US Price Increase Incoming

Community General Discussion
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Slowly but surely Blizzard has been upping the fee for World of Warcraft for every region, EU, RU, Oceanic, SE Asia, and as of today, Canada.

I suspect for 2021 we may see the same for the US or the NA region as a whole, and now with them having already upped the price for all other regions and now Canada, they may use this to try to soften the blow or as justification that a sub fee increase for the US is required after 16+ years of no increase, to compensate for inflation and to equal things out with other regions…

What do you think?

-Edit-

P.S. for those who think they raised the price in other countries due to exchange rate changes/inflation… Canada saw a price increase and over the past 16 years since WoW’s release, the exchange rate between 1 Canadian Dollar and 1 US Dollar has not changed.

For example:
Today 1 CAD = 0.77 USD,
In Q4 2019 1 CAD = 0.78 USD,
in Q4 2016 1 CAD = 0.79 USD,
and even back during WoW’s release back in Q4 2004 1 CAD = 0.78 USD
(source: xe.com)

So in otherwords, the exchange rate between Canadian Dollars and US Dollars has been roughly the same give or take a couple cents over the years, even the rate of inflation between Canada and the US has been keeping roughly in line with eachother. Regardless of this, Canada saw a price increase for WoW, and this is why I believe the US (or the North American region as a whole) is next.

P.P.S. even in regions where their local currency is valued more than the US Dollar, have also seen an increase, EU is a prime example as historically and even still to this day, both 1 UK Pound and 1 Euro are both worth more than 1 USD (even after Brexit), yet this region still saw a price increase. So using excuses such as exchange rate or to equalize the currencies with the US Dollar is just a lie otherwise the monthly fee would have dropped in price instead for the EU region.

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I really hope not.

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They’d better not.

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No, it won’t increase. Stop freaking out.

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If not sooner. I suspect they’re staggering it.

I personally have no problem paying a few bucks more. Some of my other subscriptions to services (ie Netflix) announced they would be increasing their fee.

I do understand how it has and will upset people though.

I just hope that with an increase in sub fee, we see more “rewards” for it.

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Bobby wants a new yacht.

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I doubt it.

Those price increases have all been related to exchange rates.

If anything, the prevailing trend is away from subscription models like WoW’s. They’d be foolish to mess with it IMHO.

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EU got a sub price increase?

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Stop spreading misinformation. The US sub price is not going up.

They have raised prices in other regions before and it has never affected the US price.

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I think US players might have more than price hikes to worry about in 2021, but maybe you’re right, speaking as a six month locked in sub because of AUD price hikes… I’ll weigh it up in about 4 months when that locked in price is about to expire

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WoW isn’t worth $20 a month to me. I’ll be free of the expense.

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You’re right. Everywhere is going to try to milk out that minimum wage bill.

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Even though I know it is related to exchange rates, it is still hard not to think it will happen. If they think they can do it and people will pay it, they will do it.

I think the real question is: would you pay more for the game as it is right now? For me, probably not.

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Someone doesn’t understand exchange rates or taxes on digital purchases.

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they didn’t increase the sub fee, don’t spread misinformation. They only increased the price for buy specifically 30 days game time and that’s it. You can still pay for 30 days by buying a one month sub at $15 and cancel it before it renews.

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Dream on… because we’ll pay more but the entertainment you get out of it will be status quo.

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Greetings, Blizzard employee on their personal account.

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I will laugh so hard if they try.

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This is exactly my feeling. They are first increasing other regions and countries, then will hit the US last.

TBH, if they do increase the fees, I hope it isn’t just a pointless $1-2 dollar increase but instead a significant $5-10 increase, as I wouldn’t mind paying even $20-25 only if this means they bring back services, such as a real customer service department and use the extra funding to provide more in-game content, bring back tier sets, etc… but if none of that comes back, then it should be only $1-2 at most.