Premium subscription price update (July 1st 2025)

[Meeplelowda]

Also can’t credit be given to those people who actively support BGA BY ENCOURAGING NEW PLAYERS TO JOIN IN
I PERSONALLY HAVE BROUGHT SOME. NEW PLAYERS IN
As a thank you some credit should be given

And how exactly are they are going to verify that? If they wanted to do this, they'd have referral codes when a new account registers.

They do a terrible job of promoting these, but there are referral links you can use: https://boardgamearena.com/sponsorship
Each referral gives you 20 gift points (if they finish 5 games), and 100 gift points can be redeemed for one month of premium.

So it seems there is already a mechanism for the reward lippylip26 wants, although it doesn't seem like merely bringing in "some new players" is going to cut it.

[RedShirtComics]

The reasoning behind the need to increase pricing is the expected service we’re already paying for. If you are agreeing to licensing fees higher than what current subscriptions can cover, then you should shift your focus toward expanding membership instead of license acquisition. A 17% price increase is significant, especially when you offer a free to play option.

[badlands99]

How comes that €42 becomes CHF 48, when the correct amount should be CHF 39?

[Ray9Cats]

Yes, premium costs too much, and is increasing way too fast.
You need to be managing your business expenses more carefully.
There are plenty of free and low-cost games out there,
I don't think there's any need to go after so many expensive games that cost so much to license.

The more you charge, the fewer premium members you're going to have.

Maybe you've looked at your data and found you can make more income
by having fewer premium members that pay more.
I guess it's your decision.
Personally, I'd prefer a larger premium player base to a smaller one that's willing to pay a higher fee.

In the old days I was a loyal premium member. Then I went away for a few years.
I re-registered a year ago, saw the premium fee, and decided to remain a free player.
If the fee was lower, I'd certainly become a premium member again, but not at these prices.

[JimK]

Yes, premium costs too much, and is increasing way too fast.

Agree!

...
The more you charge, the fewer premium members you're going to have.

Maybe you've looked at your data and found you can make more income by having fewer premium members that pay more.
I guess it's your decision.
Personally, I'd prefer a larger premium player base to a smaller one that's willing to pay a higher fee.
...

This is already a problem: on some more expert or less known games, there are few players, so even being Premium does not help because there is nobody to join, so why paying for that??

We are 2 in our household with 2 premium memberships, so we have to pay 2x this significant increase
→ I think we will reconsider our premium membership.

[kinometal]

Higher the price, less people renewing. Less people, less games. Less games, even less people.

This ain't good for the platform.. We were already not renewing our subscription because we aren't using the platform that much at the moment, but with the price increasing again I think we're done for good.

The only sad thing is premium is required for playing from the same IP.. we were happy to pay for the service, but we'll use a VPN I guess for the random match every now and then

[StrictlyBagel]

Second all the above.

[StrictlyBagel]

A 17% price increase is significant—especially when the main justification seems to be adding more games, not necessarily improving the overall user experience. I understand the need to cover costs and license fees for new titles, but let’s be honest: the interface still lags behind, and key features that users have requested for years are missing. For example, there’s still no efficient way to search for open tables among favorite games. Manually clicking through each one is tedious and outdated. Why not implement simple quality-of-life improvements before hiking up the price?

It’s also frustrating to see so many new games added when not all of them are quality titles or even in demand. Has BGA even surveyed premium subscribers about which games they actually want? Fan favorites like "Puerto Rico" haven’t had a meaningful update in ages, and essential modern classics like "Brass: Birmingham" or "Everdell" are nowhere to be found. It feels like priorities are misplaced.

If you’re going to raise prices, at least make the platform worth it. Consider limiting free play to a handful of basic games and shortening trial periods to incentivize subscriptions. Above all, listen to your paying members before rolling out new features or licensing games! Right now, this just looks like mismanagement and a cash grab, especially when server failures are still an issue.

You’re asking us to pay more—please give us more value in return.

[Karlsen]

A 25% increase is way too high and I'm reconsidering my renewal.

You should consider going back to school. It's a 17% increase, not 25%.

Beginning on July 1st, 2025, the price of an annual Premium subscription will increase from R$180,00 to R$240,00.


Here the increase was 33%, I believe it depends on the currency/country.

Yes it does seem to vary quite a bit depending on currency. The Australian dollar increase is 22.22%, worse than the Euro or US$ increase, but lower than some of the others. I am not sure I see the justification for different percentage increases depending on the currency.

[AquamanBoss]

Love all the improvements and new games, thanks for all the work the team does!