CIV6 false advertisement by Fireaxis?

[AnonymousSpeed]

Heheh, all you people fretting over your deluxe edition issues, and I'm sitting here all smug with my collector's edition and coin collection.

(Being real though that kinda sucks if the deluxe edition ended up costing you more than the game and DLCs separately, I'm sorry about that. It would be nice if there was something done to rectify that but I don't know how likely that is.)

 

[Morningcalm]

I feel like I need to clarify this because nothing you guys are saying is true or what I said in the videos at all.

1. I never said that the price of the Digital Deluxe edition in Malaysia was more expensive than buying the DLC à la carte.

In your "Persia DLC in Civ 6 - But WTF for Digital Deluxe Owners?" video, starting at the 3:45 mark, you say "From the looks of things, it would have been cheaper to buy the individual DLC as opposed to buying the Digital Deluxe version". This while the video showed the Steam prices for Civ VI DLC in Malaysia.

In the "Macedon DLC in Civ 6 - Spring Update & STILL WTF for Digital Deluxe!" video, starting at the 3:15 mark, you said you previously (in the Persia video) raised the issue of whether the Digital Deluxe Edition was saving money "compared to buying the DLC a la carte".

So I'm confused. While you didn't directly say Malaysia's Digital Deluxe Edition was more expensive than the base game + DLC a la carte (since to conclude that would require having the prices at the time, which you didn't), and you did later indicate that you *do* save money in Malaysia with the Digital Deluxe Edition, your concerns in the Persia and Macedon video were clear--the Digital Deluxe Edition was more expensive than buying the base game and DLC a la carte.

 

[SomeGuyHere]

Ah, I did start a thread about this, now merged, because I didn't see this one. I apologise about that.

Yes, I am very angry about this. Maybe we should consider a petition to push for an extra DLC or something? To be honest I was disappointed in what we got anyway (just more Civs really) but that pricing has really made me angry. Maybe enough to not buy any more DLC.

 

[shaglio]

Maybe they should send out rebate checks to those who purchased the DE in the countries affected, to bring the cost down under the a la carte pricing.

 

[KayAU]

If I were in Brazil, I would probably write and complain directly to 2K/Firaxis. False advertising is not okay, and they should be held accountable.

Since I am in Norway, however, I will just take this as a lesson learned. I did get a small discount (in part helped by the inflated price), but I am a bit disappointed, and I do care that the Brazilians got ripped off. 2K/Firaxis can make this right if they want to. If they don't, they will have lost my trust and support.

I generally never preorder or buy "season pass"-like deals. I made an exception for Civilization, but that turned out to be a mistake.

 

[GamerZakh]

In your "Persia DLC in Civ 6 - But WTF for Digital Deluxe Owners?" video, starting at the 3:45 mark, you say "From the looks of things, it would have been cheaper to buy the individual DLC as opposed to buying the Digital Deluxe version". This while the video showed the Steam prices for Civ VI DLC in Malaysia.

In the "Macedon DLC in Civ 6 - Spring Update & STILL WTF for Digital Deluxe!" video, starting at the 3:15 mark, you said you previously (in the Persia video) raised the issue of whether the Digital Deluxe Edition was saving money "compared to buying the DLC a la carte".

So I'm confused. While you didn't directly say Malaysia's Digital Deluxe Edition was more expensive than the base game + DLC a la carte (since to conclude that would require having the prices at the time, which you didn't), and you did later indicate that you *do* save money in Malaysia with the Digital Deluxe Edition, your concerns in the Persia and Macedon video were clear--the Digital Deluxe Edition was more expensive than buying the base game and DLC a la carte.

Yes that is correct, because my concern at the time was that if prices made sense, the Malaysian Deluxe edition would be more expensive compared to a la carte. The first 3 DLC are priced at 12, and the latest DLC was to have 2 civs and 1 scenario, not even worth double at 24 since the previous 2 DLC were 1 civ and 1 scenario each, but I expected at most it would cost 24. If the newest DLC was priced fairly at less than 24, buying the Deluxe edition would not be saving money and it would be false advertising, thus my other concern of artificially inflating the price to just not break any laws.

Also, as an important note, when they announced Persia there was no indication that Macedon was a thing. The blog post on the Civ website specifically says 'Persia, which was announced yesterday' in the post about what's in the latest DLC. So the Persia video was made with the information available.

In the end, the price for the new DLC is 35, which doesn't make any sense as it's triple the price of the other DLC when in other countries it doubles. So my secondary concern came true in Malaysia, whereas my primary concern happened in Brazil.

