Australia Asks About High Game Prices
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
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Some facts for people
Just off Google: 1 Australian dollar = 0.9742 U.S. dollars
A couple of months ago 1 Australian dollar was greater than one US while some years ago it was 1AUD was about 0.5USD but game prices haven't lowered since then. As for the minimum wage. It is about $15.5 per hour. Less for apprentices and youger workers (<20). This means they get around $30600 a year of which around $3500 goes to tax. This is the income people will get, it does not pay for services.
Just off Google: 1 Australian dollar = 0.9742 U.S. dollars
A couple of months ago 1 Australian dollar was greater than one US while some years ago it was 1AUD was about 0.5USD but game prices haven't lowered since then. As for the minimum wage. It is about $15.5 per hour. Less for apprentices and youger workers (<20). This means they get around $30600 a year of which around $3500 goes to tax. This is the income people will get, it does not pay for services.
That is bullshit because in America 1 game sells for 50$. In Europe that becomes 50 Euro, which is 70-75 Dollars, and might go up the further you go East, suddenly costing 60 Euro or even 80 Euro basically bringing that price to Australia and New Zealand levels, in Australia that again goes up to 80-90 or even 120 dollars Australian, which right now is 120 dollars American.matrix3509 said:
There is no reason why prices jump up the further away you get from America. It doesn't, it used to make sense with shipping fees and actually having to Move the product and deliver it to the country, but now I can go on the internet and just instantly download anything.
No shipping costs, no DVD manufacturing costs, no need for CD keys, because it is authenticated through the site or application, in short they now have a literally Unlimited amount of games produced for no costs, the only thing that might be a problem is bandwidth, but I think the price of that is apparently covered quite well with 50$, otherwise they wouldn't sell for that price in the US.
In short it's just antiquated business practices, that used to have a good excuse, but not any more, however of course the publishers aren't going to adjust. Do you really think they would Willingly without a court mandate, adjust their pricing? They would basically be throwing away money.
what about inflation? maybe the AUS dollar is worth less then the US dollar making the prices sort-of fit
The Australian dollar has been higher than the US dollar up until last month and was consistently so for most of last year. At the moment it is almost equal. 1 US = 0.98 AUSBaldr said:
Less than any place in the world? As the above article states Australia is paying more for everything for no apparent reason. If your new game is 60 US, then we are paying 100 US.
Where are you people coming from?henritje said:
Part of the reason why we kept paying is because the price rise happened about the same time as the switch from the PS1/N64 to Xbox/PS2/Gamecube generation.Vivi22 said:
From my perspective as a kid, going from $70 N64 games to $100 Gamecube games seemed perfectly reasonable. It wasn't until I got a decent internet connection that I realised that N64 games were supposed to be the expensive ones.
Yet another issue of economics I don't understand. If I accept various positions put forth in this thread, then most if not all products and services in Australia are more expensive as a result of (at least in part) high minimum wage. As such, if this position is true, then it means the actual buying power of the Australian Dollar is significantly lower than that of the USD. Which means the fact that the two are very nearly equal is a point that is entirely confusing given the currency itself is of no value and simply represents a quanta of goods and services. Since the AUS Dollar purchases fewer of these on average, the fact that it is considered equal to the USD seems entirely arbitrary.
That's is why I stay away from that beer. I have James Boags Premium larger insteadResonanceSD said:
Australia: "Why do our games cost so much?"
Game Industry: "Reasons."
Australia: "What reasons?"
Game industry: "...Shit."
Game Industry: "Reasons."
Australia: "What reasons?"
Game industry: "...Shit."
To the people saying that it's normal that Australia pays more, because they minimum wage is higher: that's just bullshit. Australia has a minimum (gross) yearly wage of around 20K. We here in the Netherlands have one of 23K, and we "only" pay 75 dollars for our games.
Apart from that: Australia has a lower purchase power per capita than the USA, which makes the argument from "well, they get paid more" even more stupid.
Apart from that: Australia has a lower purchase power per capita than the USA, which makes the argument from "well, they get paid more" even more stupid.
First off can people in general stop using the minimum wage argument as it is really poor and not economically sound. If you want to talk about the relative wealth at a country you need to look at other factors like GDP per capita. Minimum wage is not an effective measure of standard of living.
I also seen another person saying boycotts don't work I can't remember who it is but just to say boycotts do work when people actually boycott. The problem is most people forget the not buy part of a boycott or just lack the numbers that does not mean a boycott doesn't work.
Now since we like our dodgy analogies on the Escapist I'll give another. Just because you lack the right mass of the necessary isotope of Uranium to make a sustainable fission reaction does not mean it is impossible to have a sustainable fissile reaction. You just need critical mass. Unfortunately, most gamers like in real life are 238s rather than 235s.
OT: Anyway it is good that they are finally doing something about the prices if they really are that far removed in relation to the standard of living in a country.
I also seen another person saying boycotts don't work I can't remember who it is but just to say boycotts do work when people actually boycott. The problem is most people forget the not buy part of a boycott or just lack the numbers that does not mean a boycott doesn't work.
