Just a few days ago Brazilian Simmers have noticed a sudden price change of The Sims 4 Expansion Packs on Origin, changing the prices of Expansion Packs from 130BRL to 160BRL. This change has been made just a few days ago without a warning and plenty of Simmers in Brazil have started protesting this change with the hashtags #FairPriceTheSims and #BrazilCantCheatMotherlode.
SimGuruKate has issued a statement about the price change, saying that EA had to update the price so they could match the globar pricing for the game.
Regarding the recent price increase in Brazil for The Sims 4 Base Game and Packs, our apologies for not giving you a heads up about the change in price for The Sims 4 on the EA Origin Store. We had to update the price to match global pricing for the game.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) January 30, 2019
FYI – I do understand the frustrations the Brazilian community have regarding this change and I’ve passed that onto those who make these pricing decisions. For a little insight pricing is not determined by the Dev Team so please do not attack the Gurus over this.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) January 30, 2019
For those who would like to provide feedback about this directly please do so. You can reach out to @OriginInsider and voice your concerns.
— Kate Olmstead (@SimGuruKate) January 30, 2019
If you convert 160 Brazilian Real to US Dollars you would get around 42 USD compared to 35USD that you would get if you converted the previous price.
This isn’t the first time that EA has changed the pricing of The Sims 4 + Packs on Origin, as well as other online and retail stores as well. Just last year EA has changed the pack prices for 12 different countries so that the local game price could be closer to the price of the game in the United States.
Brazil is in its own heaps of trouble right now…price changes for Sims games is the last thing on its mind.
Just so you know, I’m Brazilian, I have all original games, but I just want to say that this is why piracy takes control all over internet, since it’s impossible to catch up with those prices. I don’t know what is the price in USA of “basic needs grocery package”, I mean, the basic pack of foods you buy (milk, bread, beans, rice, water, some vaggies and fruits, sugar, salt, etc), but with 1/3 of the actual TS4 games price we buy it. Here this price you pay your phone + eletricity bills. What I mean is that just rich people will be able to buy it. We are in a financial economical crisis right now, our commerce is passing through difficult times, the new government is trying to fix it, but it will take a time, since the last government has stolen thousands of billions of our country. What I’m trying to say is that, in terms of proportions, this is a lot of money for us, you can buy a toaster, an eletric kittle, etc… And here is my final question: if Origin/EA do sales and in those events are when they sell most cuz most of us wait for those special dates, then it means that they could always sell for sale prices/lower prices, its when everyone buy it, with regular prices, many people don’t buy it waiting for sales. That’s it. .Thanks for the attention. I LOVE THE SITE!
Is very easy to understand. When we convert the coins, it does not seem to make sense all the “uproar.” Because the dollar is worth four times more than the real.
So one way to better understand the impact of the value that the game was on was enough to consider that in 2015 the value of an expansion pack was 80 BRL. That means the value it was was equal to the two expansions, and considering the level of content that The Sims 4 expansions are bringing, would be equivalent to the 3 or 4 expansions of The Sims 3 combined.
For example: The minimum wage today in Brazil varies between 998BRL and 1200BRL. People spend on average 300BRL in food, a band of 100BRL in light, and maybe 60BRL in water. Taking into account the salary of 1200BRL over 740BRL for the rent. A rental at this price depending on the cities is an apartment of 40BRL square meters and look there. Then you imagine that the person wants to have the original games and needs to invest 160 reais, would have left 580 for rent. And with all due respect … I do not know a place by 580 that is really good enough to be proud to say: Welcome to our home. The place where I live today for example the rent is 2100.
And as much as I have the money to buy the expansions is simply unfeasible since I can buy real objects for real-life interactions in real life with the same value as a virtual game to create a virtual life.
So I do not blame the crisis or the government for the price of the game. And I do not blame EA. It’s a matter of value proposition. If the value and depth that the expansions offer was equivalent to the price, I would not see problem paying and who really is a fan would not see either. But since the value is much lower than the price of the product … It’s like you pay for a top-of-the-line iPhone and get the Samsung basics. It is not compatible. And this is the real problem behind the price.