Electronic Arts Faces Anger Over Major Price Hikes in India

[O maestre]

The best part is that you're continuing to ignore chunks of my replies, because you keep telling me how I'm rich when I've already told you that I spent most of my life actually LIVING in the very poverty that you actually know fuck-all about. You trying to tell ME what living conditions are like over there is like an american telling a chinese guy about chinese food. It's embarrassing, stop it.

There is no point in trying to explain anything to you because you just ignore most of the post.
I have to keep this post short in case you decide to skip most of it, sorry. If I try to discuss too many things you'll just ignore it (again).

Except you've done pretty much the same thing you claim CriticKitten has done by ignoring pretty much all of the very valid, very strong arguments that he's made. You pointed out things while crying "SEE? THEY PAY THE SAME AS WE DO!" for things, while failing to provide any counterargument to anything he's posted.
CriticKitten supplied a response to the pricings you've provided, yet you ignored that. He pointed out the massive disparities between our economies, which you've ignored. Living quality, ignored. Market, ignored. See where I'm going with this?

Don't start accusing others of ignoring parts of someone's post when you're doing exactly the same thing.

All my evidence of Indian stores charging the same for all imported products made by international brands as the rest of the world, ignored.

Logical fallacy trying to point out that games are unlike all those other products, ignored. Hell, I pointed out that gaming consoles are NO cheaper in India than anywhere else, they didn't have to "adjust the price so those poor, poverty-stricken people could afford it", but when it comes to games (you know, those things that you already need to own a console/pc to PLAY) then the rules change?

It's alright for business software, gaming peripherals, PC hardware, clothing products, cellphones, cars, shoes, sports equipment, etc from the big brands to cost international prices - but as soon as we bring up games, then I need a fucking lecture about economics, poverty, minimum wages, GDP and other crap? You see nothing strange about games being 70-80% cheaper in India, games that aren't made locally (like goddamn bread or milk) but imported from foreign nations like all other big-brand products I listed above? FYI digital distribution is still in the stone age in India due to horrific internet, almost everyone buys retail copies that have to be shipped in.

Again:
http://www.flipkart.com
http://www.theitdepot.com
http://www.techshop.in

I don't know what kind of people I'm dealing with here, either blind or plain crazy.

Dude what you are not getting id that this is a stupid move from a basic business standpoint. I'll do this step by step okay. Lets say you sell blenders, yes blenders all other blenders are priced at 10 for the local market, blenders around the world might cost an average of 50, but at this local geographical location every single blender for the past years has sold for 10. Then all of the sudden you jack up your blenders to 50, now you are the only salesman of blenders that is selling them at 5 times the local market price.... isn't that dumb, isn't that basically handing the entire market share to your competitors? Why should I as a consumer buy your blender at 50 when the other... erh blender publishers(lol) are still selling them for 10, as a consumer i'd feel ripped off and would rather buy the other blenders still priced at 10 or... Pirate(?) your blender, okay my analogy is falling apart, but do you get it now?

also just for another comparison, games in my region average at 85-95 USD, outrageous yes but that is the average price of this local market, so there can be no boycott of any publisher, but if EA games all of the sudden cost 380 USD no body would buy from EA

 

[RicoADF]

While I can understand those in India being annoyed at the extreme price hike, the EA guy actually has a point. It's bringing them in line with everyone else. It's not that it's unfair, they've just been getting it significantly cheaper than everyone else up until now, not to mention the people that have been exploiting the system outside of India.

Perhaps if they sell games in store, they can keep the price from before, or at least not increase it as much? Would mean that people from outside India wouldn't exploit that anyway.

Well if their bringing the price in line with everyone else then Australia and New Zealand should have price drops since we're paying double the US. Whats that? EA won't stop ripping other countries off because of our income? You can't have it both ways EA, either do regional pricing or one set price, not a selective hybrid.

 

[O maestre]

While I can understand those in India being annoyed at the extreme price hike, the EA guy actually has a point. It's bringing them in line with everyone else. It's not that it's unfair, they've just been getting it significantly cheaper than everyone else up until now, not to mention the people that have been exploiting the system outside of India.

Perhaps if they sell games in store, they can keep the price from before, or at least not increase it as much? Would mean that people from outside India wouldn't exploit that anyway.

