Paradox Interactive’s CEO has announced that the company will roll back the price changes for its games, after facing user backlash. The announcement comes after many of the company’s games,including Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis, were bombarded with negative reviews from users in Countries, where the price hike was enormous.
In India, the prices of Paradox Interactive's games were doubled (or worse) about a month ago, dashing the hopes of many gamers, including yours truly. I voiced my concern about this a week ago, on Twitter.
So the good news first, Paradox Interactive, has submitted to user demands, and the price changes will be negated, i.e., the old prices will return in the Countries where the prices were jacked up. People who bought the games recently after the price change, will get refunds of the difference in the price, or get games of greater value, depending on how Paradox and Steam can work it out. If neither works, Paradox will donate the difference in revenue to the UNHCR.
To be honest, we are very happy that Mr. Wester has listened to the community, to decide to roll back to the previous regional prices, even though he claims that the company didn't submit to mob mentality. It was never mob mentality, but a good way to protest against the price hike. The company has realized if users boycott their games, their revenue would surely feel the blow. But if they had stuck to the original prices, their sales would have been steady.
Now for the bad news. PCGamer quotes Wester as saying that he contacted Steam about the price change, and Valve did not agree to change the prices during the Steam Summer Sale. So, you will have to wait until July 5 when the sale is over, to get the games for their previous prices, and if you want to buy them for cheaper, you will need to wait until the next sale. Thank you Valve, you have proved once again to be a greedy company.
Wester also criticized suggestions about the company’s DLC policies, and more importantly rumours that Tencent, a Chinese company, who invested in Paradox had any involvement with the price changes. In case you aren't aware, Tencent has been widely criticized by users in China, for its terrible scammy practices. Sadly though, Tencent has exclusive rights to many popular games in China, including Stardew Valley, Rocket League to name a couple. If you visit the Steam pages for these games, and browse the negative reviews, you will find Chinese gamers slamming Tencent and TGP (Tencent gaming platform) for ruining the games.
So it is not exactly surprising that Paradox's fanbase thought that Tencent could have ruined their favorite company. Fortunately it doesn’t seem so.
For now, our advice is to wait till Paradox changes the price for its games back to their old regional pricing, we know it is difficult, but it is for your wallet’s benefit.