 

[Morningcalm]

Yes that is correct, because my concern at the time was that if prices made sense, the Malaysian Deluxe edition would be more expensive compared to a la carte. The first 3 DLC are priced at 12, and the latest DLC was to have 2 civs and 1 scenario, not even worth double at 24 since the previous 2 DLC were 1 civ and 1 scenario each, but I expected at most it would cost 24. If the newest DLC was priced fairly at less than 24, buying the Deluxe edition would not be saving money and it would be false advertising, thus my other concern of artificially inflating the price to just not break any laws.

Also, as an important note, when they announced Persia there was no indication that Macedon was a thing. The blog post on the Civ website specifically says 'Persia, which was announced yesterday' in the post about what's in the latest DLC. So the Persia video was made with the information available.

In the end, the price for the new DLC is 35, which doesn't make any sense as it's triple the price of the other DLC when in other countries it doubles. So my secondary concern came true in Malaysia, whereas my primary concern happened in Brazil.

I understand. Thanks for specifying.

Yeah, I agree that the price gouging is now readily apparent, and quite a problem, even if the Deluxe Edition did save money in some countries (though not in Brazil). Whether it will ultimately change anything in 2K's situation remains to be seen.

 

[DWilson]

Also, as an important note, when they announced Persia there was no indication that Macedon was a thing. The blog post on the Civ website specifically says 'Persia, which was announced yesterday' in the post about what's in the latest DLC. So the Persia video was made with the information available.

Just to be clear, we knew that Persia would not be alone, but combined with a second civ, as they had announced the fourth DLC would include two civs just prior to the release of Australia, during the live stream.

 

[CPWimmer]

Also, as an important note, when they announced Persia there was no indication that Macedon was a thing. The blog post on the Civ website specifically says 'Persia, which was announced yesterday' in the post about what's in the latest DLC. So the Persia video was made with the information available.

Not to be piling on - but if you had joined us earlier and followed our DLC4 anticipation thread - you could see that both Persia & Macedon were identified much earlier then they were announced. And specifically once Persia was announced (almost) all of us knew Macedon was a lock as the 2nd Civ.

I agree that artificially inflating the price in Malaysia to triple what the prices of the other DLC was a bad move. And I can see no other reason then they must have miss-priced the DDE to begin with, and this was a slimy way to "make up for it". The roughly doubling of the price, like was done here in the US and many other markets, made sense to me. To me new Civs were are what I valued the most so double the price for double the Civs works out.

PS @GamerZakh I really enjoyed your preview videos leading up to the Civ 6 launch last year. Thanks for those.

 

[DWilson]

It seems 2K (the one who sets prices, and thus is at fault -rather than Firaxis) has now acknowledged and is looking into the issue.

Spoiler :

I think it stems from charging the Deluxe Edition at the same converted price of about $20, but neither the base game nor the DLC at same converted prices (lower prices by about a third IIRC). If the Deluxe has cost a third less, the issue wouldn't have existed (beyond expectably low savings, and manipulated-to-correct prices in some other countries).

 

[GamerZakh]

Just to be clear, we knew that Persia would not be alone, but combined with a second civ, as they had announced the fourth DLC would include two civs just prior to the release of Australia, during the live stream.

Not to be piling on - but if you had joined us earlier and followed our DLC4 anticipation thread - you could see that both Persia & Macedon were identified much earlier then they were announced. And specifically once Persia was announced (almost) all of us knew Macedon was a lock as the 2nd Civ.

I agree that artificially inflating the price in Malaysia to triple what the prices of the other DLC was a bad move. And I can see no other reason then they must have miss-priced the DDE to begin with, and this was a slimy way to "make up for it". The roughly doubling of the price, like was done here in the US and many other markets, made sense to me. To me new Civs were are what I valued the most so double the price for double the Civs works out.

PS @GamerZakh I really enjoyed your preview videos leading up to the Civ 6 launch last year. Thanks for those.

I've actually been reading this forum for a while haha (EDIT: Turns out I never actually made an account under another name but I have been reading for a while. I really thought I had signed up but I must have misrememebered), so I did see that discussion but I didn't want to jump too many guns. The live stream however I missed, so I didn't catch that news. People did inform me about the live stream pretty quick in the comments of the video, hence the pinned comment.

 

[DWilson]

@GamerZakh now reporting that Steam will correct this issue, and has adjusted the price of the DDE. However, the correction will only happen by user request in the form of refund into steam wallet funds.

 

[GamerZakh]

Yeah, Steam Brazil fixed it after someone reported the issue. It was reported to 2K as well but they ignored it and blamed Steam for 'promotional prices' and seemed to not realise the issue was with the base price. It's unclear who made the mistake in the first place but neither Steam nor 2K were paying attention. Either way, the price of the DDE in Brazil has been dropped by about 20 however customers who bought the DDE at the wrong price have not been informed by Steam that there was a mistake. Only those who have directly complained to Steam are being refunded as far as I've heard.