Note to Realistic! Payment for Sin Episodes?

[GRiT]

I know that the first chapter is not ready yet, but how are you going to charge for the Episodes? I got Steam through my ATI Voucher, I have Broadband, but I don't have a Credit Card! I don't want to miss out on this game, just because I don't have one (CC), and I feel that it unfair to just have the same attitude that Valve have, which is tough luck! Will you, or can you, offer another method of payment for people in this position? I’m not going to mind my Sin Episodes account not being active until a cheque has cleared, or what ever other payment option there is! Gameplay in the UK offer a service that is unique (as far as I am aware) you get sent a card in the post, and can place your order online, and the goods are sent once you pay over the counter at the Post Office, even if there was I slight price premium for something like this it would still be better than not being able to get the game at all. I just hope that someone at Ritualistic reads this in time to implement another way (optional) of paying for Sin Episodes. If they don’t then there is going to be a percentage of lost revenue and some unhappy gamers out there.

[Apprentice]

Then you're out of luck. Steam payments can only be made with a creditcard and since creditcards is something typical American, Ritual is unable to reach half of it's customerbase . . .

[Njal]

I don't know how old you are but I have a "bankcard" kind of thing that works just like a creditcard, with all the online possibilities and so on but i don't have a credit so I can't buy for money I don't have, which is a good thing.
I live in Sweden so i don't know how it works with the banks in your country but it doesn't cost me anything the first year and about 10-15 bucks every year after that.

[Apprentice]

Last time I checked, bankcards and such were not accepted by VALVe/Steam. Only credit cards . . .

[ZombieJesusX]

Actually I used my debit card to purchase my Silver HL2 package from steam so it is supported.

[Xenogenetic]

My friend from Norway informs me that people have credit cards in Europe just like in the United States, so stop complaining.

[TheDarthJedi]

Originally posted by Apprentice:
Last time I checked, bankcards and such were not accepted by VALVe/Steam. Only credit cards . . .



i have a bank card.. aka Check Card.

has a visa symbol on it
i just "say" its a credit card.. worked just fine to purchase HL2..
and works just fine for all the MMORPG's ive played/play.

WoW
Star Wars
City of Heroes
EQ1 and 2...

never had one stop me.

[doomdragon]

Actually it varies throughout europe, where creditcards are common and where they are less common.
But telling people who dont own a creditcard and thus maybe cant buy the game they should not complain because other people have creditcards is ignorant.
Why cant people get a payment method they like only because you got your favorite payment method allready? Not only that, you don't even want them to ask for it.

[Onden]

First I want to point out that you don't need a credit card to USE Steam, you just need one to make purchases.

I'm not sure about Europe, but at least in the US you can get "pre-paid credit cards."

They're cards that you buy and have a set amount of money on them, but are compatible with typical credit card takers like VISA or MasterCard or whatever.

The original idea with these is that would be sort of like travler's checks. If you ever lost the card, the person would only get whatever money you put on the card, it's not connected to an account or anything like that. They've become pretty common as gifts to, especially for large amounts of money. If you want to give someone $500 for example it's much classier to give them a pre-paid credit card instead of shoving a bunch of bills in an envelope.

Anyway, if you don't own a credit card or check card (which I think is unfathomable in this day in age) you could always just pick up one of these pre-paid credit cards and use that to buy the game.

[JimmyC]

Aren't they releasing the episodes through normal channels later anyway? So what's the problem?

[Xenogenetic]

Impatience and lack of Credit Cards, why are they against getting credit cards so much?

[a_nevels666]

Originally posted by Onden:

Anyway, if you don't own a credit card or check card (which I think is unfathomable in this day in age) you could always just pick up one of these pre-paid credit cards and use that to buy the game.



It's not that unfathomable, in some countries creditcards just aren't used all that much. Although if you really want you can always get one. In any country. (Well, any country that isn't a desert or being bombed into a desert right now...)

[Apprentice]

Apart from availability of such a card, there is also an issue if people really need such a card.

Since creditcards aren't that used here in NL rather then the United States, all my payments goes through different (non-supported) means and I have no intention to aquire such card in order to be able to buy a game or games, since owning such card costs me more money then it saves. Owning a creditcard is nice and all but extremely expensive if only used once or perhaps twice a year and I don't see why I whould have one . . .

[MadMax]

Exactly. I'm 20 (21 when Emergence will be released). I have a bank account for "young people" (under 26) which perfectly fits my needs and costs only a small fee. I cannot get a credit card on this account. Germany does support credit cards, you can use them to pay in restaurants, supermarkets or other shopping houses. However, they are way out of the ordinary; the normal card payment that many people use here is the EuroCheque card. It works like a credit card, but it is incompatible with real credit card payment as required by Steam. So what am I to do? I don't even know somebody with a CC.


Aren't they releasing the episodes through normal channels later anyway? So what's the problem?


Valve didn't ignore the rest of the world; they made HL2 available in stores on the SAME day that they unlocked it on Steam. Ritual plans to ship Sin Episodes to stores AFTER it's complete, which might be in 18 months or so if we get six episodes (speculation). Apart from the fact that it amazes me that they want to release the final epsiode in a year or even later, when "the new game Sin" will practically be outdated again, it would also mean waiting until that day for the retail box. And I'm not willing to be left waiting for that long!

All I ask from Ritual is that if they release their modified version of Steam (I heard so), it would be nice to implement international payment options. I mean, everybody who can pay stuff over the Internet must have a bank account these days, but not everyone has a credit card. Solution #1: use PayPal. I'd happily transfer loads of money to Ritual over this system from my German bank account with no problems, and it doesn't even cost any fees. It would be the best (and fastest) way to pay alternatively to a CC.

[a_nevels666]

Originally posted by Apprentice:
Apart from availability of such a card, there is also an issue if people really need such a card.

Since creditcards aren't that used here in NL rather then the United States, all my payments goes through different (non-supported) means and I have no intention to aquire such card in order to be able to buy a game or games, since owning such card costs me more money then it saves. Owning a creditcard is nice and all but extremely expensive if only used once or perhaps twice a year and I don't see why I whould have one . . .



Actually I'm also from The Netherlands...
I got my creditcard for free when I opened a new bankaccount.

Anyway, it's true I hardly use it though, I've only used it a couple of times to buy something through the internet.

Maybe if someone else in your family has a creditcard you could just give them cash and have them pay for you...