Well if their bringing the price in line with everyone else then Australia and New Zealand should have price drops since we're paying double the US. Whats that? EA won't stop ripping other countries off because of our income? You can't have it both ways EA, either do regional pricing or one set price, not a selective hybrid.

they can do what they want, they are not accountable by any law to provide equal pricing, the only people they are accountable is their profit margin, their board members and whether they like it or not their consumers. They maybe morally wrong for it, and downright stupid in this case, unless consumers keep buying thus justifying their decisions by default

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Hmmm, a lot of people don't seem to understand regional pricing. The overall exchange rate in inconsequential, no one is working on a world economy. There isn't only a single currency. Perhaps we should also be super pissed the person quoted above is only paying 9000rs ($149) for their rent when I'm paying $975 (58838rs). They aren't the entitled one's you jerks, you are the entitled ones. It's called shared suffering and the general consensus is that if you have to pay $60 for a game, they should have to pay the same even though they live in a different country with a totally different monetary value and economic level. You think it's being fair that they pay what you pay, but when they make a 10th of what you make in terms of exchange rate, it's not actually fair.

But, it is a leisure activity, and since people take leisure really seriously, it will only increase piracy rates dramatically. So, good for EA, you have made a nation of pirates because they are not a nation of rich people. Now they'll have an excuse for more DRM, we should all be happy about that, right?

This man all the way. India is a country that has massive wealth divides with the caste system still playing a major role in people's income and job prospects. A lot of the country does not have the money to buy basic food or water, much less games and those who do buy games at this moment are probably sacrificing a bit of food and financial stability for something LESS IMPORTANT THAN ACTUALLY SURVIVING. Now they are jacking up the price so that it goes from the top 20% or so (complete guess for the sake of argument ) to the top .1% (again, complete guess but the general trend is applicable). Yeah because that won't force a nation where we outsource a lot of tech support to start pirating everything on the interent.

EA, keep in mind that not all of the world is a first world nation with high income. India's average annual income is around 1000 USD, that should put something into perpective you greedy fools.

 

[RicoADF]

While I can understand those in India being annoyed at the extreme price hike, the EA guy actually has a point. It's bringing them in line with everyone else. It's not that it's unfair, they've just been getting it significantly cheaper than everyone else up until now, not to mention the people that have been exploiting the system outside of India.

Perhaps if they sell games in store, they can keep the price from before, or at least not increase it as much? Would mean that people from outside India wouldn't exploit that anyway.

Well if their bringing the price in line with everyone else then Australia and New Zealand should have price drops since we're paying double the US. Whats that? EA won't stop ripping other countries off because of our income? You can't have it both ways EA, either do regional pricing or one set price, not a selective hybrid.

they can do what they want, they are not accountable by any law to provide equal pricing, the only people they are accountable is their profit margin, their board members and whether they like it or not their consumers. They maybe morally wrong for it, and downright stupid in this case, unless consumers keep buying thus justifying their decisions by default

Actually..... there are laws in Australia against price gouging, price fixing (an industry setting a price higher to make more profit and agreeing to all do it, sound familiar?) and other such crap, which is why there's currently a commission investigating Microsoft, Adobe and others. The moment it started Adobe dropped their prices in half, knowing that they were breaking the law obviously. Not every nation allows corporations free reign like the US does. Privacy, fair trading and prices are regulated in most countries to some extent.

 

[O maestre]

While I can understand those in India being annoyed at the extreme price hike, the EA guy actually has a point. It's bringing them in line with everyone else. It's not that it's unfair, they've just been getting it significantly cheaper than everyone else up until now, not to mention the people that have been exploiting the system outside of India.

Perhaps if they sell games in store, they can keep the price from before, or at least not increase it as much? Would mean that people from outside India wouldn't exploit that anyway.

Well if their bringing the price in line with everyone else then Australia and New Zealand should have price drops since we're paying double the US. Whats that? EA won't stop ripping other countries off because of our income? You can't have it both ways EA, either do regional pricing or one set price, not a selective hybrid.

they can do what they want, they are not accountable by any law to provide equal pricing, the only people they are accountable is their profit margin, their board members and whether they like it or not their consumers. They maybe morally wrong for it, and downright stupid in this case, unless consumers keep buying thus justifying their decisions by default

Actually..... there are laws in Australia against price gouging, price fixing (an industry setting a price higher to make more profit and agreeing to all do it, sound familiar?) and other such crap, which is why there's currently a commission investigating Microsoft, Adobe and others. The moment it started Adobe dropped their prices in half, knowing that they were breaking the law obviously. Not every nation allows corporations free reign like the US does. Privacy, fair trading and prices are regulated in most countries to some extent.

