Europe is second class to the gaming industry.

[bad rider]

OK are there any other Europeans out there getting severely hacked off with game developers i mean this applies to other country's e.g Australia as well but I'm getting hacked off with getting a second class service from people like Sony and Microsoft for instance fable (British game developed in England) come out 2 days earlier in America and as for Xbox live we don't get half the content the US does WTF.

Well venting felt nice...

 

[Maet]

It's all about regional marketing, although it's not like it's overly hard to secure an import copy of a game you're really dying to play.

And you really can't wait two days for a game? I can understand being irate over a month or even a few weeks difference, but it's only two days...

 

[ThePlasmatizer]

Actually we are third class, as I see it Japan is most often the main market, then it's the US as the secondary market and then it's Europe, and after that it's everyone else.

As a lesser market europeans are treated shoddily, we don't even get a third of all the exciting merchandise and a lot of games are released late or never here.

 

[Volucer]

I'm still not over that whole "Rock Band is twice as expensive in the UK as in the US" ordeal. And I don't mind waiting two days, but waiting months and occasionally for the universe to implode before we get to play some games is ridiculous!

 

[Kahuna-Kurt]

I'm still not over that whole "Rock Band is twice as expensive in the UK as in the US" ordeal. And I don't mind waiting two days, but waiting months and occasionally for the universe to implode before we get to play some games is ridiculous!

the euro and the british pound are worth more.

 

[Johnn Johnston]

I'm still not over that whole "Rock Band is twice as expensive in the UK as in the US" ordeal.

And you can't order a copy from a US website because it won't run a PAL system. Sheesh.

 

[bad rider]

It's all about regional marketing, although it's not like it's overly hard to secure an import copy of a game you're really dying to play.

And you really can't wait two days for a game? I can understand being irate over a month or even a few weeks difference, but it's only two days...

I wouldn't be except its constant and sometimes its so much worse *rock band* cough cough

 

[radiocaf]

Yep. I'm sick of it too...

I'm actually sick of posting and ranting about it.

We get games last, even games produced in europe. We miss out on stuff such as events and tours and conventions, and even game things like downloadable movies on PSN (for the moment anyway.)

We get literally no extras. Such as americans who pre-ordered Test Drive Unlimited was treated with 3 downloadable cars, a keyring and some other stuff... Europe got ONE car... thats it.

Urgh! And don't even get me started on prices and stuff, like the guy who said about Rock Band. Americans moan about paying $60 for a game. WE PAY FIFTY POUNDS!! Which is $100!!

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

I'm still not over that whole "Rock Band is twice as expensive in the UK as in the US" ordeal. And I don't mind waiting two days, but waiting months and occasionally for the universe to implode before we get to play some games is ridiculous!

the euro and the british pound are worth more.

What's your point?
When you convert the currencies, it turns we pay a fair bit more for games.

And to the guy above, I saw it cost £80 in GAME when it came out. Probably about $150.

 

[Leonax]

To Europeans whining about game prices: Australians pay $120 for new releases. And we aren't even getting Rock Band!

 

[TomNook]

Free speech country is a free speech country.

 

[Lt. Sera]

To Europeans whining about game prices: Australians pay $120 for new releases.

We pay 113,40 Australian Dollar (65 Euro's). Not that big of a difference.

 

[The Wooster]

It's as follows.

Japan
U.S
Canada
Europe
Pluto
The forgotten places under the earth where the ancient ones dwell
Australia

 

[Axe_2_Gr1nd]

yup, it's so bad here in AU the Dream cast did not even make it in the market!
part due to the HUNG delay in release date and part in due to the fact that they handed 200k to one company that ran one set of TV add's and pocketed the rest of the cash.

We once where the smart country, and well the fact that we are in the same DVD region as halve of Africa gives you an idea of where we place in the global IT market.
Enjoy
PS: Save Au from the Great Firewall of China:
www.nocleanfeed.com

 

[Daiquere]

Haha, Decoy's comment was funny.

Anyway, a lot of the delays have too do with legal checks and media complaints. In the US we have freedom of speech which means no game can be banned here unless it is proven too directly cause harm too someone or some people, since it's viewed as an art form.

 

[Joeshie]

Actually we are third class, as I see it Japan is most often the main market, then it's the US as the secondary market and then it's Europe, and after that it's everyone else.

Actually it's the other way around. Japan is now the secondary market and the US is the main market now. A majority of video game titles (by which I mean games that aren't made in Japan), never see a place in Japan. The Japanese aren't fans of Western games and as such, Western developers almost never focus on selling their games in Japan. The Western developers focus on America first, Europe second, and Japan last.

Now, if we consider games made in Japan, then Japan is generally the main market for those games. However, many Japanese game companies have put more and more focus on the West. Capcom now releases games that are created to specifically please Western audiences over Japanese audiences (see Dead Rising and Lost Planet). Square-Enix knows that the income they get from the West now represents a sizable chunk of their profits and are working more and more on appealing to the West. The Last Remnant is one example of this.

Now that's not to say that the Japanese companies aren't still primarily focused on the Japanese market, because they are, but more and more Japanese companies see great profits abroad and have started to put more focus on the West.

This is why America is #1, Japan is #2, and Europe is still #3.

 

[Piemaster]

I thought it was a nice gesture by Maxis to release Spore 3 days earlier in Australia than America.

 

[Daiquere]

Yeah, here in the US we are a very greedy impatient people so our markets try too make it as easy as possible to buy or order something.

However, trying too get a rebate or refund is a real pain.

This was a reply to Indigo Dingo by the way.

 

[Pyro Paul]

Halo 3 Cost as provided by in country retailers.
American Retailer: 59.99 USD
UK Retailer: 49.99 Pound Sterling (88.35 USD)
purchase off of online retailer- 39.99 Pound sterling (70.67 USD)
AUS Retailer: 99.95 AUD (82.01 USD)


So, other countries Do pay more than the United States when it comes to games.


now, the cost diffrence does make sense to an extent as games are natively encoded with NTSC compatability and must be converted to be read on PAL sets. however, this doesn't make up for the some 20-30 USD diffrence between the US cost and the EU/AUS costs.