In December 2020, we reported that
EA swooped in and purchased Codemasters in a $1.2 billion mega-deal. This gave
EA access to a quite healthy racing game portfolio, but there was concern at the time that the purchase could negatively affect consumers. It appears that EA did not waste any time with shenanigans affecting
Codemasters games, however, as regional prices for F1 2021 could double or even triple that of F1 2020.
Yesterday, Twitter user
@RobotBrush posted a chart putting the global pricing for F1 2020 and F1 2021 side by side. It shows that countries such as China will face a 1.5x increase in price, whereas other places like India will receive a 2.7x price hike. Argentina is stuck with the largest price hike, with a 5.3x increase in price over F1 2020. Seemingly, it is a bad time to be a racing sim fan outside of the U.S or the U.K.
While most of these prices still come under the U.S. base price, it does not necessarily justify the price changes. Many of these countries have a significantly lower average yearly wage than the U.S., so it will be more difficult for these people to get their hands on F1 2021. For example, according to
Statista, the annual household income in Argentina sits in the neighborhood of $4,000 (371,180.09 Argentine Peso). When removing rent and other living costs, not much is likely leftover at the end of the month.
It will be interesting to see if these global pricing changes affect sales at all in the coming weeks. If EA takes a hit on F1 2021, it may forgo additional price hikes outside of the U.S. In any case, let us know what you think of this economics issue in the comments below.