Of course you are right, there are some legal boundaries as well as socio-economic and competitive pricing boundaries that have to be taken into account, but within those limits they can do as they please and are not held down by any kind of morality that is not force-ably imposed. Like you said the size and shape of the market is different for every region.

 

[RicoADF]

Of course you are right, there are some legal boundaries as well as socio-economic and competitive pricing boundaries that have to be taken into account, but within those limits they can do as they please and are not held down by any kind of morality that is not force-ably imposed. Like you said the size and shape of the market is different for every region.

Agreed, for the most part the real controlling factor is the customer and sales rather than anything else. It doesn't bother me personally, thanks to steam etc retail here has dropped prices drastically, I can get a brand new release PS3 game for $69-79, where they use to be $110 minimum. PC games can get even cheaper. And if that's not good enough, theres always oz gameshop, Green Man Gaming etc where I can always buy a game (weather physical or digital) for excelent prices. Honestly other than a few pre-orders for the collectors edition (very rare now adays), I never go into an EB games anymore, online just offers so much more for far better prices.

 

[Regless]

You people can't be telling me with a straight face that you were happy paying $60 for the same game that someone in India (or VPN'ing from India) could buy for $16.50. Yes, that's what RS999 converts to - $16.50 for an AAA title.

Look, I'm all for cheap games but that is just unfair because that price isn't available anywhere else. I'm aware India has a vastly lower GDP compared to US but...come on, that is absurdly cheap.
Especially considering us New Zealand folk have to pay $90 NZD ($69 USD, or RS4187) for games while people from India scoot along paying less than a quarter of that price.

Are you kidding me? Look. if the East Indians had a minimum wage as good as what we have in the the west they wouldn't be complaining. Their minimum wage varies from 118 rupees ($2.18) per day in Bihar to 185 rupees ($3.40) per day. Not even on my worst day at my cruddiest job did I make that little. Their housing costs less, their inflation is different. Why not price the Indians's merchandise according to Indian costs of living. It's absurd to expect them to adhere to western standards of pricing when their wages are so low they'd be slave labor if they worked for that in a western country.

 

[Yuuki]

Dude what you are not getting id that this is a stupid move from a basic business standpoint. I'll do this step by step okay. Lets say you sell blenders, yes blenders all other blenders are priced at 10 for the local market, blenders around the world might cost an average of 50, but at this local geographical location every single blender for the past years has sold for 10. Then all of the sudden you jack up your blenders to 50, now you are the only salesman of blenders that is selling them at 5 times the local market price.... isn't that dumb, isn't that basically handing the entire market share to your competitors? Why should I as a consumer buy your blender at 50 when the other... erh blender publishers(lol) are still selling them for 10, as a consumer i'd feel ripped off and would rather buy the other blenders still priced at 10 or... Pirate(?) your blender, okay my analogy is falling apart, but do you get it now?

also just for another comparison, games in my region average at 85-95 USD, outrageous yes but that is the average price of this local market, so there can be no boycott of any publisher, but if EA games all of the sudden cost 380 USD no body would buy from EA

So let me keep this simple, I'm going to call the foreign company which imports blenders "MagiBlend":
> MagiBlend blenders cost $10
> Local blenders cost $10
> MagiBlend decides to jack prices up to $50
> Nobody buys MagiBlend blenders now because local blenders are still $10, way cheaper

Good, makes sense.

Now lets apply the same logic to games, keeping in mind that EA :

> Imported games cost $16
> Local games cost...oh wait, there are no games made locally

Your argument >>> window. Sooner or later other companies are going to catch-onto EA's standard. FYI Steam already charges directly US-to-Indian converted prices to Indian gamers by default, there are no goddamn regional discounts. So when EA does the same thing with retail copies, shit hits the fan eh? Of course, of course, because Steam sells digitally and those prices obviously fly under the radar. Heh, figures.
But I shouldn't state too many obvious facts and inconsistencies, people's minds may get blown -_-

Are you kidding me? Look. if the East Indians had a minimum wage as good as what we have in the the west they wouldn't be complaining. Their minimum wage varies from 118 rupees ($2.18) per day in Bihar to 185 rupees ($3.40) per day. Not even on my worst day at my cruddiest job did I make that little. Their housing costs less, their inflation is different. Why not price the Indians's merchandise according to Indian costs of living. It's absurd to expect them to adhere to western standards of pricing when their wages are so low they'd be slave labor if they worked for that in a western country.

