Irrelevant, how does charging someone more for a product stop piracy? If anything it will rapidly increase it.

While regional prices may vary, in many cases regional sales taxes and legal requirements are reflected in the user price.

For example if you compare the pricing for EVE you will see that based on exchange rates alone the pricing can vary: http://www.eveonline.com/faq/paying-for-eve

However we do work closely with all 4 SONY regions in order to try prevent price increases where possible, and ultimately SONY determine the prices for their stores.

Why do Customer support/GM's always hid behind this regional difference and tax fud?

They should man up and admit that they are ripping AUS and NZ customers off.

Poor show CCP you have lost my respect and a lot of others too.

Even the sock puppet CPM and CSM don't have the balls to speak out.

Thanks for you reply Grave, but the markup vastly exceeds tax (15% in NZ I believe) and it does not apply for online sales. Even if it did, after GST there's still a 35% markup - you guys are having your game abused for a quick buck. CCP has the right to issue on official complaint to Sony, and without that it will not be fixed.

Why do Customer support/GM's always hid behind this regional difference and tax fud?

They should man up and admit that they are ripping AUS and NZ customers off.

Poor show CCP you have lost my respect and a lot of others too.

Even the sock puppet CPM and CSM don't have the balls to speak out.

This was the ccp response to my petition asking about the price differences

2013.05.15 10:26:00 GM Avantgarde

---

Hello,

We can understand why you would like a clarification over the price of Merc Pack in different countries.
Once we set the price on a game, SONY then would localise the price for each country based on local currency and taxes.

Please accept our sincere apologies and we thank you for the understanding.

If we could be your assistance on any DUST 514 issue in the future, please contact us again.

Best Regards,
GM Avantgarde
CCP Customer Support | EVE Online | DUST 514

Its a total load of bullshit from CCP. I am no longer just someone playing a free game. I have bought over 30,000 aurum so far and am now what I consider a CCP customer. My money has gone to them, maybe not all of it because of Sony but they still get their share. They know they have it with in there power to fix this but clearly don't care!!!!

I'm not sure if the DUST EULA mirrors the EVE one, but if it does, you're not allowed to post this. However, as much as you want to scream and shout and rage at CCP, if you stopped to listen for a moment, they provided you a legitimate explanation. If you feel otherwise, then clarify, no, verify with some evidence that "they know they have it within their power to fix this" because the last I checked, they're doing exactly what their dev agreement with Sony, who publishes for them at cost, allows them to do.

How do you think trading goods and services takes place? Do you think that computer you're using to type all this on actually started out being worth what you bought it for? You are still just someone playing a free game, because payment for goods in it is entirely optional, a fact you knew when you bought them. It wasn't an investment of some kind, it was a purchase of an element of a game. The game itself is free to play, and can be played entirely for free.

9. Posting of private CCP communication is prohibited.
The posting of private communication between the Game Masters, DUST Team members, Moderators, Administrators of the forums and forum users is prohibited. CCP respect the right of our players to privacy and as such you are not permitted to publicize private correspondence (including petition responses and emails) received from any of the aforementioned parties.

There was no privacy statement within the email so as far as I am concerned they can take it off the forum if they want. I just wanted to show people what CCPs official response is to all of the questions as to why and how they justify the cost differences. And the reason behind the '"they know they have it within their power to fix this" statement is because its their ******* game. Sony didn't make the **** but yet they are the ones deciding on the charges. CCP can have their own servers or system designed to handle the transactions and distributions themselves. Clearly you do not get how important and valuable to a new player a booster is, it may not be considered an investment but over time the extra skill points allow faster progression and a better loadout for players.

From the forum rules:

You guys don't read anything, do you? I posted the reason why earlier. Everyone here that's so quick to jump on CCP's case about it obviously hasn't spent a minute subbed on EVE or you'd know we pay the same price in Aus as the US do. The problem is with Sony, CCP are not 'complicit' regardless of how desperately you want to have a problem with them.

