Home Gaming EA digital games are spiking in price after launch, and EA won’t say why

EA digital games are spiking in price after launch, and EA won’t say why

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EA prices hiked after launch 2

If you’ve been following the PSN digital storefront as closely as some local consumers, you might have noticed something strange happening with EA titles. Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 were both listed with identical prices before launch, and both experienced identical price hikes the day the game came out. It’s only happening to EA published games too, and the publishers isn’t being forthcoming as to why.

Spotted and brought to our attention by @dev_za on Twitter, Titanfall 2 is just the latest in a series of price increases with no real explanation. As you can see from the images below, the shooter was initially listed with a price of R829.00 for the Standard Edition, and R949.00 for the Deluxe Edition before launch. The day of release though? Each version had increased to R1149.00 and R1399.00 respectively. For clarity, that’s a 38.6% and 47.4% increase on each.

The same thing happened to Battlefield 1 the week prior, with the same percentage in increases across the game’s two editions. What’s curious is that the same isn’t happening on other platforms. Titanfall 2  and Battlefield 1 on Xbox One, for example, remain at its R799.00 price – the same that it was being sold for prior to launch. Origin on PC hikes up the price to R999.00, but the salient point here is that it was identical too before launch.

We reached out to local PR representatives yesterday in an attempt to contact EA regarding an explanation for all this, and received this back.

We received a mail from EA stating that they are not commenting on pricing at this stage unfortunately. Apologies I could not get you more substantial feedback for now.

I’d have assumed given the peculiarity of the increases that this was simply an error on EA systems – or the nature of pre-order pricing, but a reply like that makes me question that. If EA aren’t commenting on the price increases, it surely must imply then that this isn’t an error, but rather a decision. An error would’ve most likely invoked a response indicating that it was being looked into, none of which seems apparent from the above. There are murmerings of retail meddling, but we’ve nothing concrete.

So why is it happening on PSN then? Why is it happening at all? It’s a mystery, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.

Last Updated: November 1, 2016

57 Comments

  1. EA can go f$$k themselves nicely. I will wait for the inevitable price drop, thanks.

    Reply

    • Gavin Mannion

      November 1, 2016 at 12:11

      I’ve had a couple of run ins with the Ozzies who now run EA South Africa… in my opinion they couldn’t give a flying duck about us here. They only care about themselves and their main region.

      But then again we have personal differences so it could just be sour grapes

      Reply

      • Viper_ZA

        November 1, 2016 at 12:12

        Ah now that makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, SA gamers aren’t sheep, are we now? xD

        Reply

        • Original Heretic

          November 1, 2016 at 12:14

          Australia: where men are men. And sheep are afraid.

          Reply

          • Viper_ZA

            November 1, 2016 at 12:21

            Must be why Woolies prefer our local sheep, nice ‘n soft meat, not biltong-like and all that

          • HvR

            November 1, 2016 at 12:25

            Less sodium…..

          • Original Heretic

            November 1, 2016 at 12:33

            Plus our sheep only speak Afrikaans, so they can’t go telling “lies”.

          • Admiral Chief - Dragonborn

            November 1, 2016 at 12:37

            LEUENS!

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        November 1, 2016 at 12:12

        5 – 0

        Reply

      • Fox1 - Retro

        November 1, 2016 at 12:17

        Are they Xbox fanboy’s by any chance? 😀

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          November 1, 2016 at 12:18

          XD

          Reply

        • Gavin Mannion

          November 1, 2016 at 12:22

          lol nope that was a previous SK person…

          Reply

          • Dane

            November 1, 2016 at 14:45

            Where the conspiracy theorists at?

          • BakedBagel

            November 1, 2016 at 15:13

            EA suddenly (by mistake)[yeah sure] blocked their service to Myanmar.

            They are calculating how much money they lose by blocking us aswell.

            :D?

          • Dane

            November 1, 2016 at 15:17

            What about Microsoft paying for their overextended slightly less unreasonable prices?

          • BakedBagel

            November 1, 2016 at 15:18

            yo i can only make up one conspiracy at a time.

            sorry :'(

      • BakedBagel

        November 1, 2016 at 15:09

        Australia still gets games?

        Im surprised.

        I thought they only had Minesweeper and a couple card games

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          November 2, 2016 at 08:40

          They even get their own servers to play on. So the jokes even more on us.

          Reply

  2. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    November 1, 2016 at 12:10

    Maybe it’s because they forgot that Titanfall 2 doesn’t have DLC
    https://media.giphy.com/media/5mfi3HTegcsCY/giphy.gif

    Reply

    • Viper_ZA

      November 1, 2016 at 12:27

      I am sure they will start releasing games in chapters soon, to get even more out of the customer base.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        November 1, 2016 at 12:32

        They could at least reply out of courtesy…

        Reply

  3. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    November 1, 2016 at 12:21

    Supporting EA is like…

    Reply

    • Raptor Rants

      November 1, 2016 at 13:02

      Please. EA doesn’t make me smile like that vid does. And I’m a Star Wars fan.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        November 1, 2016 at 13:06

        I’m also a SW fan, but I’m not yet planning on getting Battlefront anytime soon

        Reply

        • Raptor Rants

          November 1, 2016 at 13:14

          No I meant a Star Trek clip made me, a Star Wars fan, smile more than EA does.

