Australian game prices, my mission to lower them.

[jezz8me]

I don't know how many Aussies here watch good game on ABC2 but they brought up an interesting issue. Australians pay much more for games than other countries. Some people prefer to buy games in stores (I one of them) but it seems if you buy online via stores such as steam you can get games much cheaper.

They talked about how people buying games from overseas to get them cheaper can be bad for the Austrlian game distributors and stores but that got me thinking. Sure buying overseas will harm the Australian market but i say do it. We can force the retailers into a form of deficit and they will see it is because it is because games are cheaper overseas. Therefor they will be forced to lower prices. According to GG the reason for the prices are because we ae willing to pay that so show we aren't and prices will drop.

So who will rally to my cause? Will you discuss this topic and find a way to lower game prices? Will you do the right thing for our pockets? Are you tired of paying to much for games? Are you tired of me constantly starting threads?




LINK TO GOOD GAME EPISODE:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/

 

[H0ncho]

The reason why a part of an industry has high prices is rarely because they are evil, and the reason why other parts of it has low prices is not because they are virtous. In 99% of the cases the higher prices are due to different market conditions.

 

[JakubK666]

I don't know about Aussies but here in UK, a brand new game costs about £28-£32 if you dig on Ebay and £40 in every other case.Assuming that £=$$, that's about an extra (£40>$80) $20 we're being ripped off.And don't get me started on European Releases.Even a day or two matters but for fuck's sake, we're still wating for Rock Band!

 

[Kermi]

So what was the conclusion anyway? Game prices went up to $80-$100 back in the day when the Australian dollar wasn't doing well against the US dollar, and haven't come back down because we got so used to paying $100 for a new PS2 game that they'd figure we'd have no problem paying $120 for a new PS3 game.

 

[Melaisis]

Publish your own games at lower rates, heh. That'll force the market to drag down in order to keep up with your competition.

Providing someone actually buys them.

 

[fix-the-spade]

some Xbox 360 and PS3 games cost £50 here, that's nearly $100 US or $110 Australian (based on today's rates).

So we're paying even more than you Aussie's and double what the americans are getting charged. Ouch...

It also shows how acceptable price fixing seems to be.

 

[hailmagus]

some Xbox 360 and PS3 games cost £50 here, that's nearly $100 US or $110 Australian (based on today's rates).

So we're paying even more than you Aussie's and double what the americans are getting charged. Ouch...

It also shows how acceptable price fixing seems to be.

i don't know of *one single* video game here that costs $100 brand new. any brand title new usually costs $60. for the most part, i don't buy a game that's over $30. unless there's no doubt in my mind that it will be... orgasmic (excuse the phrase)

 

[Goofonian]

I'm down with the buying overseas to save money stuff.
I don't think I've bought a DS game recently that wasnt the US version from playasia.
Not only is it generally at least $20 cheaper, but the US versions are usually released a good couple months earlier, if not more.

The problem is that console games are region locked, so I can't buy US wii/xbox/ps games cos they won't work. I could import from europe, which is the same region as aus, but there's no point because by the time you get the game shipped over and exchange the money they aren't any cheaper anyway.

If someone can come up with a solution for reducing the price of console games (short of buying an american console and a power transformer) then I'm all ears.

 

[stompy]

I'd love to join, but I've got 2 prohibitive factors:
Without a credit card, I can't pay for imported games; and
I'm a console gamer, so I've also got that region locking pain to deal with.

Good luck though.

 

[Fire Daemon]

Will not work with consoles unless you use a thermware upgrade but then you can just get a burnt copy from your mate.

Still good luck with your Aussie PC game sales boycott.

 

[Saskwach]

Developers or ppublishers that have a problem with importing enrage me. Did you make those game discs in China to cut your costs? So how is my use of the global economy any different?

I'm down with the buying overseas to save money stuff.
I don't think I've bought a DS game recently that wasnt the US version from playasia.
Not only is it generally at least $20 cheaper, but the US versions are usually released a good couple months earlier, if not more.

The problem is that console games are region locked, so I can't buy US wii/xbox/ps games cos they won't work. I could import from europe, which is the same region as aus, but there's no point because by the time you get the game shipped over and exchange the money they aren't any cheaper anyway.

If someone can come up with a solution for reducing the price of console games (short of buying an american console and a power transformer) then I'm all ears.

I'm told PS3 is region free. Region free is a good solution but it requires console manufacturers to do the hard yards for something most customers won't ever notice.

 

[doughnut]

I'm a console gamer, so I've also got that region locking pain to deal with.

PS3 games are region free. I plan on importing GTA4 from the US as I see absolutely no reason what so ever as to why I should pay twice as much for the same game.

 

[PurpleRain]

It's terrible that they cost so much. $100-120 for a game is going a bit far. I would wait for prices to come down but Bioshock's still about $70.

 

[Janus Vesta]

some Xbox 360 and PS3 games cost £50 here, that's nearly $100 US or $110 Australian (based on today's rates).

So we're paying even more than you Aussie's and double what the americans are getting charged. Ouch...

It also shows how acceptable price fixing seems to be.

What about us Europeans? We pay 70 Eyro (my keyboard is old) thats about $110 (Actual = 109.563 US Dollars). 50 British Pound(s) = 99.1867 US Dollar(s). 120 Australian Dollar(s) = 109.18 US Dollar(s). Minimum wage in America is about $10. It is 7.50 Euro (in Ireland, that's high) 7.50 Euro(s) = 11.7389 US Dollar(s). So we get the same wages but pay more for our games. All conversions from: http://www.gocurrency.com/

 

[Janus Vesta]

The Xbox is region free, you need to play on 60 FPS insted of 50. PS3 is fully region free. All handheld consoles are region free.