Poll: UK Buyers Screwed by Next-Gen Prices
- Thread starter Raikazu
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I know that, I'm wondering why you brought that point up in this topic since we're talking about actual prices.Brotha Desmond said:
One of my biases is since I live in Flint (Detroit's little sister), the local economy is shit and the UK looks better than my town. However the US is huge and there is a huge difference between areas, so as a country it's not doing as bad as it seems from my view.SkarKrow said:
you say that like steam doesn't charge more for European releases? atleast for most games across the board.Abandon4093 said:
it is pretty crappy business, its to do with tax....mostly, they can get away with it on account of things like service charges and insurance, but a lot of companies get those back through tax breaks, so its pretty much just a way for them to increase there margins. (<=== very very simplified explanation)
Ermmm isn't the Xbox One no longer region locked?
If so, and you happen to be visiting the United States (or any other of the 21 countries where the price is more reasonable), why not just bring one of the consoles home?
If so, and you happen to be visiting the United States (or any other of the 21 countries where the price is more reasonable), why not just bring one of the consoles home?
OH I CAN ANSWER THAT! We have a government handing money over to Benefit Fraudsters, we take in way too many immigrants even when we know the people in question have committed terrorist acts or have links to known terrorist or have a habit of going into large hate speeches about how western culture is doomed and we're all evil infidels and we're giving money to other countries despite the fact that our financial state is screwed.TehCookie said:
That and our bankers, football stars and MPs make way too much money while the MPs and Bankers do everything they can to sponge money from the country before it sinks like the old rusted shit-filled broken bankrupt battleship that it is. Did I miss anything out? Yeah Britain has a lot of problems, you know with all the problems we're facing I can't help but feel like maybe now is the time that we humans admit the whole currency idea hasn't worked out well for us.
I mean most of our countries are in insane amounts of debt. At one point Ireland was in so much debt they owed someone a bazillion or so euro. Maybe just maybe we can come up with something else, currency is starting to get really stupid.
I've decided, we are getting screwed on the prices of the actual games, but probably not on the consoles. MS and Sony are too at their throats to charge at anything but cost. I'd guess there were manufacturing and distribution issues that make it more expensive to sell in the UK
You need to add on tax, US prices are listed without tax included unlike British prices and pretty much every country in the world that isn't the US (and their tax itself doesn't include costs like health insurance). At British tax rates 260 becomes 312 pounds, so we're being charged 30 pounds more for a reason that isn't clear at the moment.Snowbell said:
Front page of Steam today, Saints Row 4, Company of Heroes 2 40 pounds.Abandon4093 said:
Plannetary Annhilation early access 67 pounds (there's a story behind that one
Rides of Hell Retribution, Metro 35 pounds
And some of those have RRP of 45.
I guess they're not nearing 55 pound ridiculous though.
our money is worth more, sure but that doesn't help you're adding import costs to the console price then slapping 20% VAT on top of thatTehCookie said:
it's always going to be more costly here. and the more a product costs the more 20% is ( obviously )
which is why the ps4 is such better value
the conversions at a local vendor:
One80 £358.29 + VAT = 429.95 which is 658.30 USD
PS4 £290.79 +VAT = 348.95 which is 534.28 USD
£81 difference, or 124.02 USD
see how the base price is lower, due to our overpriced currency
it's around $540, which is the 'payfor' price in the us ( or so i'm told. ) so the 8% us tax/import fee is still present then it's basically just the VAT that kicks us in the ass.
USD prices are at time of writing according to google, they obviously vary. but $660 for a console is Bs in any currency.
you dont see it too much with new mainstream releases, usually only a small difference between jurisdictions. the biggest offenders is where steam applies the same price across the board without factoring in currency exchange, so a $19 dollar game is charged at £19.99, because.......reasons? its harder to legitimise its usually as alot of taxes dont apply to them.Abandon4093 said:
dont get me wrong, on occasion it does end up favouring other regions, but by and large Europe get nickle&dimed constantly with the uk a close second
Still think its funny that "These are expensive to make so we are making them more expensive for you guys!" thing movie makers and game developers are doing. lower you budgets! these things are already expensive as it is every time i look at the next gen and then back at my wallet it becomes less and less important for me to buy console games when I can keep my computer running better and for cheaper than console gaming allows me to.
Actually, the whole random maths applied is already quite an issue, and the reason for many not very enlightening or very rewarding exchanges with customer support slaves in India or politicians from all over the euro zone. The digital pre-order of The Last of Us translated to almost seventy quid sterling or a hundred US dollars... and that's NOT the edition coming with gadgets, feelies or any other bonuses. Just the downloadable game.Raikazu said:
Then again, I am painfully aware of the fact that the European parliament is doing a hell of a lot of stuff that can best be described as being counter-productive. Their extortion of big corporations for the most ludicrous things (Inclusion of IE in Windows, DIE MICROSOFT DIE!!! Use of non-green but longer lasting solder? BAN EVERYTHING! DIE APPLE DIE!!! etc.) costs corporation a random amount of money year after year and that's even before all that litigation or patents shenanigans. So, I think living in a country that is considered as being 'better off than others' is a costly luxury some of us are bound to pay dearly for. As long as unnaturally united Europe, and with it the Euro as a pretty made up currency, are still so very much under construction, the strategic randomness of it all is, for lack of a better understanding, part of the deal of living wherever it is you live. Hooray for boobies!
Messed up quote, will fix when I get on a PC but taxes aren't the only difference. Does the UK earn more as an average? Is the cost of living higher? As others mentioned, shipping? There are other factors besides taxes.[/quote]TehCookie said:
i know for a fact food is cheaper in the uk,
( or atleast, i don't pay the absurd prices americans claim for certain things )
but other things like fuel, power are similar or more expensive beyond that i just don't know.
i would guess it's basically a wash and overall it's similar but that's based on fairly limited information.
an average income in the uk is about 33k yr according to google, and roughly 50k for USA though how these figures were derived is simply beyond me.
that seems to be roughly inline given conversion rates, so i'd say overall things cost similar amounts and the console is simply a rip off here, which makes sense as it's an import item.
i know for a fact food is cheaper in the uk,The Lugz said:
( or atleast, i don't pay the absurd prices americans claim for certain things )
but other things like fuel, power are similar or more expensive beyond that i just don't know.
i would guess it's basically a wash and overall it's similar but that's based on fairly limited information.
an average income in the uk is about 33k yr according to google, and roughly 50k for USA though how these figures were derived is simply beyond me.
that seems to be roughly inline given conversion rates, so i'd say overall things cost similar amounts and the console is simply a rip off here, which makes sense as it's an import item.[/quote]
For the petrol, the UK has public transportation while in America it's not as common so gas has to be affordable for everyone. There are usually reasons to be found like that in huge price differences. If nnecessities are cheaper, you have more money to spend on accessories so that could be why they cost more. That's also why I keep mentioning cost of living, even in America the cost of living in the city and country are completely different.
There's a lot of points that you are missing. Taxes such as VAT have already been pointed out. There's presumably other costs that differ between UK and USA. Import taxes, business taxes etc. may well be higher here in the UK than the US. Then again, I'm no expert, so this may be wrong. Maybe I'm too trusting of these guys, but I don't think they're deliberately shafting us Brits.