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            November 1, 2016 at 13:23

            Aah, okay

        • Ir0nseraph

          November 1, 2016 at 13:45

          Damn does this mean I will have to Pre-order Mass Effect Andromeda, I don’t know if I can resist.

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            November 1, 2016 at 14:08

            With game sharing I don’t have to be the one to buy EA games 😛 But I think you might be better off on XBOX if EA doesn’t cut the crap soon

          • Ir0nseraph

            November 1, 2016 at 14:10

            I will only get a 3rd party title if you get the one , then I can share with you , so since that won’t happen a pre order on the PS4 is the only logical move.

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            November 1, 2016 at 14:31

            Yay!

  4. HvR

    November 1, 2016 at 12:31

    It is clear they have adopted the Eskom pricing plan

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      November 1, 2016 at 12:35

      Lies, Eskom doesn’t have any plans

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief - Dragonborn

        November 1, 2016 at 12:36

        ^^^

        Reply

      • HvR

        November 1, 2016 at 12:38

        Step 1 not enough electricity increase prices
        Step 2 enough electricity increase prices
        Step 3 profit

        Reply

        • Raptor Rants

          November 1, 2016 at 13:00

          Step 4 do not maintain units increase prices
          Step 5 emergency repair units increase prices
          step 6 claim increases aren’t enough to cover maintenance increase prices
          step 7 do not maintain units increase prices
          repeat forever

          Reply

          • Dane

            November 1, 2016 at 14:43

            Step 8 Increased prices increase prices?

          • Raptor Rants

            November 1, 2016 at 18:55

            Yes!

  5. Andre Fourie

    November 1, 2016 at 12:36

    Doesn’t it have to do with exchange rate?

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      November 1, 2016 at 12:41

      Nope, XBOX store still has Titanfall 2 vanilla for R800

      Reply

      • Andre Fourie

        November 1, 2016 at 12:45

        Yes, I see now. Would help If I read the whole damn article now wouldn’t it?

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

          November 1, 2016 at 12:46

          XD

          Reply

  6. jGLZA

    November 1, 2016 at 12:39

    It’s not only EA games, I’ve noticed the same with other games as well.

    Reply

    • Milesh Bhana

      November 1, 2016 at 13:52

      yeah, Gears of War 4 was R999, and about a week before launch the price changed to R1159.

      Reply

  7. Ottokie

    November 1, 2016 at 12:45

    • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

      November 1, 2016 at 12:46

      • Ottokie

        November 1, 2016 at 12:49

        After all the hate from the EA fanboiz I got. If you don’t want to open your eyes then you just have to feel with your wallet xD

        Reply

      • Admiral Chief - Dragonborn

        November 1, 2016 at 13:40

        I see you found a new source of upwards pointing gifs?

        Reply

  8. Raptor Rants

    November 1, 2016 at 12:53

    and this is why I don’t support them. I will not give money to an organisation that does things like this.

    Reply

  9. GooseZA

    November 1, 2016 at 13:56

    I think it’s happening on Xbox too, I just think they haven’t got to BF1 and TF2.

    Fifa 17 is R1149 for the standard.

    FIFA! For Over R1000? G. I. T. F. S.

    Reply

  10. Viking Of Science

    November 1, 2016 at 13:59

    It’s Happening, because it’s been over 6 months since EA’s last fuckup, and they can’t be having that.

    Reply

  11. Jonah Cash

    November 1, 2016 at 14:30

    I tell you what EA: You can go eat shit! I will just buy your games on sale for 50% of what you are charging. I was going to buy Titanfall 2 today for R829.00, was just waiting on my cap refreshing. But now you can go play on ice, I will just wait you out from now on.

    Reply

    • HairyEwok

      November 2, 2016 at 08:43

      PFFF screw their sales. My Origin App install is only there to get those on the house games. There’s no way I’m paying for their 50% off games, it’s still too expensive.

      Reply

  12. Dane

    November 1, 2016 at 14:40

    Fuckit.

    These prices are absolutely bogus. I know you guys don’t want to hear or endorse this but if you want these games, the codes are currently going for $45-$50 on Kinguin for all 3 platforms. I purchased BF1 Hellfighter edition using PayPal. I was debited R754 and currently downloading the game.

    Reply

  13. Marek Nourse

    November 1, 2016 at 16:06

    My theory…. They are supporting the new cold war foundation. haha

    Reply

  14. Francois Knoetze

    November 2, 2016 at 07:59

    cough..still same price on xbox…and my PS4 kicked the bucket…thank the gods for a backup console

    Reply

  15. Guava_Eater

    November 2, 2016 at 12:40

    Ask Ster Kinekor… They are the ones in the middle between consumers and Sony in South Africa.

    Reply

  16. Sageville

    November 4, 2016 at 12:45

    “Never Pre-order” they said,
    “Only fools Pre-order” they said,

    Cha-ching R320 saved, whose laffing now!!

    Reply

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