In a move to annoy probably everyone, Humble has added Euro & Pound pricing to their store. You may wonder why this would annoy people, read on.
The problem is 1:1 pricing, so $8 would equal £8 for example (when right now it should be £4.79), although developers can manually set their own pricing for different regions if they wish.
Source
So they have joined Desura & Steam in allowing 1:1 pricing which will only annoy people.
Checking prices on Steam, they seem to be one of the few places that aren't doing 1:1 pricing. Steam does do it for some regions, but not all.
What do you make of this? To me this is sad news, 1:1 pricing pretty much 99% of the time makes everything more expensive for everyone outside of the US. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
The problem is 1:1 pricing, so $8 would equal £8 for example (when right now it should be £4.79), although developers can manually set their own pricing for different regions if they wish.
QuoteToday we’re excited to announce the addition of Euro and British Pound Sterling pricing on the Humble Store. The new currencies will allow us to offer more great games to all Humble Bundle customers while supporting awesome charities.
Along with the currencies, we’ve introduced what we call Humble Pricing. Humble Pricing is an automated price that is updated every night based on the US dollar price of the game. Humble Pricing doesn’t scale up for VAT or other charges. It simply translates a single worldwide price to each currency.
While we love the simplicity of Humble Pricing, we recognize that it doesn’t make sense for every developer or publisher. We also give them the option to provide an MSRP for each currency or region. The flexibility of offering either Humble Pricing or industry standard pricing means that we can bring you more awesome games at awesome discounts worldwide.
These new currencies are only available on the Humble Store. Humble Bundles, Weekly Sales, and Widgets will remain US dollar only with one worldwide price.
Source
So they have joined Desura & Steam in allowing 1:1 pricing which will only annoy people.
Checking prices on Steam, they seem to be one of the few places that aren't doing 1:1 pricing. Steam does do it for some regions, but not all.
What do you make of this? To me this is sad news, 1:1 pricing pretty much 99% of the time makes everything more expensive for everyone outside of the US. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: QOk, I've bought Starbound last weak from Humble Store, because I wanted lower price. Now, I have almost no reason to buy games from them. It's easy, I'll buy games from Steam directly.
For an omnipotent being you are not very smart.
Hint: http://playstarbound.com/store/ Still available for $14.99 ;P
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philip550c Feb 18, 2014
Quoting: DrMcCoyon account of that being a Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye) game; and that name has quite some pull in Germany.OMG, I havent played those since I was a kid. Bought the board games in Hamburg long ago.
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I only used Humble Store once, to buy Europa Universalis IV fo $9,99 while it was €9,99 on steam - so saved a few cents on that. A few days ago I considered Crusader Kings 2 Complete on discount for $19,99, but for €19,99 I would pass - or buy it directly on Steam. Why use Humble Store at all now? For DRM-free games? Please... many of the Linux games from bundles (think Osmos, Bit.trip.something) didn't even work for me until I installed them through Steam. Which also gave me automatic updates, achievements, save-to-cloud and many other advantages. Also, it's good for community count if you buy Linux games through Steam, isn't it?
But you know what's the worst? Steam prices in Euro are that much higher, because they include VAT for each country. Look at the reciept, e.g. my last purchase of Little Racers was 4,79 and there is a note "All prices include VAT", and included in the bottom is a valid VAT-ID number for Valve S.à r.l. Registered in Luxembourg. So if you take $5 and add e.g. 23% VAT (VAT varies by country from 15% to 27%, but most have 20%+), you get circa €4,5. That's where (part of) the difference comes from. Most games that are $9,99, are 8,99 in euro, so it's about right.
Yet Humble Store boasts "Humble Pricing doesn’t scale up for VAT or other charges. It simply translates a single worldwide price to each currency." - so it's just like saying: we'll charge you 25% more but it doesn't include VAT - ha ha sucker. (In case you don't know, living in EU and buying on-line from abroad leaves you in charge of paying the VAT by yourself - yeah, really. That's why GoDaddy, Amazon, Google, Valve and many other big players have their European divisions and handle the VAT properly.)
But you know what's the worst? Steam prices in Euro are that much higher, because they include VAT for each country. Look at the reciept, e.g. my last purchase of Little Racers was 4,79 and there is a note "All prices include VAT", and included in the bottom is a valid VAT-ID number for Valve S.à r.l. Registered in Luxembourg. So if you take $5 and add e.g. 23% VAT (VAT varies by country from 15% to 27%, but most have 20%+), you get circa €4,5. That's where (part of) the difference comes from. Most games that are $9,99, are 8,99 in euro, so it's about right.
Yet Humble Store boasts "Humble Pricing doesn’t scale up for VAT or other charges. It simply translates a single worldwide price to each currency." - so it's just like saying: we'll charge you 25% more but it doesn't include VAT - ha ha sucker. (In case you don't know, living in EU and buying on-line from abroad leaves you in charge of paying the VAT by yourself - yeah, really. That's why GoDaddy, Amazon, Google, Valve and many other big players have their European divisions and handle the VAT properly.)
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Quoting: pbSteam prices in Euro are that much higher, because they include VAT for each country.
Maybe but it's digital distribution so it doesn't matter where the country is - taxes are non existing in the internet. If you are in trouble (eg. if Valve bans your account, which is probably illegal according to your local customer rights) you are fucked.
There are also alot other differences eg: Silent hunter 5:
Release: March 2010
$ 9.99
£ 29.99 ~ $ 50.02 (+400.70%)
€ 29.99 ~ $ 41.18 (+312.21%)
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They should explain why they do such decision (tax?, law?, requests?). Otherwise it looks greedy, unfair, corporate alike step.
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Can't wait until they add Yen and an $8 game becomes ¥8.
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Quoting: gorkMaybe but it's digital distribution so it doesn't matter where the country is - taxes are non existing in the internet.
Go on, tell that to your tax agent. He can use a good laugh.
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