VAT on subscriptions.

fmnch35

As a member of the EU, specifically the UK I am constantly annoyed at the relatively higher cost of subscribing to an MMO. It may not sound much but late last year the British Government lowered VAT by 2.5%, yet no game company has lowered the cost of subscribing presumably because none of their servers / the service they provide isn't based in the UK.

The sterling has taken a battering over the last year and the value has dropped considerably.

If no game company reduces the cost by the same amount (2.5%) surely that equates to a rise in all gaming by anyone in the UK (including myself).

Paying VAT on e-commerce transactions is based on a law passed in the EU in 2002 and because nothing physical changes hands I am baffled why we have to pay it in the first place.

If anyone is reading this outside the UK, you may think I am making a big deal of this. But let me tell you that gaming in the UK has always been expensive and have had to put up with expensive PAL conversions on the SNES, delays in release of consoles and games and when we do get them we pay more because they don't come with any extras whereas elsewhere they are typically part of a bundle.

FreddyNoNose

It's not like video games are food and shelter.    You don't need video games.

Vrika

You have to pay VAT because it's a tax and your own goverment has decided that you have to play it. The reason's that simple, and there's nothing MMO operators can do to change it or they'd be breaking the law.

And with the constant inflation going on, do you honestly mean that the price of anything really dropped in UK 2.5% due to VAT change?