Wargaming Price Gouging

[Pururut]

5 minutes ago, The_Chiv said:

The flaw in this logic is to imply that all in a region have greater means then all in another region. The NA while a wealthy region due to Canada and US still encompasses many other areas where that wealth is no where to be found. Even in Canada and NA the wealth disparity is pretty noticeable. 

 

I should have mentioned it before hand; Steam applies a national approach so only European Union suffers from the regional variety due to Euro. I wish Wargaming would also switch from regional to national pricing but I dont think there is enough demand for that to happen. I mean hell, Wargaming killed Spanish and Turkish forums in EU server just because they didnt think it was worth it to keep them running.

[The_Chiv]

10 minutes ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

Same in the EU. There is disparity between Germany and some of the less-well-to-do members of the EU, same as there are different income segments in each country.

Its the same in all regions. A player in Vietnam has to suffer the Asian server prices due to Japan even though the economic disparity is insane between the two. It is a system that seeks to milk the wealth while only providing relief to their own citizens and region.  It is literally a NON RUSSIAN TAX. If you are not Russian you pay more. 57% or 86% more. For a physical good I can understand this, for a digital good/service this is just discrimination. When I pondered on this a bit longer I tried to understand why and I kept coming back to something. Money laundering. Wg is already embroiled in a money laundering issue and well  if you can launder money and provide interest on the original sum you are in fact going to have a ton of customers and thus you can make a ton of money. Sadly this make way more sense then anything else anyone has said in this thread. 

[MannequinSkywalker]

5 minutes ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

Only the price the end user pays matters here, relative to the average income earned in the market. You can't compare digital goods vs physical goods, because the markets as well as costs and pricing are completely different. It's not like WG or anyone else is selling digital goods at a loss.

No what you are saying makes zero sense. It is not dependent on salary or whatever. Product is the same product. Trying to put different price tags on the same  digital product is scamming or ripping off. Yea, it is ripping off.

[ColonelPete]

35 minutes ago, The_Chiv said:

For a physical good this economic practice holds up due to the cost of shipping, customs, fees, etc. However... Digital goods do not suffer this sort of thing to such an extent. Sure there is the occasional thing with Blizzard charging a bit more for EU stuff but that amount is never more then 15%. In wargamings case their is a 86% increase between CIS and NA, and between CIS and EU it is 57% increase. 

As you said yourself:

50 minutes ago, The_Chiv said:

 "It is worth how much someone will pay for it."

The CIS market has much less players willing and able to pay as much. Therefore the prices are lower.

 

And there is also the issue of taxation, which make prices difficult to compare.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

6 minutes ago, Pururut said:

 

I should have mentioned it before hand; Steam applies a national approach so only European Union suffers from the regional variety due to Euro. I wish Wargaming would also switch from regional to national pricing but I dont think there is enough demand for that to happen. I mean hell, Wargaming killed Spanish and Turkish forums in EU server just because they didnt think it was worth it to keep them running.

 

5 minutes ago, The_Chiv said:

Its the same in all regions. A player in Vietnam has to suffer the Asian server prices due to Japan even though the economic disparity is insane between the two. It is a system that seeks to milk the wealth while only providing relief to their own citizens and region.  It is literally a NON RUSSIAN TAX. If you are not Russian you pay more. 57% or 86% more. For a physical good I can understand this, for a digital good/service this is just discrimination. When I pondered on this a bit longer I tried to understand why and I kept coming back to something. Money laundering. Wg is already embroiled in a money laundering issue and well  if you can launder money and provide interest on the original sum you are in fact going to have a ton of customers and thus you can make a ton of money. Sadly this make way more sense then anything else anyone has said in this thread. 

 

Yes, this should be based on nations, or at the least currency unions. Hell, the EU isn't even a country, and not all the EU countries are in the Euro either.

 

EDIT. You won't get this pricing for physical goods, ever. Nobody will sell or import stuff to Russia to sell it at a loss just so they will have sales in Russia.

[Pandafaust]

1 minute ago, The_Chiv said:

Its the same in all regions. A player in Vietnam has to suffer the Asian server prices due to Japan even though the economic disparity is insane between the two. It is a system that seeks to milk the wealth while only providing relief to their own citizens and region.  It is literally a NON RUSSIAN TAX. If you are not Russian you pay more. 57% or 86% more. For a physical good I can understand this, for a digital good/service this is just discrimination. When I pondered on this a bit longer I tried to understand why and I kept coming back to something. Money laundering. Wg is already embroiled in a money laundering issue and well one if you can launder money and provide interest on the original sum you are in fact going to have a ton of customers and thus you can make a ton of money. Sadly this make way more sense then anything else anyone as said in this thread. 

So in your view, Microsoft (to pick an obvious example) is also engaging in mass money laundering, given they sell the same product for double the price in Denmark than they do in Russia?

 

This is an absolutely standard and blindingly obvious sales tactic - you charge the price that the market will bear.  If they started charging Euro/US prices in Russia, they'd have no sales there.  If they started charging Russian prices in Eur/US then they wouldn't maximise their profits - and that is the whole reason any commercial company exists, despite the [edited] slogans they may trot out about making people happy or whatever.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

1 minute ago, MannequinSkywalker said:

No what you are saying makes zero sense. It is not dependent on salary or whatever. Product is the same product. Trying to put different price tags on the same  digital product is scamming or ripping off. Yea, it is ripping off.

 

Seems you have decided not to understand the issue here. Would you like things you want to cost six times more in relative terms, for you, unless you are one of the luckier Russians who are at the top end of the income scale.

