Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-27095714-20151206123456/@comment-26249703-20151206134647

The pricing was much more adequate at the release of the game. Levelling up was also quicker before and unlocking tiers rewarded with Gold, as well as R$.

The reasons probably won't ever be officially disclosed, but it's more likely EA seeing potential in the game for high profits, due to the availability to a wide range of people (free game on a mobile device, that's pretty much everyone in developed countries). They also want to profit from the regular updates: since less content is added per update than the initial release, they have to earn more for it to break-even.

This is done (I believe) to entice users to use IAPs, though it can be argued that more approachable prices may yield more purchases, as well as repeat purchases from individuals. More purchases at a lower price could earn them more profits, but I'm sure smarter people than I have all of this out and clearly decided against it.

As it stands, finishing the game to 100% (all series completed to 100% - all cars owned) for someone that has been playing since the beginning, costs around 18,000 Gold, even by being efficient and not spending unnecessary resources.

If the user wants to fully-upgraded each car, they're looking at adding 35,000 Gold to the above total.

That's without considering customisation: Count around 3,000 Gold for 1 paint scheme, 1 set of rims, vinyls unlocks and ride height change for all cars.

Someone starting with this update will have to spend 11,460 Gold on getting Special Event cars, plus 950 if unable to earn the 919 (2014).

That's where the pricing is the most unfair. It is a free-to-play game, but as far as completion? That's another matter.

Someone starting today would have to spend around 70,000 Gold to complete all the series, acquire all cars, fully-upgrade each car, have one set of customisation for each car. I've earned about 12,000 Gold in close to 2 years, meaning that if no new content was to be added from this point on, a user would have to spend 7 years, racing close to two hours a day, to finish the game.

Trying to finish the game under those objectives within two years would still take buying the most expensive Gold Pack 54 times, for a grand total of... £4,319.46!

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from there :)