Now since we like our dodgy analogies on the Escapist I'll give another. Just because you lack the right mass of the necessary isotope of Uranium to make a sustainable fission reaction does not mean it is impossible to have a sustainable fissile reaction. You just need critical mass. Unfortunately, most gamers like in real life are 238s rather than 235s.
OT: Anyway it is good that they are finally doing something about the prices if they really are that far removed in relation to the standard of living in a country.
Don't even get me started on book prices here (Aus, that is).AC10 said:
Former EB Games (that's gamestop to you lot) employee about to divulge some info here, y'all.
All right, here we go again with this whole bitchfest.
EB Games (famous for its high prices) charges at the retail price recommended by the publisher, and only makes a profit margin of around 7-10% on a new game sale, meaning that the massive profit margin on australian game sales is going to the publisher (Kmart, for example, almost always sells under cost, for example). This is why many places, EB in particular, push for pre-owned sales, where the profit margin is much greater, often around 50%. For comparison, I've also worked in hospitality for around six years, and the MINIMUM mark up in hospitality on food is 400%, below that, and it is generally accepted that a business cannot make profit.
I can't speak for independent stores that manage to charge lower prices than RRP (it may be that publishers arrange higher buy-prices for larger retailers, knowing that more stock will move, I really don't know), but at EB I had access to profit margins in new and pre-owned stock for the store, as well as a whole load of other stuff that isn't all that relevant to this discussion (like the 2% profit margin on game consoles for EB) so I can tell you, Eb makes very little selling you Black Ops at $120, the problem, is, where does the money go?
Even on digital platforms such as Steam, the prices we get are much the same as at retail. Big releases such as CoDs come out on steam at $99.95 on steam, and that charge in USD, for some reason, so we get charged in US currency, but sometimes at as much as double US prices. Even what-was-once impulse is going that way, its reasonable prices but pitiful region distribution rights have been replaced with worldwide distribution at prices specially designed to avoid undercutting retail prices now that its owned by Gamestop.
And foreigners need to understand that living in Australia is expensive. My two bedroom house in the inner suburbs is leased at $600 a week, and my boss certainly felt it was fair to put me on $13.50 an hour.
Food costs a shiteload, petrol costs a shiteload, a book generally sets me back $30+, games cost a shitload. The reason we get so up about games is because no one seems capable of providing us with a reasonable explanation as to why a game costs more here EVEN on a digital platform, where you can't pull the "shipping" excuse on us.
Sorry about the wall of text, there, I wont hate you for not reading all of it.
While they are at it someone in Europe explain why 60 bucks games are 70?.
I'm tired of importing games, it's almost prohibitive to own a console if you want a cheap gaming system.
But I agree, I am tired of games needing +50 million dollar budgets.
I'm tired of importing games, it's almost prohibitive to own a console if you want a cheap gaming system.
Would you compliment their timing?Shamanic Rhythm said:
So why do some people pay $50 for them, while others have to pay $100?matrix3509 said:
But I agree, I am tired of games needing +50 million dollar budgets.
You guys are missing the point.
This "inquiry" isn't for us Australians to get a better "deal". The inquiry is here because NO ONE is buying from retailers in Australia. And why would they when they can get the same product online, for half the price and you don't even have to leave the house to get it?
Australians do pay more for games if you buy them at a local bricks and mortar store but the majority don't do that. And that's just for a physical copy, we won't get into cd key sales.
ps. mfw you guys compare our minimum wage to your own, and then realise we still pay the same price for games.
This "inquiry" isn't for us Australians to get a better "deal". The inquiry is here because NO ONE is buying from retailers in Australia. And why would they when they can get the same product online, for half the price and you don't even have to leave the house to get it?
Australians do pay more for games if you buy them at a local bricks and mortar store but the majority don't do that. And that's just for a physical copy, we won't get into cd key sales.
ps. mfw you guys compare our minimum wage to your own, and then realise we still pay the same price for games.
Minimum wage in Norway is about equal to $18 (I don't remember exactly, and most, even extra workers, earn way more than that anyways), and we only pay 60usd for a hardcopy of a new game in stores. (which is why it was cheaper for me to go to the store and buy a hardcopy of D3 instead of paying 60 euros on the net..which is retarded to say the least).Worgen said:
Its not as easy as to just say "they earn more so they can pay more!". Thats not how economics works (with the exception of natural inflation, obviously). Its rather "they earn more so they can buy additional games", or "They earn more so additional people can afford them".
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How dense you have to be to miss the point so hard? It's not about games being too expensive, it's about how one country is arbitrarely being charged more than another even though production cost and distribution cost (digital) are exactly the same as in other parts of the world. It's the same with steam and its policy of one euro= one dollar, which makes games in Europe about 20% more expensive to buy. Irony of this is that the richest country in the world gets better prices than, lets say, Poland, where people earn around 300-400$ a month. Now, they have to pay for their games even more than USA... And people are wondering why in some places piracy is so rampant.matrix3509 said:
This is just blantant unfairness, you charge some people more because you can get away with it. I'm glad finally someone fights back.