Australia Asks About High Game Prices
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Then maybe you can explain why both Sony and Microsoft raised their prices to $60 this gen while Nintendo left theirs at $50. Do ALL the stores just happen to agree on the price?rolfwesselius said:
No, hardware manufacturers set the standard price and retailers follow it.
This.Alleged_Alec said:
Minimum wages have nothing to do with it.
The difference can be partly explained by a reluctance everywhere to lower prices when the currency becomes more valuable.
So the Australian dollar may be more valuable than the USD now, but retailers will hope that the public won't perceive it that way.
All money devaluates over time and and jiggling the prices down and then up again is seen as the greater evil.
It could be that the current price point really is the optimum: fewer, but bigger sales for australian retailers and distributers.
Videogames, like DVDs and music are only worth what the fan will give for it and every dollar made is a dollar profit in those industries. If Australians stop buying the prices will go down.
Where do you even live nintendo games are 60$ hereCrono1973 said:
Hardware manufacturers ARENT publishers
IF the manufacturers raise the licensing fee´s with 10$ publishers need to raise them with 10$
which will cause the retailers to charge 10 extra.
Dude it's the Labor Party. Those guys would spend a million on a commitee to find out which breakfast cereal Julia Gillard should have for breakfast and then still fuck up a conclusion.DVS BSTrD said:
That being said, this issue has been a problem for too long and kudos to them for even looking like they're doing something about it.
I live in the US and Nintendo Wii games are $50, everywhere unless a store is running a sale. Also, if you don't think Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony publish games, you need to check again. You also said that stores set the prices, that was incorrect, hardware manufacturers set the prices and the stores follow those prices.rolfwesselius said:
Here's something to think about, EA would probably love to sell Wii games for $60. Why don't they?
Talking as someone from Australia who has friends in small business, I can tell you exactly why game prices are so high.
Bloody high taxes.
And I don't mean on games, I mean on small businesses. The government takes so much red tape money from businesses so they can "make sure they're working in the interests of their consumers" meaning they get paid to say "Everything's in order here, this merchant is selling his wares fairly and by the book." Then there's advertising and trademarks. You need permission from a radio company just to play music in your store. And how do you get permission? By paying them money. That's why EB has their own "TV channel" in their stores which plays their own music and videos. But think about everything else that's copyrighted or trademark that they have to use to sell their stuff.
Then there's rent and franchise costs. If you own a franchise, you have to pay a huge chunk to the company for using their name and methods. And my gosh the rent! As much as $1500 a week. For many businesses, this could be two days worth of profits, and that's not even counting all the previous costs. And then wages, obviously, which is one of the larger of their fees so many will have one person on all day weekdays and two on weekends unless it's a large store. That's also why they push pre-owned games because the only loss is what they pay to get it, which is like 20%, rather than most of it which they pay to publishers for new games.
So I can understand why costs are so high. I don't like it but if I really want the game I'm willing to pay it for the small business.
Bloody high taxes.
And I don't mean on games, I mean on small businesses. The government takes so much red tape money from businesses so they can "make sure they're working in the interests of their consumers" meaning they get paid to say "Everything's in order here, this merchant is selling his wares fairly and by the book." Then there's advertising and trademarks. You need permission from a radio company just to play music in your store. And how do you get permission? By paying them money. That's why EB has their own "TV channel" in their stores which plays their own music and videos. But think about everything else that's copyrighted or trademark that they have to use to sell their stuff.
Then there's rent and franchise costs. If you own a franchise, you have to pay a huge chunk to the company for using their name and methods. And my gosh the rent! As much as $1500 a week. For many businesses, this could be two days worth of profits, and that's not even counting all the previous costs. And then wages, obviously, which is one of the larger of their fees so many will have one person on all day weekdays and two on weekends unless it's a large store. That's also why they push pre-owned games because the only loss is what they pay to get it, which is like 20%, rather than most of it which they pay to publishers for new games.
So I can understand why costs are so high. I don't like it but if I really want the game I'm willing to pay it for the small business.
Not sure where they get the figures. I know when I was doing my apprenticeship I was earning $5.20 an hour as a first year - that was....let me do the math...roughly ten years ago - our own first year gets paid $8.20 an hour nowadays. Before I was an apprentice I was earning $16.40 as a kitchen hand/oyster shucker which I suppose would translate to $18.00 now but the wage I had was considered good money not minimum wage at all!Worgen said:
Minimum wage is $15 an hour for an adult - over 21.Baldr said:
However industries like hospitality have 0 tipping.
Also average wage is inflated by what we call 'a two speed economy'. The people in the mining sector make 6 digit salaries for even unskilled labour and people everywhere else have much lower salaries.
My $AUS1 buys around $US1 so why do the same digital products cost twice as much for me?
It's market discrimination and price gouging.
The high minimum wage is merely a symptom of a deeper underlying problem with the Australian economy, which is that owning your residence is an extremely shrewd move if you can afford it as the government won't charge capital gains tax on your primary residence. For the people that can afford even barely by the skin of their teeth, it it is no-brainer investment choice that drives up the prices of rent, which encourages more people to buy their homes, which drives up the rent even further in a vicious unending cycle of boom and bust.Judgedread said:
So don't blame the poor schmucks on minimum wage, because the problem is that Australia is addicted to middle-class welfare, and neither side of our political field is going to do anything about it for the foreseeable future.
Sigh.....ACman said:
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/11/why-do-videogames-cost-so-much/
QUOTE:
?One of the main reasons things like books, software, and DVDs cost more in Australia than overseas is something called ?parallel import restrictions?,? claims Mark. ?These rules stop someone buying the product cheaply ? but legitimately ? overseas and importing it themselves to sell locally at a higher price, but still less than what current suppliers charge.?
This may not directly affect the price of games, but when retailers aren?t been given the opportunity to undercut prices via imports, publishers suddenly don?t have the motivation to price competitively. It?s the nature of business ? if there?s nothing to stop you from selling a product at a higher price, why sell the product for less?
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/11/why-do-videogames-cost-so-much/rolfwesselius said:
Quote:
"So who?s the villain of the piece? Who is responsible? It can?t be the retailers. Speaking to Mark Langford earlier this month, he revealed that the margins on video games at retail are low, and selling a new game at $79.95 is essentially equivalent to selling at cost price.
Is it the publisher? Well, common sense would suggest that if the retailers aren?t scooping the cream then the distributor must be raking it in from the extra dollars consumers pay in stores."
I love the jokes about our countries wild life being out to kill everything else on the planet. Cracks me up.ForgottenPr0digy said:
This is actually the answer. There was a time when the AUD was like 60 on the USD. That was when these prices were set.DVS BSTrD said:
Now that there is far more equivalence between the USD and the AUD, charging 100 bucks is ridiculous. But they didn't adjust the prices because....They could get away with it.