Ever since MTG Arena first launched, way back in 2018, the game’s economy has been a contentious issue. While some players are able to loop Drafts to their heart’s content, others meanwhile, are stuck grinding daily wins. It’s either that or handing over bundles of cash in order to keep playing in events. Considering not everyone is made of money, this business model can hardly be called perfect. Especially since MTG Arena has no form of trading whatsoever!
Thankfully, while this problem continues to cause criticism today, MTG Arena’s economy has steadily been improving. The Gold Packs, introduced with The Brothers’ War, for instance, were a huge boon to casual players. Similarly, the occasional gold farming glitch, intentional or not, has done wonders for the game’s economy. Unfortunately, however, despite plenty of good having been done recently, WotC has tipped the scale in the opposite direction. In an unfortunate break from tradition, MTG Arena is getting more expensive.
MTG Arena Pricing Update
A few hours ago, just as I was sitting down to enjoy my afternoon coffee, Wizards dropped quite the bombshell. Sent out to MTG Arena players via email, Wizards unveiled the “Europe Arena Pricing Update.” As the name, and title of this article, suggests, this update was a rather significant price increase for European players.
Coming into effect on May 18th, the headline change in this update is “approximately a 10% increase in prices.” According to Wizards, “This will bring PC prices closer to being in line with mobile prices, which will not change.” Thankfully, alongside mobile prices not changing, no other region will be affected by this pricing update. This change only applies to MTG Arena players in Europe paying in Euros.
Previously, this wouldn’t have been all too much of a problem, as European players could choose which currency they want to pay in. Unfortunately, however, this longstanding freedom is also being taken away in this pricing update. As Wizards states “We will be removing the ability to switch between paying in Euros and Dollars. Players in Europe will now only be able to pay in Euros.”
Here’s a quick rundown of the prices that European MTG Arena players can expect to pay.
- 750 gems: 4.99 USD/EUR -> 5.49 EUR
- 1,600 gems: 9.99 USD/EUR -> 10.99 EUR
- 3,400 gems: 19.99 USD/EUR -> 21.99 EUR
- 9,200 gems: 49.99 USD/EUR -> 53.99 EUR
- 10,000 gems: 99.99 USD/EUR -> 107.99 EUR
Explaining this decision, a little, during the email, Wizards states these adjustments are to “create pricing parity across devices and platforms throughout Europe to better account for value-added tax.”
The Disgruntled Masses
Unsurprisingly, with no option to avoid these higher prices, MTG players weren’t best pleased after hearing this news. In fact, with 400 comments being left in just 4 hours, it’s safe to say that players really aren’t happy. Voicing their frustrations were countless players such as u/bigweight93 who were baffled and disheartened by this unexpected news. “Yes, because this is what this game needed, to be more expensive.”
Alongside plenty of derisive comments, and a few that joked about the situation, many players had seemingly had enough. Claiming this was a step too far from Wizards, many players vowed to not spend any more money. “Haven’t missed a pre-order so far, time to put my money where my mouth is,” u/jimmysx17 commented. “Fuck these greedy assholes. Never paying for anything again, going completely f2p.”
Considering selling gems is how MTG Arena makes its money, this boycott isn’t good news for Wizards. That is, on the surface, at least. In reality, like many game economies, MTG Arena makes most of its money from whales. Seemingly not caring too much about the cost, these players can spend an immense amount of money on a game.
Thanks to this incoming price increase, they’ll now be spending even more, unless they too have reached their breaking point. If they haven’t, Wizards stands to make 10% more from these deeply enfranchised players. This would make this update quite a lucrative business decision, especially with MTG Arena’s Steam release in the near future.
For MTG Arena players, however, this is obviously the opposite of good news.
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