10% price increase within one day (Europe) and no feature guarantee

GuschtelGuschtel ✭✭✭
edited February 2021 in General


I've read that, so please avoid any discussions in that direction.

What I want to point out:

- Niantic doesn't guarantee what you get for your subscription price (correct me, if wrong)

The shop doesn't even say anything about the api (which I consider a major point when buying, new toys are always great)


- Niantic increased the price by 10% within a day of the release from below 5€ to 5,49€.

- The 7000 cmu is a plain lie when talking about the subscription, it's only valid for the first two months.

I was really considering to buy the subscription to support the game.

But these points do bother me. There's no guarantee in price stability and no feature guarantees.

Quoting another agent: "$4.99 is €4.11, add to that 21% VAT, that's €4.97. Dunno why they are making it €5.49."

I also think this really sucks.

@NianticBrian any comments on this?

Not to mention that 5€ is kind of a magic number, surpassing that is probably not the best marketing idea. Guess why it's $4.99

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Comments

  • KarM3LKarM3L ✭✭✭✭

    Its not that they 'increased' the price, they simply normalized it to the pricepoint they were aiming for 7000cmu = $5usd = <local currency rates> as per the quoted link some countries are better off,


    Except its a false economy cause exchange is up to the store do determine rates...

  • HydracyanHydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    What do you mean no stability? He said that is supposed to be same price as the 7000CMU, now tell me: how many times that price changed over the years? If you're in USA probably never, if using any other currency, might have changed according to it's inflation.

    The price was wrong and they fixed it. If your country has a different price it is Google/Apple problems. I hear Apple take 30% of everything in their store, that probably why it has higher price.

  • Increasing the price from one day to another by 10% (after release!) is what I'd call no stability...

    It also means they are able (and will) change the price whenever they see it fit.

    Risky, if you ask me.


  • I eagerly bought the subscription when it come out. It was odd that the price was different from shown screenshots with 4.19Eur to 4.89 in my case. Other agents in our local city chat had 4.79.

    I thought it's okay, it's still under 5 and it'll be fine. We're supporting our beloved game and what's a few cents eh?

    Then they posted an iPhone screenshot with 5.49.

    Now, you increased it to 5.49 out of nowhere for no apparent reason. I don't remotely care for the ingame currency scam tool.

    Give me a subscription for the ingame and Intel benefits you promised for 4-5 Euros and I'm good. Otherwise I'm out.

    You want to change prices? Change those ingame currency ones if you must

  • mortuusmortuus ✭✭✭✭✭

    I dont see the problem, i just hope the price stays like this and not increases anymore so just forget it and accept it how it is now.

  • Well, that's exactly not how I think business works.

    You offer something with a detailed description and ask a price for it.

    Then the customer decides if he accepts the offer or not. You simply shouldn't change the conditions afterwards in a subscription business like Niantic did. That's plain wrong and I really really dislike it.

    I was a strong supporter of the subscription before they did that and was sure I'd buy it. Not anymore.

  • PangarbanPangarban ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2021

    It is normal for companies to make pricing mistakes from time to time. It is not normal for them to ask for the difference after the fact. For example, at a supermarket there was an advertisement for "3 for the price of 2" on ice cream, but when people went to the tills to ring it up, it came out as 3 for the price of 1. A lot of us in the store bought extra, and by the next day the store corrected the error. Guess what? They didn't come out and ask us to pay them back for the error.


    Honestly, I would have understood if they had said, "From next month your subsription will go up due to an error". But the fact that @NianticBrian said we will get a message asking for the difference within 7 days (if I understood his message correctly) is just bad for business. I thought Niantic had wised up, but I guess I was wrong.

  • AtunatunakAtunatunak ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2021

    You didn't understood it correctly (the explanation was not very good either for non English natives). They are not asking for you to pay the difference. And yes, basically the bottom line is "From next month your suscription will go up due to an error, unless you suscribe after reading this message and you will pay directly the new price".

    If you check the message in Google Play Store, it shows when you will be paying that new price (5,49 € April the 9th for me) while it shows that I will pay 4,99 € on March the 9th (that money is already retained by my bank so is like I have already paid it). You have already paid upfront for the first 30 suscription days and you will get an email notification about the raised price within 7 days. If you don't accept the new price, the next date for the payment of the suscription's renewal it will be cancelled automatically.

    (All of this is also if I have understood it correctly 🤣)

  • InvestigateXMInvestigateXM ✭✭✭✭✭

    I think you do misunderstand something. That mail you get is not from Niantic, but from Google informing you about the price increase. Google want's to make sure that you understand that the price has been raised, which is why you explicitly have to confirm it for the next renewal. Should you choose not to accept the increase, Google will automatically cancel the renewal. If you got the subscription for lower then intended, then you were lucky and don't have to pay the increase this month, just like you suggested.

  • PangarbanPangarban ✭✭✭✭✭

    It doesn't say specifically that the price increase is for the next renewal:

    "Existing subscribers receiving a price increase will be notified by Google Play of the price change 7 days from today, and will have 30 days to approve the changes or their C.O.R.E. subscription auto-renewal will be cancelled."