"Why not price the Indian's merchandise according to Indian costs of living".
Consoles and games aren't Indian merchandise. They are imported merchandise. Rent, cost of living, food, clothes, locally-made shit will be priced according to the standard of living and people's incomes. Imported shit will NOT be priced that way, and that's how it's always been in every 3rd world country ever.

Lets explore some more logical fallacies in your argument shall we?
Firstly: What do you need to play games? Something to insert the disc into. You can't play a game with just the game box. You need a console or a gaming-grade PC.

How much does an XBox 360, PS3 or gaming-grade PC cost in India? 25,000 Rupees at the absolute cheapest, nothing less, more along the lines of 30,000-35,000 if you're looking for bundles and a decent hard drive. Look it up.

So how the HELL did someone earning 185 rupees per day afford a console to begin with? Uh oh, logical fallacy alarm. Before anyone plays the incoming "oh they bought a used console for much less" - then simply buy a used game, those will always be around. "Oh they borrowed a console from a friend" - then simply borrow their games too, Sherlock. There's still a moon-sized hole in your argument.

It makes as much sense as people complaining that blu-ray's are too expensive when nobody in the entire area can even afford a 1080p-capable TV to begin with.

Or people complaining that replacement parts for BMW/Mercedes cars are too expensive when nobody in the region can even hope to afford a car like that.

Get the idea?

These utterly-poor people on minimum wages everyone in this thread is talking about - games getting more expensive are the LEAST of their problems, gaming and electronic entertainment as a whole is something they can only barely afford after months of saving up. Being able to afford a basic TV and 4-seater car is considered an accomplishment, let alone buying a current-gen console LOL. Do you seriously think games getting more expensive affect them in the slightest? People struggling to get on a week-by-week basis, deep in financial troubles and hardship?

Since when has EA, Microsoft, Sony, ANY of the big companies lowered their prices by 70-80% on products so poor people could afford it while keeping it expensive for every 1st world country? What the hell kind of sense does that make?

Are you people aware that petrol costs MORE in India compared to US?? source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EP.PMP.SGAS.CD
Of course it does, because most of it is imported from the big foreign oil giants. It's not made locally. How are retail games any different??

Really, fuck this, I'm done here.

 

[O maestre]

Dude what you are not getting id that this is a stupid move from a basic business standpoint. I'll do this step by step okay. Lets say you sell blenders, yes blenders all other blenders are priced at 10 for the local market, blenders around the world might cost an average of 50, but at this local geographical location every single blender for the past years has sold for 10. Then all of the sudden you jack up your blenders to 50, now you are the only salesman of blenders that is selling them at 5 times the local market price.... isn't that dumb, isn't that basically handing the entire market share to your competitors? Why should I as a consumer buy your blender at 50 when the other... erh blender publishers(lol) are still selling them for 10, as a consumer i'd feel ripped off and would rather buy the other blenders still priced at 10 or... Pirate(?) your blender, okay my analogy is falling apart, but do you get it now?

also just for another comparison, games in my region average at 85-95 USD, outrageous yes but that is the average price of this local market, so there can be no boycott of any publisher, but if EA games all of the sudden cost 380 USD no body would buy from EA

So let me keep this simple, I'm going to call the foreign company which imports blenders "MagiBlend":
> MagiBlend blenders cost $10
> Local blenders cost $10
> MagiBlend decides to jack prices up to $50
> Nobody buys MagiBlend blenders now because local blenders are still $10, way cheaper

Good, makes sense.

Now lets apply the same logic to games, keeping in mind that EA :

> Imported games cost $16
> Local games cost...oh wait, there are no games made locally

Your argument >>> window. Sooner or later other companies are going to catch-onto EA's standard. FYI Steam already charges directly US-to-Indian converted prices to Indian gamers by default, there are no goddamn regional discounts. So when EA does the same thing with retail copies, shit hits the fan eh? Of course, of course, because Steam sells digitally and those prices obviously fly under the radar. Heh, figures.
But I shouldn't state too many obvious facts and inconsistencies, people's minds may get blown -_-

Oh dear did the word local trip you up... my bad... okay EA is not the only game publisher in the world we are only talking about EA jacking prices up, microsoft, activision-blizzard, sony, take 2, ubisoft capcom, namco, telltale, konami ect all these publishers have are still adjusted to the ... sigh im going to have to use the "l" word again, they are all adjusted to the local market

im going to say it again EA does not make up 100% of the market, the market is 100% imported, but it is not 100% EA. How is that for fucking obvious. local market does not equal local prices, I cannot simplify any further I though my prior attempt was simple enough guess I was wrong.

everyone that is competing with them with similar products are priced at 16$ EA pricing it at 60$ is dumb, get it!!!?? because it is more expensive than their competition!

