Poll: Australia: Games are too expensive

[banksy122]

Personally I believe the bigger problem is that pricing has next to nothing to do with the actual amount of content you receive. Pretty much all games (keeping system e.g. pc, PS3, 360 consistent) cost the same when new. If I'm going to get 100 hours out of Oblivion and 12 out of Uncharted, shouldn't Morrowind cost $120 and Uncharted cost $30, rather than both hovering around $70-80 new?

I can barely believe that companies like Bethesda actually bother including that much content with things the way they are.

Different types of games have different types of fun. An RPG might last you 100 hours, but is all of that heaps of enjoyment or just running from place to place? Where as an FPS might last you 10 hours, but all of that is going to be fighting and constant gameplay. Some games shouldn't cost as much as they do, but don't compare prices RPG/RTS' to FPS'/TPS. They hold different enjoyment levels.

I get that, and I'm happy to pay more for something, not necessarily additional game length. E.g. L.A. Noire has next to no replay value and is about 12 hours long, but you pay extra because you're paying for the new facial technolgy they built. Makes sense. If they actually spent a few years creating the game, then yeah $80 is reasonable.

But if one team produces an FPS in a year with the same size team that it takes 3-5 years to produce an epic RPG, shouldn't the RPG team be compensated proportionately?

Perhaps my original example was weak. My point was simply that not all games should cost the same. A cost system involving employees involved in the project, licensing costs (e.g. game engine, franchise licensing such as Star Wars) and time spent would be the ideal... though a bit complicated. But with things the way they are, I feel like the developers incentives are discouraging massive, content-rich games.

I agree. The fact that poorly developed games are being priced the same or even higher as well developed games is making devs that traditionally made epic games with lots of love make more streamlined, lesser developed games. It is no excuse, Movies have had this problem for ever, yet there are still many great movies being made every year, the same can't be said for games, less and less good games are being made, more and more disappointment is increasing.

 

[ResonanceSD]

epic snip

1) Steam


I live in Sydney, get all my games through Steam. Otherwise I don't complain because nothing else will change. I feel that I pay fair prices for a new game and buy most of my stuff on sale.

 

[not_you]

Why don't you just buy the american game on ebay and get it for $67 AU?

Because the region is different, american games won't work on Australian consoles.....

 

[BlueMage]

Freight and shipping my arse, our dollar is currently better than the USD, like HELLS I'm going to be content to pay roughly twice (per-unit-basis) what folks across the Pacific are.

Is it any small wonder torrenting exists?

 

[KafkaOffTheBeach]

I love how you put a totally factual statement like "Games are too expensive in Australia" and pretended it was up for debate.
The AU dollar has, in the 21st century at least, been consistently equal or above the USD - yet Australians are basically forced into paying an outrageous surcharge for their physical games.
And you know what the funny thing is?
Its actually marginally worse in NZ.

 

[Adzma]

Everything is too expensive in Australia.

/Thread.

Australia has some of the worst markups for pretty much everything. That's why you should buy everything from overseas! Tell the retailers we won't put up with this crap anymore. Screw local industry.

 

[StBishop]

Why don't you just buy the american game on ebay and get it for $67 AU?

Won't work. Region Coding and NTSC vs PAL format.

 

[ChupathingyX]

I used to be worried about this but then I found OZgameshop and now I just do my shopping there, yeah it takes about a week for the game to get here but it's a lot cheeper.

Also apparently the reason we pay more is because we have a higher standard of living so I guess we can't complain?

 

[soliddensity]

Ebay is your friend, buy a game for $60 AUD, play it, finish it, then sell it for $50

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Nope, they are fine. The minimum wage in Australia at this moment is somewhere in the vicinity of $15-16 an hour. Our prices reflect that. I'm not sure what the current one is in the States ( I know it varied state to state) but the last time I saw some figures it sure as hell wasn't anywhere as high. (If someone has it I'd love to see exactly what it is!!)

Roughly $7.25-8/hour, says the Internet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._minimum_wages]. $7.25 is the federal minimum, while individual states/cities/whatever can set it to higher levels or cover things that the federal law doesn't.

The other thing is that even though the RRP for a new release game might be 109.95 no where actually sells it for that. I got Portal 2 (from my local GAME) for $74 when it came out and the advertised price was $119.95 at EB Games. If you are paying full price then you are doing it wrong.

