Regional Pricing for Anomaly Tickets
Dear Niantic
I totally understand the need for charging for tickets for anomaly badges going forward. The game costs money and we need to find a way to make sure it doesn't go away because the cost to keep it became too unbearable for the company.
However, I do ask you to consider the purchasing power of the countries you hold your events in. 1 US dollar in the USA may be worth much more in another country than in the USA. As such, I propose you have regional pricing to cater for this difference in purchasing power so that more agents from the selected host country can participate in the event held at their home.
For example, if you charge 15 USD for an anomaly in the USA, you should charge 5 USD for the same anomaly you hold say in Malaysia or India to compensate for the ability of those agents to buy the ticket. If however this is disagreeable to you, then I suggest you lower the ticket price overall to a more affordable price point for agents from the rest of the world (I'm still suggesting 5 USD).
We hope for you to continue to be sustainable, but for us to do so we need to be financially able as well.
Thanks for listening.
Comments
Charging $5 in India would still be like charging $185 in the USA.
Maybe Niantic can consider ticket pricing based on Cost of Living of the said Anomaly Site instead.
I think 2-3 USD might be okay for you're average anomaly goer in India.
But there needs to be a drastic shift in how an anomaly is organised.
Whatever price is being charged, Niantic should do all the work. It's unacceptable to expect agents to do any of the ground work if Niantic is going to charge. And this applies to the clubbed MD as well since it helps pull the crowd for the weekend.
Whoever clicked Disagree on this, it's not an opinion. Check purchasing power parity yourself. The average daily wage in India is around $5.
That would still be the equivalent of charging around $100 in the USA.
The price point of 5USD I mentioned is just an example and the amount I'm comfortable paying for the anomaly badge for an anomaly hosted in my home city. If I were to go to an American / European anomaly I can agree to the 15 USD ticket.
My main point is that there should be regional pricing based on the city hosting the anomaly so that more locals are able to earn a badge, rather than be forced to only play with a free ticket and no badge.
Agents want to support Niantic but pricing things out of our reach (especially at home) makes it difficult.
People with that income will not play Ingress because they cannot afford to buy a powerful smartphone. You would have to look at the average wage of people playing Ingress that is people that can afford to buy smartphones and have spare time to spend playing games.
I think the Big Mac index is a great way to compare prices. Based on the price difference of a fast food sandwich in India, the price should be 42% of the US price. By your logic however it would suggest that a fast food sandwich costs the equivalent of $92.50. I'm sorry but that just seems a bit far fetched. I do agree that the price needs to be scaled down kind of how raid passes in Pogo are about 1/3 the price in the Philippines as the US. However I do not agree with that scale.