 

[SinisterGehe]

Still less then the actual exchange rate.
But apparently it's only okay for corporations to find the cheapest solutions.

Does exchange rate matter when we are discussing the living standards of the region?


Like in America games cost about the same as they do in Finland (I know, I was there for 2 weeks just now) - Tho I will still make a winning after the currency exchange rates being what they are atm.
BUT! Food products, consumer electronics and such were 30-60% cheaper compared to Finland. I like to take an example: 12 cans of Coca-Cola ~3-4$ Finland 8-9? = 10-12$

Prices are set by the baseline standard of living in the region and the consumers willingness to pay. If I would need to pay 1/3rd of my rent for a game (Which would be ~200? = ~260$) Steam sales, indies and piracy for games not on steam/desura/gog start to seems like the more valid option.

I can't even remember when I bought a physical game from a shop last time. Having a box means nothing when you still are just going to use the keycode inside. And receipt/bank transaction is still as valid proof of purchase here as any physical product.

 

[ash_mohak]

Dude what you are not getting id that this is a stupid move from a basic business standpoint. I'll do this step by step okay. Lets say you sell blenders, yes blenders all other blenders are priced at 10 for the local market, blenders around the world might cost an average of 50, but at this local geographical location every single blender for the past years has sold for 10. Then all of the sudden you jack up your blenders to 50, now you are the only salesman of blenders that is selling them at 5 times the local market price.... isn't that dumb, isn't that basically handing the entire market share to your competitors? Why should I as a consumer buy your blender at 50 when the other... erh blender publishers(lol) are still selling them for 10, as a consumer i'd feel ripped off and would rather buy the other blenders still priced at 10 or... Pirate(?) your blender, okay my analogy is falling apart, but do you get it now?

also just for another comparison, games in my region average at 85-95 USD, outrageous yes but that is the average price of this local market, so there can be no boycott of any publisher, but if EA games all of the sudden cost 380 USD no body would buy from EA

So let me keep this simple, I'm going to call the foreign company which imports blenders "MagiBlend":
> MagiBlend blenders cost $10
> Local blenders cost $10
> MagiBlend decides to jack prices up to $50
> Nobody buys MagiBlend blenders now because local blenders are still $10, way cheaper

Good, makes sense.

Now lets apply the same logic to games, keeping in mind that EA :

> Imported games cost $16
> Local games cost...oh wait, there are no games made locally

Your argument >>> window. Sooner or later other companies are going to catch-onto EA's standard. FYI Steam already charges directly US-to-Indian converted prices to Indian gamers by default, there are no goddamn regional discounts. So when EA does the same thing with retail copies, shit hits the fan eh? Of course, of course, because Steam sells digitally and those prices obviously fly under the radar. Heh, figures.
But I shouldn't state too many obvious facts and inconsistencies, people's minds may get blown -_-

Are you kidding me? Look. if the East Indians had a minimum wage as good as what we have in the the west they wouldn't be complaining. Their minimum wage varies from 118 rupees ($2.18) per day in Bihar to 185 rupees ($3.40) per day. Not even on my worst day at my cruddiest job did I make that little. Their housing costs less, their inflation is different. Why not price the Indians's merchandise according to Indian costs of living. It's absurd to expect them to adhere to western standards of pricing when their wages are so low they'd be slave labor if they worked for that in a western country.

"Why not price the Indian's merchandise according to Indian costs of living".
Consoles and games aren't Indian merchandise. They are imported merchandise. Rent, cost of living, food, clothes, locally-made shit will be priced according to the standard of living and people's incomes. Imported shit will NOT be priced that way, and that's how it's always been in every 3rd world country ever.

Lets explore some more logical fallacies in your argument shall we?
Firstly: What do you need to play games? Something to insert the disc into. You can't play a game with just the game box. You need a console or a gaming-grade PC.

