EU Billing Costs

[Cjeheth]

Wow, talk about shooting us in the back.

US Billing Options:
30 Days (Recurring): $9.99 / £5.17 (Bonus 15 days)
180 Days (One off): $49.99 / £25.89 (Bonus 30 days)

EU Billing Options:
30 Days (One off): £7.49 / $14.47 (Bonus 15 days)
30 Days (Recurring): £6.99 / $13.50 (Bonus 15 days, credit card online, apparently).
60 Days (One off): £13.99 / $27.02 (after doing one of the previous options).


So, yeh. We're kinda shafted on this one. You kinda expect to pay a little extra (happens in all mmo's), but the payment options we get seem a joke. If you don't use a credit card, you pay more. And that 60 days thing (might also require credit card, might not) works out (ok, only...) 1p more expensive than going monthly.

Looks like those who managed to sneak in on the US billing should stick with it.

[Chisa]

Personally I think they should just combine the US/EU ps2/pc servers anyways, they did it for xbox360 , might as well do it for us too, and then just make the prices the same. ;3 more players for us to play with, all the better :3

[Cjeheth]

The servers are combined aren't they? (EU + US anyways).

I'd rather play on the US servers myself, more players. I don't see PSU doing too well in the UK, rather small fanbase (PSO players for the DC got it for free, so paying monthly puts some oldbies off, at least the ones I know).

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cjeheth on 2006-11-24 08:29 ]</font>

[-Yue-]

i think that in Sega EU they don't know hotw to use a calculator....
..a case of "return illiteracy"?!

[Diablohead]

Its slightly more due to tax, plus im sure theres something else that stacks on top to add a few pence.

Still I prefer to pay £7.49 then £11+ or whatever some other games charge. This is Phantasy Star!

[-Yue-]

TAX? the US gamer mayb don't pay the tax?
Only the EU?

[Cjeheth]

Even with Tax at 17.5% (VAT), it should be $11.74 a month, not $13.50 (for our cheapest option).

I mean the real kick in the teeth is these extra options we have. If you're not using credit card the price gets cranked up more, and we don't have access to the 180 day thing (with bonus 30 days for first timers). £30.43 (US Price with VAT added) for the first 7 months is a lot more reasonable than £41.94 for 6 and a half.

As for other MMOs, most are priced at $14.99 / £8.99, or around those marks, but come with discounts when going for 3-month, 6-month or annual blocks, but they also often come with a month free when you purchase the game.

Now, I find the US price fair, going for those initial 7 months and then splitting it down to monthly costs, I'm more than willing to fork out that money for monthly updates if they're of decent scale (such as the recent mootaab update adding a fair few more missions). But I at the price hike we've had for the EU I don't think I'll be so casual with the spending. I've plenty of other MMO's lying around, and whilest I'm fond of PSO, the content available just isn't on the scale of other games. I'll still play, sure, but probably like every other month. I guess I'm just upset over the extra we have to pay, as I'd planned on spending £50 on the game, now its shot up to £65.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cjeheth on 2006-11-24 09:10 ]</font>

[Neith]

Bloody ludicrous.

Considering tax and any other excess payments, we're still paying around £2-£2.50 more a month?

All this'll do is make more EU players falsify their PlaySega details. I knew we'd get shafted, but damn, that's insane.

[Cjeheth]

Further Details for people:

Standard 1 Month Recurring:
US: $9.99 | £5.18 | €7.63
UK: $13.51 | £6.99 | €10.32
EU: $13.08 | £6.78 | €9.99

Currency conversion from XE.com, rounding up any currency (so for instance, the EU price for 1 month recurring is £6.77083 in pounds, but rounded up to £6.78).

Anyways, only did it from the Recurring option, but as you can see, UK and EU get shafted on the matter. By using the import trick for playsega people can save a lot of money, especially if going for that 6 month option. The question is ofcourse, is what risk do people have at getting the account banned. Importers have already taken the risk, but people doing this now when the European payment options are available....

Has anyone got a link to the game's TOS that might cover this payment issue? Assuming you use the payment option before a TOS change is made (assuming its not already forbidden in it)... that 6 month (with 1 free) is looking a really good deal, especially if it dodges VAT (which from my original City of Hero days, it should).

Ah well, just gotta wait for my copy to arrive now, should get it Monday morning, but I'm willing to delay going online (till I finish story mode at least).

[edit] (And argh, every post so far I've had to edit straight after due to minor mistakes! Grrr, stupid flu).

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cjeheth on 2006-11-24 10:52 ]</font>

[Logicdustbin]

ya, I knew we (Canada) were getting screwed as well...

we pay $14.99/month CND, which works out to $13.21/month US

plus I'm sure we are taxed for this, in my Province its 14% http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[AkiraXxx]

Thats pretty lame. Sega doesnt know how to count. We should give them a link to the google curreny translator.

Does anyone know if the servers are located in the USA? I tried to send a packet to see where the servers are but I get blocked by gamegaurd.

If the servers are in the USA that might explain why they are charging yall a little more.

[Cjeheth]

Well all I know is that the EU players share the same servers with the US ones. As US was established first, I assume all the servers are set up stateside (which'll mean we get extra lag! Yay!).

So, errr, we pay extra for using the US servers (we don't get our own), and because they're in the US we get extra lag due to it.

Gotta love the way things work.

[SpishackCola]

This happens every time. I'm sure there's more to the equation than just VAT. I wouldn't be surprised if tariffs or taxes incurred by a foreign company (Sega) through each country's government is also factored in.

