Launching the Global Service – Some known issues and plans.

We clearly understand that players are concerned about web sites, accounts and global gameplay issues. While some details are still in flux, please understand the goals outlined below are what we are working towards.

1) One World – Unified + Normalized Pricing Model: We currently plan for all players around the globe play in the same single (non-sharded) world. Since 2014 when we launched on Steam we have had normalized pricing for game access to reflect different markets and we will continue to do this. Items that can be traded (gear, premium currency, etc) are kept on a unified pricing model worldwide to prevent "arbitrage" (buying and selling based on different prices). This means every single item that players can trade will have the same price worldwide (ignoring temporary currency exchange fluctuations and taxes).

2) Taxes: Globally, we must now charge taxes, as we have launched the game. Various countries, and states in the US all charge a little differently. We must comply with local laws. In the EU, the VAT must be added to the price you see listed. In the USA the custom is that you see a price without tax and then the tax is added at checkout. Everyone will be paying their local taxes, in addition to the standardized base price.

3) Localized Content and Support: People will "nominally" see web sites from their own region, so they will see content localized by the teams doing the localization of content, and their customer service will also be localized. This is not being done to separate people, rather than to provide better service. We will adjust policies as needed to achieve this goal over time. We are early in the web site transitions, there will be some bumps in this road. We will address hiccups as fast as we can.

4) Data Privacy: The EU mandates very strict customer account privacy issues. We both agree with these restrictions, but also they are legal mandates. Even in the USA we will be adopting much of this, both for the convenience of similar global operations as well as being good stewards of personal data.

5) Unsolved Issues: We recognize there are unsolved issues, especially with regards to players from the Baltic regions. In addition to language issues, there are real political tensions in this area, some of which occurred after we had established plans for this region. Also as far as localization in much of this region, players may be served better in English than in Russian. We are looking into how to best support players in these regions within the bounds of our existing agreements.

- Richard Garriott / Lord British