Last month we reported that Australian users were being charged more for DC Universe subscriptions, despite advertising on the website stating otherwise. The website and other information has been changed accordingly, but Aussies are still being asked to pay more for the same service with no real explanation why.
Furthermore, it appears that threads complaining about issues of price are being locked – often for seemingly legitimate reasons – but it leaves Australian users with nowhere to voice their complaints about pricing. And many are starting to feel like their concerns are being ignored.
Most MMOs will charge a flat US dollar rate for monthly subscriptions, and leave current exchange rates to decide the Australian price, but with DC Universe Online users are being asked to pay in Australian dollars – $19.95 per month, five dollars more than the US. Considering both currencies are almost at parity and have been for some time, it seems a little overpriced.
When you consider that players in New Zealand can now pay for PC subscriptions in US dollars, you can see why some Australians are up in arms about pricing. Especially when they have no local servers to play on. Australians are essentially paying more for the same product – a product which may not perform as well considering latency and lag issues.
In fact, Australians are paying more than users in every other region – with the exception of Switzerland – as a quick comparison based on this table shows. According to today’s exchange rate, Brazilians are paying the equivalent of $85 for a six month subscription on the PS3, whereas Australians are paying $99.95. The Swedish are paying the equivalent of $91, the Danish are paying $91, South Africans are paying $85, and so on and so forth. The pricing for all other regions appears to be relatively consistent – accounting for the ups and downs of currency exchange – but Australians are playing a markedly higher price.
It’s difficult to understand why – especially considering the fact that DC Universe’s Community Manager Tony Jones has already confirmed that there will be no local Australian servers for the game. We understand that local pricing will often adjust for the cost of living in some cases – Australians pay more on LIVE Arcade and the PSN store, for example – but we’re paying substantially more that every other region, including countries that traditionally have a higher cost of living.
Tony Jones has claimed that the issue is “not being ignored”, so hopefully we’ll have some kind of resolution sooner rather than later. We’ve also gotten in contact with Sony Australia with regards to the issue, and hopefully we’ll have a response overnight with some sort of explanation as to why Australian consumers are paying more for this service.
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