I think that was his point

Didn't ccp screw over people who purchased closed beta merc packs? Yet yall think they give a **** about this? lol

While regional prices may vary, in many cases regional sales taxes and legal requirements are reflected in the user price.

For example if you compare the pricing for EVE you will see that based on exchange rates alone the pricing can vary: http://www.eveonline.com/faq/paying-for-eve

However we do work closely with all 4 SONY regions in order to try prevent price increases where possible, and ultimately SONY determine the prices for their stores.

This is either complete ignorance or a blatant misrepresentation and spin.

Australia for the last few years has enjoyed above parity or record favorable exchange rates with most currencies.

Australia has a uniform 10% GST but that is irrelevant here as there is no tax for online purchases under AU$1,000.

CCP you are ripping off Australian customers, you are lying that your hands are completely tied and you will never see a cent from me.

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who think in false dichotomies, and penguins.

It has been explained in the thread why CCP is not to blame. Yet there are still players who would prefer to ignore rational discourse and just adopt the native "I'm going to be mad and rage at everyone, even if it's not their fault" attitude of the regular dime-a-dozen COD kiddie.

You're assuming that CCP had no input into pricing plans for their product globally, which is of course absurd. Noone put a gun to CCP's head when it came time to agreeing pricing for Dust514 related products and services.

This is rational discourse.

While regional prices may vary, in many cases regional sales taxes and legal requirements are reflected in the user price.

For example if you compare the pricing for EVE you will see that based on exchange rates alone the pricing can vary: http://www.eveonline.com/faq/paying-for-eve

However we do work closely with all 4 SONY regions in order to try prevent price increases where possible, and ultimately SONY determine the prices for their stores.

Are you for reall or are you trolling?

I have been playing EVE since 2003 and yes we do get prices based on US dollars but the freaking exchange rate do not increase the price by 50% there !!! Do you have "special" exchange rate for DUST?!

Man,increase from $100 to $149 and you blame the exchange rate... Pull yourself together Mr GM.

Good. Then where's the part where you recognise the fact that CCP give Sony the same price for everything, and Sony ups it for their take, as a middle-man, depending on the region? Let me put it this way. CCP do set all their prices the same, and you'd know this if you play EVE, because everyone around the world pays the same price, based only on their currency exchange rate. This is like buying wholesale, straight from the manufacturer, because EVE is both developed and published entirely by CCP. DUST, however, while developed by CCP, is on Sony proprietary hardware, and is published by Sony, and distributed by Sony. That then is like buying retail, where you go to the store (Sony) to purchase the goods produced by the manufacturer (CCP). I'm assuming nothing. I know CCP have a price to set for stuff you choose to (but don't have to) buy, but it's standardised based on what the item is worth in-game in general isk/plex/aurum conversion rates, which is how they maintain consistency on the EVE/DUST economies, so that they only have one major input to consider instead of hundreds of different ones because they charge different regions different prices.

The problem is with Sony. In fact, it's with the entire IT industry as a whole when buying hardware or software in Australia at all. That's why there's a parliamentary inquest into it involving Microsoft, Apple, Sony, IBM, and others, who have been called to answer as to why they charge more in Australia. This is not an unknown problem, and not something exclusive to DUST. But it exists in DUST because of Sony, not CCP.

No. Once again you're jumping to illogical conclusions. Given that PSN is the sole distribution platform, and that Dust514 represents a significant financial and brand investment on the part of CCP you are assuming that their channel-partner agreement with SOE is as follows:

"We CCP, recommend you the publisher (SOE) retail our product at a certain price, but you can really sell if for whatever price you feel like".

Does that really sound like a realistic scenario? CCP putting the survival of Dust514 at the hands of SOE arbitrary pricing? It takes two to tango, whatever price SOE is selling for is at the permission of CCP. It may very well be too late for CCP to affect this issue given that agreements have already been made, but that doesn't let them off the hook or remove their responsibility to their fans in ALL regions.

You're assuming that CCP had no input into pricing plans for their product globally, which is of course absurd. Noone put a gun to CCP's head when it came time to agreeing pricing for Dust514 related products and services.

This is rational discourse.