What a bargain! I paid USD$35 for Portal 2 when it came out, and that's the most I've spent on a game in at least two years. I'm pretty sure you guys are still getting somewhat ripped off no matter how much you take stuff like minimum wage into account, especially when you consider that prices haven't really adjusted for the significant strengthening of the Australian dollar over the past several years. You should be getting stuff from us cheaper than you used to because your money is worth significantly more (relative to ours) than it used to be.

 

[Bobbity]

Yeah. They are. It wasn't really noticeable when our Dollar was low, but now it's actually higher than the US Dollar, it's more than a little bit ridiculous.

 

[ElNeroDiablo]

As price comparisons between EB Games, DSE (Richard Smith Electronics) & JB, I'm going to use StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty as the comparison item.

DSE - http://dicksmith.com.au/product/YG6985/starcraft-ii-wings-of-liberty
Original Price - $79.94 AUD. Current Price - $50 AUD (drop of nearly $30)

EB Games - http://www.ebgames.com.au/pc-140229-StarCraft-II-Wings-of-Liberty-PC
Original Price - $99.92 AUD. Current Price - $79.94 (drop of about $20)

JB - http://www.jbhifi.com.au/games/starcraft-2-wings-of-liberty/
Original Price - ??? (can't find) Current Price - $69 AUD

DSE was $20 cheaper than EB Games when SC II came out, and now is $30 cheaper for the same game after the same amount of time when EB only dropped $20 off their price, and is $19 cheaper than JB even.

True, I could go into EB Games, start the process of getting SC II from them, inform them it's $30 cheaper over at DSE a block over and get it price-matched (something they do IF and only IF you inform them that you've shopped around (why else would you price-match?), but are supporting them anyway) to the cheaper price <Done this with Pokemon Black/White. bought one from BigW, then got the sibling at EB price-matched to the bigW price>.
Or you could save your time and get it directly from DSE in the first place.

On the whole, even with the AUD stronger than the USB at the moment, we're still getting shafted on video game prices (not to mention the cost of fucking computer parts!), and it's a similar deal over in NZ (though they DON'T have the strong backing against the USD unlike the AUD).

 

[Cazza]

Yes but only around $20-$30 to much. I believe $70-$80 is what a new game should cost. JB HiFi can do it. I understand the min wage is higher etc.

 

[Zipa]

You do have it pretty bad in Ausland , worse than any country that comes to mind right now but it happens to most non US countries, generally non US pay more and have to wait longer to get the same games which is quite frankly bullshit in this day and age with digital distribution. There are no tech reasons why games can't be released and priced equally across the globe.

 

[doggie135]

It feels even worse in New Zealand! XD

 

[Merkavar]

too expensive too me = no one will buy them. supply and demand and al lthat jazz. so if people are buying the games means they arent to expensive cause there are other sources avaliable like importing games.

 

[gruggins]

Being a gamer here in Australia is the equivalent of throwing all your savings down a deep hole in the ground.

it just ain't fair anymore, I mean our dollar is stronger than the US right now and the majority of games are made locally at the sidney blu-ray factory and yet we still pay more than the US. why?....why?

Also the "minimum wage argument" is rubbish. as Metalhandkerchief put it

Nope, they are fine. The minimum wage in Australia at this moment is somewhere in the vicinity of $15-16 an hour. Our prices reflect that.

Minimum wage in Norway is 24$, and video games still cost 60$.

 

[Jekken6]

The only reason the RRP for games in Australia is so high is because we're used to paying that price, even though our currency is now. It is the fault of us consumers who buy at such high prices.

 

[Vault101]

eh I can live with it....I mean also you ahve to factor in pre owned stuff and trading in

speaking of whitch I am now the proud owner of a PS3......ohh all those games...(red dead LA noire...NERDGASM)

 

[Craorach]

Game Informer down here had an article on this once.

Basically the idea was that.. along with things like shipping.. game companies also have to make up their costs for doing business here with a much lower potential customer base. Put up a poster to advertise a game in New York, and you can reach a customer base many times more than a single poster anywhere in Australia. In some places, a tiny advertising budget can reach populations vastly great than that of the entire country here. The same is true about pretty much all the other aspects of their business.. if they want to do it here, they are doing it for a greater costs because they will reach a far lower number of people.