I just don't like that most companies go for the biggest markets - and that' most definitively a) the English-language market and b) the U.S. , simpl because it is ONE HUGE country with ONE LAW and not so much fragmented like the EU with its … 27 LAWS … I often read complaints that selling stuff in the EU is sooo much more dificult for american companies, because they have to take care of 27 laws in a region with the size of the U.S. … And they are right. I can understand their bias against the E.U. when it comes in terms of merchandise, of selling stuff. One recent example I have come across is the payment methods for DDO - they are now in Euros for Europe, and Turbine employees say that they must pay VAT for Europe as wll, which is - as they say - the reason why the price for DDO game points is so much higher than for the U.S. . The problem is that basicaly they would have to pay the VAT for/in every country in the E.U. - which would require them to develop payment methods for any one of these 27 countries which are members in the E.U. becaue they have different VAT percentages. And sometimes the countries have specific applications of the VAT as well. I can understand if U.S. based companies don't really like to sell stuff in the E.U. , but on the other hand they often do as if they were international and aren't. Imho. KOA:Reckoning is being marjketed as THE huge international hit - but they treat the game as if it wasn't meant to be the international hit.
The problem lies imho in part with this news site of RPGWatch, which delivers international news which might or might not apply to certain countries. It's really a difficult question. But the companies are the sources of the press releases, and the press releases are often region-specific, like with this Collector's Edition.
To cut things short, it would be better for me if I would withdraw onto a DACH-related RPG news site. With that, I could be playing save, get only news which apply my own region, and not news which do not apply to my own region. It would save my nerves.