[MannequinSkywalker]

Just now, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

Seems you have decided not to understand the issue here. Would you like things you want to cost six times more in relative terms, for you, unless you are one of the luckier Russians who are at the top end of the income scale.

Why would it cost 6 times more. Sell the damn thing for the same price in Russian server at all servers.

[Pandafaust]

2 minutes ago, MannequinSkywalker said:

Why would it cost 6 times more. Sell the damn thing for the same price in Russian server at all servers.

You may want to google what the word "relative" means.

[Capra76]

Personally I'm at a loss as to why anybody would want to pay the price of maybe 2 or more full AAA games for a single not very good in game vehicle based at best on a sketch on the back of a cigarette packet that never came close to being built in real life, especially when the whole game is about to be turned on it's head by a completely new class that will regard this ship as food.

 

Am I alone in this?

[Karasu_Browarszky]

Just now, MannequinSkywalker said:

Why would it cost 6 times more. Sell the damn thing for the same price in Russian server at all servers.

 

The average income in Russia is roughly six times lower than it is in Germany. It means, most people will have only a fraction of the money to spend than what the consumers in Germany have.

[MannequinSkywalker]

Just now, Pandafaust said:

You may want to google what the word "relative" means.

You may want to google the meaning of life.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

Just now, Capra76 said:

Personally I'm at a loss as to why anybody would want to pay the price of maybe 2 or more full AAA games for a single not very good in game vehicle based at best on a sketch on the back of a cigarette packet that never came close to being built in real life, especially when the whole game is about to be turned on it's head by a completely new class that will regard this ship as food.

 

Am I alone in this?

 

No, you are not.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

Just now, MannequinSkywalker said:

You may want to google the meaning of life.

 

42.

[MannequinSkywalker]

 

3 minutes ago, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

The average income in Russia is roughly six times lower than it is in Germany. It means, most people will have only a fraction of the money to spend than what the consumers in Germany have.

So? Is it German citizens' fault to live smarter, work harder, be more respectful to laws and everything to have better economy?  Are you saying they build better life standards just to pay more for the same digital product? Do you believe what you are saying? Or how does it even make sense to you?

[Karasu_Browarszky]

1 minute ago, MannequinSkywalker said:

 

So? Is it German citizens' fault to live smarter, work harder, be more respectful to laws and everything to have better economy?  Are you saying they build better life standards just to pay more for the same digital product? Do you believe what you are saying? Or how does it even make sense to you?

 

Does what you are saying make sense to you?

[Camperdown]

It is called value pricing.

The cost of providing digital goods is usually close to zero. Microsoft did not grow very rich by charging customers cost plus.

Gauging what the market will bear is crucial, as is price differentiation. As WG is run by bean counters, this is the one thing they try to do well.

 

[MannequinSkywalker]

Just now, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

Does what you are saying make sense to you?

Yes, and you didn't answer my questions. Why? Because this is a rip off in polite terms, and scamming in non-polite words.

[The_Chiv]

7 minutes ago, Capra76 said:

Personally I'm at a loss as to why anybody would want to pay the price of maybe 2 or more full AAA games for a single not very good in game vehicle based at best on a sketch on the back of a cigarette packet that never came close to being built in real life, especially when the whole game is about to be turned on it's head by a completely new class that will regard this ship as food.

 

Am I alone in this?

nope

[Karasu_Browarszky]

Just now, MannequinSkywalker said:

Yes, and you didn't answer my questions. Why? Because this is a rip off in polite terms, and scamming in non-polite words.

 

Why, exactly is it a rip off?

[MannequinSkywalker]

Just now, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

Why, exactly is it a rip off?

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/rip-sb-off

[Karasu_Browarszky]

Just now, MannequinSkywalker said:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/rip-sb-off

 

So, who is getting ripped off.

[MannequinSkywalker]

Just now, Karasu_Hidesuke said:

 

So, who is getting ripped off.

Apparently EU and NA servers.

BTW, you still didn't answer my questions.

[Panocek]

11 minutes ago, Capra76 said:

Personally I'm at a loss as to why anybody would want to pay the price of maybe 2 or more full AAA games for a single not very good in game vehicle based at best on a sketch on the back of a cigarette packet that never came close to being built in real life, especially when the whole game is about to be turned on it's head by a completely new class that will regard this ship as food.

 

Am I alone in this?

You're almost three years late with that, CV REEEwork was already sign to stop approving Lesta Studio actions with money.

[Karasu_Browarszky]

9 minutes ago, MannequinSkywalker said:

 

So? Is it German citizens' fault to live smarter, work harder, be more respectful to laws and everything to have better economy?

 

No, if that's what they are doing.

 

9 minutes ago, MannequinSkywalker said:

 Are you saying they build better life standards just to pay more for the same digital product?

 

No, hard to believe that's why they'd be working so hard.

 

9 minutes ago, MannequinSkywalker said:

Do you believe what you are saying?

 

Yes, I do.

 

9 minutes ago, MannequinSkywalker said:

Or how does it even make sense to you?

 

Yes, of course, perfect sense.

 

 

Just now, MannequinSkywalker said:

Apparently EU and NA servers.

BTW, you still didn't answer my questions.

 

I did answer them now.

 

I don't see how the EU and NA servers get ripped off.

 

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fair-market-price

 

" the price of something at which both a seller and a buyer are willing to strike a deal."

 

There's no compusion for anyone to buy anything from WG, nor is WG under obligation to sell you something. If the price is what you are willing to pay, it's a fair price.