Those: Blizzard
February 16, 2024 at 10:35 a.m. – Due to the switch to dollars, the WoW monthly subscription is becoming a luxury good in Argentina. WoW in Argentina is basically buried for the time being. Other countries have a similar situation.
Even before the next WoW expansion The War Within even goes live, it can be said that many WoW players will inevitably not return to Blizzard’s MMO. This is not related to the features of the add-on or similar, but has political backgrounds. Russian players will not be able to buy The War Within due to the SWIFT ban, and in Argentina the conversion of WoW subscriptions to dollars has made the 30 days of WoW game time a luxury.
In the WoW Reddit forum, an Argentine player reports how expensive the WoW subscription is after the subscription change. By adjusting from Argentine Peso (ARS) to US Dollar, players report paying 3,000% more for a 1-month WoW subscription than before.
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WoW subscription is virtually unaffordable in Argentina
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Due to the unstable currency in Argentina, Blizzard decided to switch to dollars instead of the regional currency. Instead of 650 ARS (around 72 cents), players now pay 12,000 ARS (around 13.36 euros). This is no longer affordable for the average citizen. According to INDEC, the average monthly income in Argentina was 87,310 pesos (around just under 100 euros) in the second quarter of 2023.
To buy a new WoW expansion, Argentines would currently have to spend almost an entire month’s salary (if the Argentine peso continues to perform like this).
In the comments section under the Reddit post, Argentine gamers write that gaming in general is dead in Argentina. A player writes that he really wants to buy Dragons Dogma 2, but the game costs 100,000 Argentine pesos – but he only earns a total of 250,000 pesos a month. For comparison: 1 Argentine peso is equivalent to 0.0011 euros.
Compounding the weak exchange rate of the Argentine peso is the fact that Argentinians pay 60% to 100% taxes on video games. Currently, Argentines pay 60% taxes on foreign currency transactions. Turkish players and the lira are also affected by these taxes and the switch from Steam to US dollars. In some countries, the WoW subscription is becoming more and more of a luxury, which inevitably means fewer players.
Those | icy-veins.com