Concerns Regarding Omega Subscription Pricing for South African Players

Dear CCP/CSM,

I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my growing concern regarding the Omega subscription prices offered to South African players. The current pricing structure of $19.99 per month has led to an exorbitant cost in our local currency, equivalent to approximately half a grand. I believe it’s crucial to address this issue to ensure a more equitable and inclusive experience for players in our region.

Within my immediate circle of friends, there are five individuals who share a deep interest in playing Eve Online. However, the existing Omega pricing has presented a significant financial barrier for all of us. While we are eager to engage with the game as Omega Clones, the current cost forces us to remain as Alpha Clones, which hampers our ability to fully enjoy and contribute to the game.

I strongly believe that there is a missed opportunity here for both the player community and CCP. By adopting a more considerate pricing approach, CCP could not only encourage more South African players to upgrade to Omega status but also foster a healthier and more vibrant in-game economy, benefiting all players in the long run.

It’s important to recognize that the current pricing structure seems counterproductive, as it dissuades dedicated players like us from investing in Omega subscriptions, Plex, and in-game store purchases. While I understand the need for revenue generation, I want to emphasize that the current approach may not yield the desired results for CCP in terms of financial growth.

I kindly urge CCP to reevaluate the pricing of Omega subscriptions, Plex, and other in-game purchases for South African players. By considering the economic realities of our region and the purchasing power of the Rand (ZAR), CCP can demonstrate its commitment to fostering a positive and inclusive player experience.

Additionally, I want to highlight the challenges we face in acquiring in-game currency (ISK) to purchase Plex through gameplay. Factors like loadshedding and work schedules make it difficult for South African players to dedicate the time needed to amass the required ISK. A more accessible pricing strategy for in-game purchases would significantly alleviate this issue and encourage greater engagement from our community.

In closing, I appreciate your attention to these concerns and hope that CCP will take the necessary steps to address this matter. By doing so, you would not only secure a more dedicated player base but also create a more favorable environment for both players and CCP to thrive.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best regards,

Brazil has a similar problem, and the reasoning that keeps getting touted why local currency pricing does not happen is because the Eve Online playerbase are the kind of people who would mark all their accounts as being Brazilian or South African if it meant they got to sub for 50 Rand per month ($2.69 plus foreign exchange fees, which many US credit cards waive) and play the game at 1/10th the cost.

This would drop subscription revenues by 90% for CCP games.

Alternatively, people could then sub an additional 10 Omega accounts for the same price, an outcome generally not viewed positively in the community.

The situation sucks for Brazilians and South Africans for sure.

I wonder if ccp will be forced by a general worldwide economic downturn to choose between making EvE non-subscription completely or losing lots of revenue as more EvE players decide they like the game but are unwilling to pay another subscription.
Some say the era of subsciption gaming is past, some say without a subscription wall at all the game would be swamped.

Maybe CCP will actually respond abit to this.

I appreciate the members thats replying but this is an ongoing issue for not just South Africa.

There were games that had a lower price by country, and they wanted a country phone number to verify the user to the country. I don’t know exactly how that worked, but it helped to keep away the VPN problem on pricing.

Maybe someone has more insight on it to explain it properly.

We have the same problem for Turkey too. I was playing on steam(was because, i quit after new prices) 4 days ago prices are doubled on steam. Its 532 turkish lira now. I can buy a new game every month with that money. These prices can not affordable for us anymore. Would be nice to see some local pricing policies…

I registered on the forum just to talk about this. I’m Brazilian and we have the same problem.

1 Dollar costs 5 Reais. The monthly fee is currently R$107.95 and our minimum monthly salary is R$1320.00.

I sent an email to customer support and GM StrandedFlame asked me to take the issue to this CSM session of the forum.

CCP needs to review a way to offer a localized pricing policy across the world.

I believe we need to make numbers for the issue to be relevant. It would be really important if you could ask your friends to come to the forum and post about this.

@Mike_Azariah

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