How much does an XBox 360, PS3 or gaming-grade PC cost in India? 25,000 Rupees at the absolute cheapest, nothing less, more along the lines of 30,000-35,000 if you're looking for bundles and a decent hard drive. Look it up.

So how the HELL did someone earning 185 rupees per day afford a console to begin with? Uh oh, logical fallacy alarm. Before anyone plays the incoming "oh they bought a used console for much less" - then simply buy a used game, those will always be around. "Oh they borrowed a console from a friend" - then simply borrow their games too, Sherlock. There's still a moon-sized hole in your argument.

It makes as much sense as people complaining that blu-ray's are too expensive when nobody in the entire area can even afford a 1080p-capable TV to begin with.

Or people complaining that replacement parts for BMW/Mercedes cars are too expensive when nobody in the region can even hope to afford a car like that.

Get the idea?

These utterly-poor people on minimum wages everyone in this thread is talking about - games getting more expensive are the LEAST of their problems, gaming and electronic entertainment as a whole is something they can only barely afford after months of saving up. Being able to afford a basic TV and 4-seater car is considered an accomplishment, let alone buying a current-gen console LOL. Do you seriously think games getting more expensive affect them in the slightest? People struggling to get on a week-by-week basis, deep in financial troubles and hardship?

Since when has EA, Microsoft, Sony, ANY of the big companies lowered their prices by 70-80% on products so poor people could afford it while keeping it expensive for every 1st world country? What the hell kind of sense does that make?

Are you people aware that petrol costs MORE in India compared to US?? source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EP.PMP.SGAS.CD
Of course it does, because most of it is imported from the big foreign oil giants. It's not made locally. How are retail games any different??

Really, fuck this, I'm done here.

After reading through all your posts... You're just basing your opinions on the price shown on one indian website... Please explain to me, how did i manage to get my xbox360 for 13,500 INR if its 25,000 at the minimum as you state it?

Also, as i explained in my post earlier, games sold retail here have clearly printed on them "MFD in India", hence, low manufacturing cost as well.

 

[Regless]

Lets explore some more logical fallacies in your argument shall we?
Firstly: What do you need to play games? Something to insert the disc into. You can't play a game with just the game box. You need a console or a gaming-grade PC.

How much does an XBox 360, PS3 or gaming-grade PC cost in India? 25,000 Rupees at the absolute cheapest, nothing less, more along the lines of 30,000-35,000 if you're looking for bundles and a decent hard drive. Look it up.

So how the HELL did someone earning 185 rupees per day afford a console to begin with? Uh oh, logical fallacy alarm. Before anyone plays the incoming "oh they bought a used console for much less" - then simply buy a used game, those will always be around. "Oh they borrowed a console from a friend" - then simply borrow their games too, Sherlock. There's still a moon-sized hole in your argument.


It makes as much sense as people complaining that blu-ray's are too expensive when nobody in the entire area can even afford a 1080p-capable TV to begin with.

Or people complaining that replacement parts for BMW/Mercedes cars are too expensive when nobody in the region can even hope to afford a car like that.

Get the idea?

Some people make more than minimum wage. This isn't a logical fallacy. It's you assuming everyone makes the same amount, thus making yourself look foolish. Also many families stick together longer to save up. Family size is also larger in India which further aids income. Again, your holding to western standards, which I already told you was quite ignorant on your part. I'm not really sure why you refuse to think but you really should give it a try.

These utterly-poor people on minimum wages everyone in this thread is talking about - games getting more expensive are the LEAST of their problems, gaming and electronic entertainment as a whole is something they can only barely afford after months of saving up. Being able to afford a basic TV and 4-seater car is considered an accomplishment, let alone buying a current-gen console LOL. Do you seriously think games getting more expensive affect them in the slightest? People struggling to get on a week-by-week basis, deep in financial troubles and hardship?

Since when has EA, Microsoft, Sony, ANY of the big companies lowered their prices by 70-80% on products so poor people could afford it while keeping it expensive for every 1st world country? What the hell kind of sense does that make?

Never... Although why you think that makes a 200+% increase is all good is beyond me. As for business sense, it's very simple. Does the cost of a game offset the distribution cost in the country. Given that there's only about 15 cents of material in a dvd, odds are pretty good it does. If not I can sympathize with them raising the price a reasonable amount until it made more sense. At the end of the day selling a dozen games at 16$ is better than selling one at 70$ Even a child can understand this. Again thinking would a huge help to you in this case.

