̶h̶e̶a̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶l̶d̶)̶.̶

This above might be considered an attack to some people which was not intended. So let me put it in other words ;)

Is is absolutely unacceptable that a product is cheaper in a region where the monthly income is say $150 then in a region where it is say $1500. [/sarcasm]

Well, if the company would take different prices in the same store just because of their customer's nation, I certainly wouldn't buy there.

Regional pricing in digital stores has nearly nothing to do with the income in the affected countries.

Example from Mirror's Edge:

>>> It is $20.39 instead of $19.99 in PL
>>> It is $20.27 instead of $19.99 in CH, regCZ, regDE, DK, regIT, MC, MT, NL, SK
>>> It is $19.39 instead of $19.99 in GB
>>> It is $15.29 instead of $19.99 in AU, NZ
>>> It is $6.19 instead of $19.99 in regAR, BR, CL, CO, MX, PE
>>> It is $4.49 instead of $19.99 in RU, UA, regUZ

Do you really think that people in Poland earn much more money than people in Australia or Great Britain? Or that Russia is the poorest country in the world?

The price for this game on Steam shows as $19.99 CAD for me, with the GOG price being $24.79 which does seem a bit strange. Oddly enough though the price of the Spore release is the opposite, being cheaper here on GOG than on Steam or even EA's own Origin store, so it's kind of hard to understand where they get the price points for to sell one game cheaper and another game slightly more expensive. :oP

I own Mirror's Edge on Steam already so the price point isn't much of an issue for me personally as I don't plan to buy it here any time soon anyway. Generally I don't rebuy games I own somewhere else already unless it is super rock-bottom prices or it completes a bundle for cheap enough to get the highest discount or similar. Still, I'm quite thrilled to see the game show up on GOG.com. It's always nice to see AAA titles show up here whether they are new or yesteryear or elderly classics at any price at all, however hopefully over time the prices of all games synchronize closer together between platforms also.

At the end of the day though, the regular price of a game in a store isn't a huge deal to me anyway because I almost never pay that. I only ever pay a discounted sale price for games whether they're brand new or older, so it's the sale price that counts. Also, new releases whether new period or new just to GOG will tend more often than not to either have no promo price, or a smaller discount overall than waiting for longer time period for seasonal sales and publisher promos which tend to have deeper discounts.

Using ITAD as a crystal ball, I suspect this game will be 75% off sometime within the next year on promo for those that want to wait it out. The base price may fluctuate with exchange rates over time also, and it's possible it may join the "fair price package" and get in-store credit as many games seem to have. Sometimes it's just best to wait things out a bit. :)

Thumbs up to EA for bring more of their newer games here though, and I hope to see them bring more in the future as well. Go go DRM-free!

It's a common misconception that regional pricing is about offering fair prices according to average incomes; it's actually about offering profitable prices according to what the customers in the region will likely be willing to pay before resorting to piracy or other products instead. These spending habits can be dependent on average income, so that the prices will appear fair and appropriate as well, but it's not a given. There are poor countries with low average income that have to pay the same prices as countries with high income, not because it's fair, but because their markets aren't as interesting to the publishers.

Mind you, I've got no problem with games being cheaper in South America or Eastern Europe. I'm just pointing out that fairness is not the main idea behind the prices, and some countries are incidentally treated more "fair" than others.

Then there is something wrong with the way GOG or EA implements regional pricing. But for me personally it is absolutely justifiable that prices of products are cheaper in areas where the average income is lower.

Oh, wow. This game was awe-some. Seriously.

Would love to do Mirror's Edge 2, if it wasn't filled with steams bullcrap.

Much like running from matrix agents this game. A little bit too linear. And also found just shooting everyone was sometimes easier.

I don't remember how I did it, but I got both before Mass Effect 3 was released.

I'd like think this game is an allegory for GOG running away from Freddi Fish 2's release.

I understand what you mean and I agree. My use of "fair" was not really referring to altruism, obviously companies are not doing this for charity or out of compassion. But indeed, for third world markets where publishers can turn a significant profit (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, etc.), they seem willing to set lower prices that consumers in the region will see as "fair" (or reasonable, if you will) and therefore spend their hard earned money instead of resorting to piracy.

Huh. I only ever bothered with Bring Down the Sky, so I wouldn't know; I checked the Mass Effect Wiki on the matter of DLC (hence my use of "apparently"). I seem to vaguely remember that I didn't care about Pinnacle Station for that exact reason, too.

Freddi Fish 2 was here for about six hours back in 2009. The servers not only overheated, but actually burned, and GOG felt it was in their best interest to remove it before getting the new servers online again after having most of the staff at the offices 24/7 for a week, some of them going without sleep for three days, and most of those there going into therapy for months. To say that it was utter chaos in that short time is taking it VERY lightly.

All traces of what happened have been removed, and I am taking a great risk posting even this much now. We do not, I repeat NOT want this to happen again.