Hit JRPG remake Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is joining the train of games that are updating their regional pricing practices.
Regional pricing on digital storefronts like Steam, the PlayStation Store, and the Xbox Store has been a problem for international gamers for years. Essentially, when a publisher or developer sells a game, Valve's storefront will automatically adjust the price for users outside of the United States.
Publishers are, of course, free to change these international prices, but the automatic conversion rates usually screw over people from countries such as Brazil and Argentina, who frequently need to pay 20% or 30% more in their currency than the US dollar equivalent due to Valve's outdated pricing.
But at least some games are going back and updating global pricing to make things a tad more fair, as was the case with Arc Raiders and, now, Nihon Falcom's Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter. In a recent blog post, the company announced that prices for the base game, the Digital Deluxe Edition, and many DLC will change come October 19.
Currencies with updated pricing will include: Indonesian Rupiah, Malaysian Ringgit, Philippine Peso, Thai Baht, Vietnamese Dong, CIS - U.S. Dollar, LATAM - U.S. Dollar, MENA - U.S. Dollar, and SASIA - U.S. Dollar. "We appreciate everyone's patience and continued support as we work to update these items."
Nihon Falcom hasn't clarified what these pricing changes entail, but the early announcement probably gives interested buyers enough notice to hold off and wait. Though Automaton reports that some LATAM players expect the price to increase since Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the equivalent of $30 on Steam. We'll see how it shakes out in a little over a week - sometimes regional pricing is set according to a country's average purchasing power.
