New Donut Costs - The purest usury!

[JollaTester]

EA changed the costs for Donuts in its store dramatically!

12 Donuts changed from 1,99 to 2,29 €

60 Donuts changed from  4,99 to 5,49 €

132 Donuts changed from 9,99 to 10,99 €

300 Donuts changed from 19,99 to 21,99 €

900 Donuts changed from 49,99 to 54,99 €

2400 Donuts changed from  99,99 to 109,99 €

I also heard that they raised the costs in the UK, too.

What is this greed for?

[minicha-em]

EA did not raise the prices.

EA has not raised prices in years.

Google/Apple/Amazon raised the prices. They do that frequently to adjust for new taxes and exchange rates.

The USD is strong now.

Also this might be an adjustment to the new trade deals that will effect the UK when it is no longer part of EU.

EA did not raise the prices.

Take it up with Google/Apple/Amazon or your government.

[JollaTester]

@minicha-em Sorry, but the Euro is stronger than the US$ and the UK will still be part of the EU at least march 29th 2019.

Please take a look on the latest exchange rates. The following are given by example:

1 € = 1,097695 US$

1 EUR = 0.848140 GBP

1 EUR = 1.48382 AUD

1 EUR = 1.50587 CAD

1 EUR = 70.6600 INR

1 EUR = 1.54302 SGD

1 EUR = 8.55190 HKD

1 EUR = 63.9789 RUB

1 EUR = 123.759 JPY

1 EUR = 7.42743 HRK

1 EUR = 9.65657 SEK

1 EUR = 1.08573 CHF

1 EUR = 7.58234 CNY

1 EUR = 7.43729 DKK

1 EUR = 4.76468 MYR

1 EUR = 742.886 CLP

1 EUR = 3.89863 TRY

1 EUR = 1.84355 AZN

1 EUR = 7.59528 BOB

1 EUR = 3.48876 BRL

1 EUR = 532.489 AMD

1 EUR = 134.976 ALL

1 EUR = 89.6511 BDT

1 EUR = 1.95882 BGN

1 EUR = 3,258.94 COP

1 EUR = 619.907 CRC

1 EUR = 20.9009 MXN

So, as you can see, the exchange rates cannot be the reason for that greed. Especially on that fact, that the costs in the US haven't changed until now.

And yes, EA changed. The In-App-Prices are made by the programmers of an App, not by the App-Store you downloaded the App from. None App-Store has a direct access to the source code of an App. Only the developers and programmers can change the program code and so EA itself is responsible for that change.

And please don't forget, that EA is the worlds largest publisher of games. The company is not gnawing at hunger.

Even if an App-Store increases its fees, does that not justify the rip-off of users by EA.

[minicha-em]

If you want to believe that, I can probably not change your mind - even if I quote sources.

VAT increases is not made by EA. My example is Google but it applies to Apple/Amazon too.

Apple explained this in-app price increase, and it is NOT EAs doing.

Quote, article from April 27 2017

Apple today sent out an email to developers announcing App Store pricing increases in Denmark, Mexico, and all territories that use the Euro currency. The new pricing changes will go into effect before the end of next week, with Apple citing changes in foreign exchange rates as the reason behind the price hike.

Contact EA support http://help.ea.com/en/contact-us/new/ and ask for a gameadvisor. Same login as the game.

[JollaTester]

@minicha-em First, the VAT doesn't have changed in the EU and not in Germany, too in the last days or months.

Second, I don't use Apple Products, but as your link shows, Apple itself is not programming any fixed prices in any Apps. It's still a decision of the developers and programmers, what kind of prices they are using in their Apps.

And your link doesn't explain the increase from 15% for the smallest, and 10% for the other packs, too.

[gaitergrad25]

Let's not be over dramatic here, its 10-15%, things all across the world increase, it's inflation, it's the cost of living in the world. As minimum wages increase, so does the cost of literally everything. Donuts are not a necessary item in life, if you don't like the cost, don't buy the donuts... The increase in the price is not that big of deal. 

[minicha-em]

Not that you'll believe this but:

When you visit the Donut store, you actually go to a section of the Google/Apple/Amazon store.

EA have chosen a price tier for each of the purchases. That is the only programming done by EA.

This is Apple but Google/Amazon works in the same way.

Changes to the cost of the tiers for consumers are done by Google/Apple/Amazon - NOT EA.

The cost for donuts have not increased in the US, that is how we know if EA changed the price tiers for purchases.

How do we know that?

US prices quoted in the store does not include taxes, It is weird for Europeans but that is the most common pricing practice in the US.

Changes to taxes will not be reflected in the US pricing. Taxes are added to their purchase by Google/Apple/Amazon when payments are made.

EAs profit per purchase is the same as it always have been. It has not increased or decreased, despite the increased cost for the consumer outside the US.

Having the same profit margin for years is not greedy.

But you'll believe in what you want.

[thedribz]

We had this issue in Australia a while back.

Apple were not charging GST (tax) on all purchases, but then had to because the Government changed the laws requiring GST to be paid on digital content.  Apple raised costs to cover the GST on items that were not already taxed.  It didn't just happen with TSTO but everything on the platform.

On android this price hike did not happen at the same time.  As I no longer use android I cannot comment on if the prices have changed since.

If you are having pricing issues in the EU or UK, check to see if it is app specific or platform wide.  If there are price changes in other apps or for other services, the issue is platform based, not app based and you need to refer to the company responsible for the platform (Apple, Google or Amazon).