[Antipika]

On 2006-11-24 10:50, Cjeheth wrote:

Has anyone got a link to the game's TOS that might cover this payment issue? Assuming you use the payment option before a TOS change is made (assuming its not already forbidden in it)... that 6 month (with 1 free) is looking a really good deal, especially if it dodges VAT (which from my original City of Hero days, it should).

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Cjeheth on 2006-11-24 10:52 ]</font>


It's not about ToS but about your country and European laws.

Dodging VAT isn't allowed. And well money that government gather with VAT is re-used for your country and others E.U. country.

You'r not wasting money when you pay VAT, just think about help you get from your government.

Personally I'm receiving more than I'm giving. And it's almost like that for everyone (except very very rich people).


i think that in Sega EU they don't know hotw to use a calculator....

Maybe EUR value will go down and USD will go up... EUR<>USD ratio will not stay at 1.30:1 for ever.

2 Year : average is like 1.25:1 which is near VAT value (of ~20%)

http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/2y?eurusd=x

5 Years : average is more like 1.1:1

http://ichart.finance.yahoo.com/5y?eurusd=x

First of all VAT is 20%+ on some country, it depend where you live, (it's 19.6% for example here).

Maybe E.U. version require more work, cause SEGA have to localize at least game manuals in several languages, meaning several printing are required.

Shipping of games might cost more money too (I dunno where are they manufactured).

Distribution can cause more issues, it's harder to sell a game in UK, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, ... than in one single country : USA.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Antipika on 2006-11-24 17:58 ]</font>

[Mikaga]

You can't really assign localization and shipping costs onto a monthly fee. Paying $42 extra a year (~$162 instead of the ~$120 US players pay) simply isn't justifiable on localization/distribution costs.

Besides, you need to do that for all U.S. games/products brought to Europe anyway. In the case of games, the extortionate retail price gets the localization excuse. Adding it to the monthly fee just isn't excusable.

I don't know about the tax/customs argument either. There have definitely been MMOs that in Europe charge in dollars every billing and due to changing conversions this affects the monthly payment. One example of this would be Final Fantasy XI. And if even one MMO has done this in the past, it's a strong indicator that there's no such issue as tax.

I don't see how people are bothering trying to rationalize this whole thing. It's a very simple explanation and one that you all should have worked out years ago:

Europe is the gaming world's whipping boy. EVERYTHING screws them over, just because they can. Extortionate monthly fees just for the sake of making extra money are no exception.

[Uncle_Pobatti]

Has anyone got a link to the game's TOS that might cover this payment issue? Assuming you use the payment option before a TOS change is made (assuming its not already forbidden in it)...

Gonna have a look to see if anything's changed, but I remember the stress I went through when I signed up with PlaySega the first time for PSOBB.

There was a term/condition to the affect of "it is the responsibility of the account holder to update the account details should they become outdated or incorrect. SEGA reserves the right to terminate the agreement if SEGA believes personal details are not correct or up to date" (not a quote)

I'd only recently moved in with my girlfriend at the time, and my bank still had my parents address on file. When I signed up with PlaySega, everything went OK until I got to the part where I had to register my card, and it wouldn't allow me to put my current address (I had to put my parents address) even though I didn't live there anymore!

I was panicking for days over whether SEGA would cancel my account/ban me for false details until I finally got my bank account transferred to my current address so I could update my account.

Maybe what happened wasn't the sort of false account information liable to cause problems, but I was very worried since I read the T&C so I can state with reasonable certainty that if you're creating accounts pretending to live abroad, sooner or later SEGA could find out, and I'm pretty sure that fraud is a pretty serious crime.

[Antipika]

here have definitely been MMOs that in Europe charge in dollars every billing and due to changing conversions this affects the monthly payment. One example of this would be Final Fantasy XI.

Since May 06, FF XI monthly fees for EUropean players are billed in euros or GBP...

I started playing just before so I'll be billed in USD for ever, but no new EU players can be billed in USD anymore.
And it's almost like that for every internet payment now, I had to pay VAT when ordering a CD-key for a game on Steam (Half-Life² and stuff). I also had to pay VAT when I subscribed to IGN.com.
I still don't pay any VAT when I order stuff online, but sometime I got to pay customs fees + VAT... (like when I ordered PSU)

Also please note that A LOT of banks make you pay HUGE FEES when you pay something in any others currency than euro. (average here is 2.90% fees + 0.80€ (1.05$)) per transaction.

A month will cost you 11.33$ (8.40€) then. Yeah still cheaper than 9.99€, but you still cheat on VAT by doing this.


Europe is the gaming world's whipping boy. EVERYTHING screws them over, just because they can. Extortionate monthly fees just for the sake of making extra money are no exception.

200% wrong...

It's all about taxes, currency conversion, and E.U. laws, nothing else. Stop thinking that everyone want to screw you.
If SEGA could make the monthly fees cheaper for E.U. they sure will do it. Cheaper monthly fee = more players.

I personally started to play PSO:BB cause monthly fee was 9.99$, which is DAMN CHEAP for a MMO. Everything over here is AT LEAST 12€ per month (15.71$), and require to buy a game that cost 60€ (78.6$) at it's release + to pay for expension pack after :s

[Neoswayne]

I don'r see why they just can't let you play for free I mean You have to pay for Internet services and Xbox live if you have a xbox

[Xbob]

Which tax is it, exactly? Sales tax, if it is that, is 8.25% here in California, U.S.A... 17.10%? That's a bit high...

[skidpro]

360 billing is £6.99 a month no free month nothing free online play at all

[Ruby-chan]

I'm pretty sure at this point sega is only planning on people to pay for one month to gain their revenue, hence the high costs all around and the lack of free trials. (Can't have them play that free month and then quit before they pay, can we?)

[Para]

Curious but EU players must use credit card to pay too right?