    To be fair, it's not clear either way, but there is nothing in this statement to say the price increase is only for renewal and not for the first month of players who already paid.

  • InvestigateXMInvestigateXM ✭✭✭✭✭

    I don't think developers even have the ability to deduct the money from users due to price increases before renewal. In this case, the higher price only becomes active for the next renewal (or in my case, only starting in April for some reason)


  • PangarbanPangarban ✭✭✭✭✭

    That's good to know. I haven't had the message from Google Pay as yet, but your second screen shot has a date. It's strange that the increase will be in April rather than March, but can't complain about that! 😂

    So, Niantic made a pricing mistake, some of us benefitted from it, we get the lower price for the start but will have to pay more in future. I can accept that, I just wish @NianticBrian had been clearer about when the increase will start, although I understand he has had to make a lot of messages recently.

  • They also need to make very clear (during the checkout) what you get if you buy (which is wrong and misleading regarding the cmu for example).

  • Why are you pushing for 7000CMU as base? (And show us again the huge price differences)

    The subscription is a massive step forward and it should be the baseline for anything onward. The 5$ is reasonable price and proper psychological threshold. So is 5 Euros.

    Why do you insist to jump over that? And worse: That's 33% overpay for the European market compared to the US currently. (And it reminded me again why I thought the items were overpriced...)

    Please, change the subscription to the 4.99 Euro. Thanks

  • Niantic sets one price, at $4.99. Then, Google and Apple apply fees, currency conversion rates, taxes, levies or whatever else would be required by different countries to serve that subscription. Niantic doesn't have control over this.

  • You are a class act, @NianticBrian . Thank you, sir.

  • GuschtelGuschtel ✭✭✭
    edited February 2021

    Absolutely agree.

    The price is getting higher (be it a mistake or not) and the value you get (after two months) is *less* then what's described in the shop. And there's no guarantee about other features like the api. So basically the subscription is a bet, you might get some stuff or not. And that for 5,50€ each month. Wow

    @NianticBrian that is an issue. I wonder what the law says about that. Afaik customers have the right to reclaim their money, if the described products are not delivered (ie the 7k mu).

    Let's have a look at Googles terms for subscriptions:

    Requirements

    • You, as a developer, must be transparent about any subscription services or content you offer within your app. 
    • You must communicate your offer clearly in any in-app promotions or splash screens. 
    • You must be explicit about your offer terms, including the cost of your subscription, the frequency of your billing cycle, and whether a subscription is required to use the app. Users should not have to perform any additional action to review the information.
    • Subscription pricing must be within the accepted price range.
    • Your subscription title or SKU name must accurately reflect your offer. For example, don’t name your subscription “Free Trial.”

    Interstingly, they don't mention 'you have to check the company's forum to know what you actually buy'.

  • The subscription offering is detailed in app, where you initiate the subscription. It is also mentioned that billing is per month for a set amount, and is reiterated on the Google/Apple store when you view your subscription there.

    Transparency is there. The cost, the frequency,etc. It's all there.

    The value of the subscription offering is far more than the monetary cost of the subscription itself.

    The price is higher for some of you. For a lot of us, it has become cheaper (myself included). This is a result of a mistake that was fixed.

  • That's just plain wrong. Please read what I wrote and what Niantic states about how many cmu you'll get every month.

  • ATR0P0SATR0P0S ✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2021

    Its not just CMU but also CMU value:


    Monthly CMU : 2500

    Apex : 4 x 2500 = 10000

    So you're getting 12500 CMU value per month for the price of approximately 7000 CMU

  • GuschtelGuschtel ✭✭✭
    edited February 2021

    @Azhreia Now please do an effort and compare what @ATR0P0S wrote (and what Niantic states somewhere deep hidden in their forums) to the image of what you are offered to buy, maybe you'll notice a slight difference and then maybe you'll understand the actual problem.

    Post edited by Guschtel on
  • It could certainly be clearer that 7000 CMU is an introductory offer moving to 2500 CMU per month

  • starwortstarwort ✭✭✭✭✭

    They do have control over it. If they didn't have control, they wouldn't have been able to correct the price!

    How this error happened was they forgot to apply Niantic's price tier and therefore they got the default Google one (which, as you say, happens after Google applies fees, currency conversion rates and taxes - and in GB Pounds they came up with a lower price than Niantic is usually charging).

    Ref: https://community.ingress.com/en/discussion/comment/129290/#Comment_129290

  • starwortstarwort ✭✭✭✭✭

    How many Euros is it, then? (Hint: less than 4.99)

  • HydracyanHydracyan ✭✭✭✭✭

    I think it doesn't matter at all. Niantic isn't getting the 4.99usd in the end. Each country and app store will have their pieces too.

    Just as example, the current price in Brazil, converted to Dollar is about 3.60usd, probably is a third world and the play store know that they can't charge more than that or else nobody will pay. Before they correct, the price was about 5.70usd.

  • well. if you value apexes for this price you can count them as such value. I am nor really sure how many people think 2$ for 30 minute of boosts is good value. but for people who use apexes regulary (and they are probably only ones that value them as think worth being reward), thyey just buy 8apex pack. so correct value for 4 apexes is at most 7500 cmu

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