Canadian subscription

Probably going to add 14% to the price. I actually didn’t think that was law yet though.

Actually it isn’t supposed to happen until next July so what the heck this increase is I don’t know.

The new rules applying to supplies of cross-border digital products or services become effective July 1, 2021.

  • GST/HST on digital and other supplies made by non-residents. To level the playing field, the government proposes that foreign-based vendors selling digital products or services to consumers in Canada be required to register for, collect and remit the GST/HST on their taxable sales to Canadian consumers. Other transactions involving non-resident suppliers will also be subject to GST/HST. These changes are effective July 1, 2021.

It is most likely the new VAT law on digital content. Sony also recently published the change to their digital PlayStation content, so it makes sense that it follows suit here.

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Just checked the prices for me (also :canada:) and I’m still showing $18.99 per month (on the month-by-month option).

I’m in Ontario, so it’s possible that other provinces are now charging tax on digital services from other countries. But that would still be a tax, not an increase in the subscription fees.

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Blizzard

As World of Warcraft is played around the world, we regularly conduct reviews of the prices of our games and services in all currencies. From time to time, it’s necessary to make changes to certain pricing based on a variety of factors, including global and regional market conditions. After a careful evaluation, we wanted to provide notice that we’ll soon be adjusting the Canadian dollar (CAD) for World of Warcraft Game Time. Please note that currently, the CAD pricing to purchase WoW subscriptions and WoW Tokens will be unaffected by this price change.

The new CAD pricing for World of Warcraft Game Time, listed below, goes into effect today, December 16. This will affect future purchases, so any Game Time that has already been purchased for an account will not be affected by this.

New Price CAD
180 Days Game Time $115.99
90 Days Game Time $61.49
30 Days Game Time $21.99

To align with the new cost of 30 days of Game Time, when a WoW Token is purchased on the in-game auction house, it will be redeemed for $21.99 CAD of Battle.net Balance.

We know that people have many of options for entertainment, and we never take pricing adjustments such as this lightly. We appreciate that players choose to spend their time with World of Warcraft, and we are committed to ensuring the game continues to provide Canadian players with great entertainment value.

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Mine is still showing 18.99 as well - Manitoba here.

I couldn’t say, Faelystiri. Customer Support doesn’t have any involvement in setting prices, adjusting for exchange rate or application of tax and fees, etc…

All that I believe is currently available would probably be posted here:

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/canadian-dollar-cad-price-change-for-world-of-warcraft-game-time-excludes-subscriptions/780791

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Yep, New CAD prices were announced today.

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/canadian-dollar-cad-price-change-for-world-of-warcraft-game-time-excludes-subscriptions/780791

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I don’t think the price has been updated yet, I believe the announcement is just to inform that it is coming.

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Thanks Darthwraith. I definitely didn’t see that and when I choose the block of game time, those are indeed the prices it shows now.

That’s unfortunate as it doesn’t reflect the actual exchange rate.

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Thats allrite never hurts to post information glad i buy game cards.

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Yeah, no. Kotick isn’t the one that profits on tax, sorry. Your government is.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/economic-update-child-care-netflix-tax-1.5822327

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This isn’t a tax thing though. This is an increase in the actual cost before taxes. Converting $14.99 USD to CDN only brings us to $19.10cdn. But we’re increasing to $21.99 pre-tax.

It’s a very strange change. I’m totally supportive when the dollars don’t add up, but it would only match if Blizz also increased the USD monthly rate to $17.26/month (on a non-sub) instead of leaving it at $14.99.

While it still is a minor change overall (in my opinion), it still one that I can’t really get behind unless the Canadian dollar suddenly takes a hit and stays low. But it’s been pretty consistent for a while now.

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Digital products aren’t treated the same as physical with VAT up there? How intriguing.

Right now, I don’t have to pay any taxes on my digital purchases from Blizz (game time, pets/mounts/etc.), at least not in Ontario. So the cost shown is the cost I pay. But some provinces I believe then pay taxes on top of the purchase price :frowning:

I’m sure it won’t be long before we end up having to pay the taxes on this sort of stuff too, but it is what it is. I might add my voice to the thread in the General forums.

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Right, maybe not from Blizz. But from any enterprise that has a physical location in Canada, if I’m not mistaken? Is their practice of selling digital product not treated the same as physical?

Granted I’m wholly accustomed to not paying the sticker price already, as is US commerce, but. :thinking:

It changes province to province and on how each province defines “products vs. services” It’s definitely confusing and I won’t pretend to totally get it all the time myself! So some “goods and services” get charged a separate tax (if they fall into one of those categories) and some goods are also tax exempt but only up to a certain price too.

Basically, it’s sorta like winning the lottery when you go to the store, buy a few things and see that you were only charge 1cent for taxes when on your other trips it like $13 on a $100 bill.

I try to remind myself that we’re a smaller populated country trying to live with big population spending :slight_smile:

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What I’m now concerned about, what if the $21.99 cost, gets taxed so we have to pay even more to play this game.

I do understand why Blizzard is doing this, assuming us actually paying the subscription, doesn’t get taxed on top of the increase.

But like why now? Not in July when the tax changes actually happen?

From the post in GD it looks like they are phasing the price-change in. This price change only applies to blocks of time ATM and not subscriptions.

The change also applies when converting a game token to Battlenet Balance.

That would be completely out of Blizzard’s control though. They don’t get to dictate what goods or services get taxed here, so if a province or territory implements a tax, that’s on our government.

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It is not a tax thing. Like the U.S., tax is applied at the transaction, not on the price. Second, the change only applies to game time, not subscription. It feels… off putting… that Blizzard seems to be encouraging subscriptions over direct game time purchases. Two prices for the essentially the same service. Buy a sub, let it go through, then cancel to pay for game time now to not pay more.