Australian Parliament Subpoenas Microsoft, Apple on Price Hikes
- Thread starter Steven Bogos
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Agreed. As a New Zealander this excites me. One reason that commonly gets brought up about this is that Australians earn more than Americans so they can afford it. Even playing devil's advocate and assuming that is a fair argument, why does New Zealand still suffer the same prices compared to our much weaker economy? And as many people have said here, shipping costs are negligible (or non-existant on the internet) yet we have to pay the equivalent of 150% the US prices.CounterAttack said:
I'm glad that it appears that something is being done but am a little surprised not to see EB games (maybe JB Hifi and a few other retailers) who not only charge $90+ (that's for PC games, console games start at $100 usually) for each game but force the publishers to keep that insane price with online platforms when I can log onto the US version of steam and see that $100 game drop to $40.
Glad to see adobe dropping the price of a few of their products. I am tired of deciding between importing from the UK, digital distribution (which is mostly fine for PC games but not for consoles) or pay a ridiculous price which any university student would have a hard time at affording.
Glad to see adobe dropping the price of a few of their products. I am tired of deciding between importing from the UK, digital distribution (which is mostly fine for PC games but not for consoles) or pay a ridiculous price which any university student would have a hard time at affording.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the distributor for starters; the undersea cable is getting upgraded anyway but allocation of that to ISPs and the likes is the job of the government.Akalabeth said:
Therumancer really has no idea what they're talking about, and this is coming from an Australian accountant. There's no point responding to most of your points as they're just hearsay with no factual basis in reality besides 'I came to this conclusion somehow'.
"This doesn't make you a bunch of hicks or anything, and I *DID* mention things being differant in the cities and such. However I've definatly gotten the impression that there are elements in Australia that are incredibly resistant to wanting to run obvious power lines, set up cell towers, and other things through a lot of that territory. I've even heard Aussies refer to politicians as being borderline luddies and imply that guys like Rudd has supporters who thought exactly like that and how he represented kneejerk reactions from that kind of demographich which manages to traditionally make a fight out of pretty much anything progressive."
This in particular was outdated; for starters at least use Gillard and not Rudd, and the vast majority of us (more than half the country) live in metropolitan areas, with the rest having wi-fi or satellite access (or at least will by the end of the NBN, 100% country coverage) if they're in the agricultural business anyway.
Even accounting for the FX rate (now that the AUD is higher than the USD), and forgetting the fact you didn't realise that the USD is used as a common currency in all transactions, as well as the median wage, that doesn't justify anymore than a 25% or so increase in price. What about other countries that have a higher median wage than us? Have you looked at Europe lately? They have to have games exported from a sizeable distance too from manufacturers in France and the likes yet still pay almost the same as North America does.
It's not even like they have to pay GST on these products either as they're less than $1,000 in most cases.
Unfortunately I can't find the exact post, since it was a few weeks ago, but I was reading a Reddit thread about the same subject. Australians do get paid on average 30% more then Americans, however, we pay between 60% and 100% more for basically everything, including food, housing, entertainment, etc.triorph said:
On an unrelated subject, you're quite lucky you were one of the first areas to get the NBN. I live in the Liberal heartland suburb of Western Australia, so my area isn't even listed as "coming within 3 years" on the NBN roll-out map >_>; It's almost funny how obvious it is, since they have announced coverage for all the surrounding areas, leaving mine sticking out like a sore thumb. Can't wait to move XD
Canada gets a lot of crap when it comes to shipping. If I want to buy something from the States and have it shipped, I pay twice as much in shipping to Canada. Or in some cases I pay while US residents get shipping free.Sprinal said:
Now I can understand paying for shipping to cover the costs it would be in taxes when it reaches customs, but when I'm paying 10 dollars in shipping AND the taxes from customs, there's gotta be some exploitation going on if this 3 cent per DVD/game thing is true.
Edit because some people don't like to read.
Exactly. Does this mean the changes will effect New Zealand as well? Because we're getting hit even worse that the Aussies, and this might mean I'll actually get to buy games that aren't double the price. I could buy two games at once now, and I won't feel a niggling sense of guilt if the game isn't as good as I thought it would be.triorph said:
Many of my international gaming friends wouldn't believe we had it that bad, until I showed them a pre-order deal for the new Tomb Raider with the Collector's Edition - while they would be paying $80 for it, I was going to have to pay $212!
Akalabeth said:
Wow, someone whose actually heard of Ultima's precursor.
When it comes to digital prices I believe that a lot of it comes down to digital distributors being forced to be competitive with retail. The bottom line being that when a digital distributor undercuts brick and mortar stores it will oftentimes force them out of business. Closing businesses can have a catastrophic impact on the areas they are in due to unemployment, lost taxes and revenue, etc. Down here in Connecticut there has been a big battle between the state and Amazon (which the state won) to force Amazon.com to collect sales taxes. One big complaint being that not charging taxes (which they arguably should have been) made it impossible for physical businesses to compete, since everything else being equal buying online would not only save a trip (and gas) but also a couple of bucks in taxes. I've also heard it mentioned that Connecticut is considering making online retailers charge Connecticut residents the set retail value for products (the same as a Brick and Mortar store) to level the competitive playing field in order to try and save businesses getting clobbered by online services. This has been applied (in discussion) to games, and other media, given the beating once prosperous chains like Gamestop, Best Buy, and even video rental places have taken. I've heard they are looking to other countries for example of how to limit E-businesses, and protect real world ones.
