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Trion Worlds has decided to charge players more to play upcoming MMO ArcheAge than it does for existing title Rift.
That’s despite pledging that the two would be priced the same, Videogamer reports.
A previous Trion video had indicated that the game would mirror Rift’s pricing structure at 8.99 per month, 23.97 per three months and 41.94 per six months. Instead it will cost 10.99 per month, 27.99 for three months and 47.99 per half year.
Furthermore, the games are priced the same in the US.
ArcheAge is free to play, but paying for ‘Patreon’ status comes with an assortment of benefits.
There’s a lively thread on Trion’s forums, while Trion CEO Scott Hartsman tweeted: "I can’t imagine that 8.99 would ever have been correct. It’s impossible due to VAT."
He later added: Currencies are the devil. The world needs just one of them.”
Which as you can imagine has gone down like a lead balloon as rival title such as World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls Online and of course Trion’s own Rift all cost 8.99 per month.
@Lunatitch I can't imagine that 8.99 would ever have been correct – It's impossible due to VAT.
— Scott Hartsman (@hartsman) September 19, 2014
UPDATE: Trion has issued the following statement entitled ‘GBP and EUR Patron Pricing Adjustment – Erring on the Side of the Customer’ telling fans that it will honour the prices previously stated. Here it is in full:
"Some of you have rightly pointed out that in a livestream leading up to ArcheAge’s launch, we mentioned that the Patron prices in GBP would match the same as our pricing for Rift patron, and that this wasn’t the case by the time the game shipped.
This weekend we promised to look into what happened there and get back to you. I’m happy to say that we spotted where the miscommunication was, which will help us do better in future assurances.
In the meanwhile, we’d like to put our money where our mouth is. We’re making a price adjustment that brings reality in line with our previous assurance.
Here’s the original versus new pricing and the Credit grant you can expect if you are on one of these plans for having purchased before this price adjustment.
GBP pricing:
One Month Patron: Was 10.99, now 8.99. Purchasers will receive a one-time grant of 450 Credits.
Three Month Patron: Was 27.99, now 23.97. Purchasers will receive a one-time grant of 910 Credits.
Six Month Patron: Was 47.99, now 41.94. Purchasers will receive a one-time grant of 1375 Credits.
EUR pricing:
One Month Patron: Was €14.99, now €12.99. Purchasers will receive a one-time grant of 450 Credits.
Three Month Patron: Was €35.99, now €35.97.
Six Month Patron: Was €59.99, now €59.94.
For those of you on automatically renewing plans, you will cycle to the new, lower price when your existing cycle ends.
We definitely do apologize for the misunderstanding on our side that led to justifiable confusion out in the world. Thanks very much for catching this!"