Are you people aware that petrol costs MORE in India compared to US?? source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EP.PMP.SGAS.CD
Of course it does, because most of it is imported from the big foreign oil giants. It's not made locally. How are retail games any different??

Really, fuck this, I'm done here.

First off I'd like to point out that price fixing has cause petrol to soar to an artificial high. Motorists have paid 300 Billion pounds more than they should have since 2002.

As for how the actual pricing of commodities goes...

Most the cost of games is in development, marketing, and distribution. The actual CD is quite cheap. A Samsung galaxy note only has around $50 worth of actual material in it. It's why many contracts include replacement phones for free. If you had one for over a year you've probably actually paid for it already and then some.

Bulk commodities are very different. They aren't developed, they are mined and processed. They aren't marketed in anywhere near the same way either. Bulk commodities ARE money. 300$/ton for quality coal for metal. $700/t for red potash, $1000/t for white. They lose ten of thousands in transport, and that's if everything goes well. One gentleman at the site I work put over 500 tons of coal on the ship deck. That's over 100,000 in cash lost. plus the time it took to clean up which is a few more thousand. plus extended docking fees. If a container of games was destroyed it would not be anywhere near as bad. The two are quite different I assure you. So it makes sense they follow different guidelines for pricing.

And you should probably have left before you tried to eat your foot, good sir.

 

[DanielBrown]

So, uhm...
Is there any online game store in India that has free shipping to Europe?

 

[waj9876]

You know, sometimes I start to think that we're being too hard on EA, sure they mess up sometimes, but doesn't every gaming company?

And than this shit happens, and I remember that EA is known for purposefully doing shit like this.

So fuck them.

 

[Strazdas]

It was kind of inevitable really. With the next gen consoles being region free they were going to have to start making a worldwide standard price for games to stop us buying new titles for half nothing from lower priced markets

pretty much this. they cant really use region discounts with region free consoles because we would all just buy the indian one. that being said, maybe that means australians and europeans will be able to buy for US prices finally?
Though a better way would have been to make the games cost clsoer to india in the rest of the world, because lets face it most of them really downgraded if anything. who knows maybe with new consoles the price will finally become justifiable.

 

[Vrach]

Uhm, wait, so India got games at really low prices before (that's less than 15 euros for brand new games from what I'm seeing)? Didn't know anyone did this anywhere...

I'm in Serbia, the average salary here is 370 eur (the official average that is, don't know anyone with normal work hours who makes more than 300 euros) and the average rent between 150-200 euros. Cost of games? 61 euros for new PS3 games, 52 euros for new PC games.

Shame they're nuking this instead of spreading the practice. If people using Indian VPNs are taking advantage of lower pricing from other countries and EA can detect that, just ban those people, don't screw over a whole country because of a few people. Would love to see those prices here in Serbia, would result in a lot more gamers actually buying games. As it is, I'm not sure if I know a single person who owns a legal copy of a game besides myself outside of a few people playing WoW.

 

[Jay Knowles]

On the one hand this seems like EA will just be cutting out millions of Indians from being able to acquire their products and so they will now get nothing from them instead of $16. However on the other hand they will still make plenty of money there considering that according to various sources there are more Indians earning more money than I do than there are people in my entire country, so the market will still be pretty big for EA.

so a game is 1/3 of a weeks rent? a new game for me is 100% of a weeks rent. maybe I should move to India.

i gotta ask, where do you live? because if its in the UK/US and you only have to pay £40/$60 rent i want in

There are plenty of places in the UK where the rent will be less than £160 per month. Quite a few of them might be pretty crappy, but not all of them.

I live in New Zealand, the average game price is between $100-$120, which is how much I pay in rent a week not including utilities, it's also 50% of my weekly income. India is looking better and better... except for the, you know, poverty and stuff... also, with the currency exchange at the moment a new game works out to be around USD$75...

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

I pay 100$ for a console game and 80$ for a pc game in Norway. You don't find me whining about how the 'murricans pay so little for their games. Funnily enough we often pay more or about the same as Aussies and New Zealanders and while they keep whining about how unfair it is, we just shut the fuck up and buy and play games we like.
Sheesh, people are so bloody entitled.

 

[Lightknight]

At this point I just think of EA as some kind of elaborate social experiment funded by large businesses that want to see what would happen if they made certain anti-consumer actions.