The bottom line is that my immediate guess would be that Steam is forced to charge whatever the going retail price is in a lot of these regions, as opposed to being allowed to just undercut them. Thus the price varies with whatever the price for the physical product at a game store would be. Which is something that's under discussion for the US as well at least, and it would probably mean the end of things like Steam sales, at least in specific states, if it went through.
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As far as the bit with telecommunications infrastructure goes as I understand things in Australia you don't nessicarly pay flat fee for unlimited internet usage, in many cases your charged by the amount of data you transfer, getting so much as part of your service plan, and then paying a premium above it. Something that is supposed to be integral to how the whole system was set up, and one of the reasons why there have been demands for changeovers. Apparently businesses have to pay this too, and the goverment gets a cut (taxes) along with the ISPs (though it's been a while so I could have that wrong). Meaning that with Australia's way of running internet and the current infrastructure a digital service basically has to pay for the data they are sending, as does the person receiving it, in addition to the price of the product. As opposed to how in the US you pay like $15-$50 depending on the plan and speed you want and your pretty much set to do whatever you want for an entire month, whether you don't use it at all, or decide to transfer hundreds of terraflops of data.
I mean you could be right, it might not make sense, but it's one of the biggest bits of complaining I hear about from Aussies when they talk about gaming and stuff down there, the horrible state of the internet, the cost of using it, and I've definatly heard insinituations it's been affecting the digital businesses.
You do realise that is because it costs more to ship something over the border because its more work right? You cant just throw it in the mail like you can when the destination is in the same country. There is no exploitation going on there just you being ignorant of what you are talking about and making yourself look like a fool.Waaghpowa said:
The thing is though that information is not really accurate. The average wage in the US is massively skewed because of the 1% in the US. If you eliminate them from both countries you will find that that average skyrockets. Hell your minimum wage is two to three times higher then that of the US. The reason you pay more for goods in Australia is because you make more. Its as simple at that. Its the same reason that a game in China or Russia does not cost the same as in the US. Different countries get different prices based on their situations.LittleMikey said:
Now if you all could work on releasing stuff within the same decade as the rest of the world, that'd be great.
You do realise that, by claiming to not acknowledge something, you are in fact acknowledging it?Therumancer said:
Hands up everyone in this thread who put the blame for high prices on Australians and/or the Australian government...
Oh the irony.Therumancer said:
You must have missed someones earlier post where he states that shipping DVD/Games across the Atlantic/Pacific is only about 3 cents per. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/7.400827.16492879 . My post is based on the information he had given.Little Gray said:
No shit going across the border is more expensive than mail, but I would think that crossing entire oceans would be more. If it only costs 3 cents to cross the Atlantic/Pacific, then what excuse is there for the charges cross border? If the costs he claims are true, then it very much is exploitative. They're charging hundreds, if not thousands, percent more than it actually costs.
So before calling people ignorant and fools, perhaps read other posts. I would also like to know what knowledge you have in shipping beyond general assumptions because at no point did I claim to know much about this.
Though I'd imagine that ontop of the 3 cent's to ship a DVD case overseas, it would also cost to take that DVD case over the border and into the country itself, which would be where some of the added cost for Australia games comes from. Some and that doesn't include digital downloads.Waaghpowa said:
The price disparity was justifiable at one point. But the factors that use to cause it, in particular the relative strengths of the AUD and the USD, have either disappeared, or diminished significantly. If paying $110AU for a game was equivalent to $70-80USD, that would be a tolerable markup. But when paying $110AU is equivalent to paying $115US, you're looking at blatant price gouging, especially for digital distribution.
I'd also like to mention the increased costs of digital sales as well. Buying 1 month of WoW gametime from Blizzard is still $23 AUD compared to actually being $15 USD, or at least it is according to my credit card statement.
Then there is Steam, while I appreciate that the prices are much cheaper than they are here for physical products (most of the time), when you hear about pricing in the US there is still a lot of difference. I first noticed during the steam sale, when someone had posted a picture of their sales page, despite the discounts appearing the same the comparative value was waaay off, like 25%-50% more on average, but it went as high as some games being double the price.
I'd taken to getting a private retailer to import games from overseas, in general they buy from overseas and just ship it over themselves. They do them en mass because they know they will be able to own the Australian market and even make a tidy profit in between. Hence why shady little privately owned gaming businesses can still compete with larger chain outlets.
Then there is Steam, while I appreciate that the prices are much cheaper than they are here for physical products (most of the time), when you hear about pricing in the US there is still a lot of difference. I first noticed during the steam sale, when someone had posted a picture of their sales page, despite the discounts appearing the same the comparative value was waaay off, like 25%-50% more on average, but it went as high as some games being double the price.
I'd taken to getting a private retailer to import games from overseas, in general they buy from overseas and just ship it over themselves. They do them en mass because they know they will be able to own the Australian market and even make a tidy profit in between. Hence why shady little privately owned gaming businesses can still compete with larger chain outlets.
I agree that digital downloads should not be priced the same as retail. None of the usual manufacturing has to be done, including the aforementioned shipping, for digital games which is why I never pay full price for digital games.Knife-28 said:
That's known as gray importing and it isn't shady. It's perfectly legal and is in fact encouraged by the Australian government to promote competition.Raioken18 said: