With the release of the 25.4 update file today, Hearthstone players in dozens of countries discovered overnight that the price of the gold token “Rune Stone” used for card packs, skin purchases, etc. has increased.
The adjustment affects more than a dozen countries around the world, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Georgia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
Let’s first look at Taiwan, where you live. There are not many adjustments in Taiwan. Compared with the previous price, the price of 2000 rune stones has increased by NT$10, while the price of 5000 rune stones and 8000 rune stones has been reduced by NT$2 (not for you. Misunderstood, it is a price reduction), and the rune stones of other units have not been adjusted.
But players from other countries are not so lucky. Many prices have doubled, tripled, or even more than 7 times. The worst-hit this time is Argentina. The original price of 500 rune stones was 120 pesos, but following the price increase, it became 899 batches. So, 8,000 rune stones were priced at 1,980 pesos, and now it has become 14,399 pesos, an increase of more than 7 times.
This time Blizzard is obviously using US dollars to readjust the sales in all countries. The unit is 5 US dollars for 500 runestones. And Argentina, which is already suffering from severe inflation, suffered the worst. Rane, an Argentine Hearthstone e-sports event reviewer and e-sports reporter, said that the largest package unit (8,000 rune stones) is equivalent to half a month’s salary of an average person.
Foreign media believe that this price adjustment will impact the “Hearthstone” market in several countries. Due to the different living costs in different regions, the strategy of unifying the price in US dollars may force many players to give up playing “Hearthstone”. In addition, some people accused Blizzard of adjusting prices in Turkey and Ukraine, because the people of these countries are now threatened by earthquakes and wars respectively.
Not to mention, Blizzard has now lost the Chinese market, and the scale of “Hearthstone” e-sports has also shrunk significantly this year. The “Mercenary Mode” was even shut down because of the lack of adjustment. The future of “Hearthstone” may have to continue to be observed.
