Cost of new games... in Australia >:(

[DemonoidTentacle]

 

Really need to vent this out.

 

Tell me friends in the USA, how would you like to pay $69 US for Sonic Generations on the 3DS? I bet you wouldn't like it since it retails at $39.99!

 

The game retails here in Australia for $68 AUS, which is $69US. Now I'm used to games being a bit more expensive here is Australia since our currency isn't normally worth as much, but for a while now it's been better than the american dollar.

 

So why am I still paying so much for games???

 

Why aren't I paying $39.37 for this game??? Or even remotely close to the $40 mark???

 

And since the DS/3DS has no region lock, I'm just wasting money if I buy in store. I can get the games much cheaper from a reliable american eBay seller!

 

I guess this is why I buy a lot more classic games, as opposed to the current gen.

[Mord]

The game retails here in Australia for $68 AUS, which is $69US. Now I'm used to games being a bit more expensive here is Australia since our currency isn't normally worth as much, but for a while now it's been better than the american dollar.

 

So why am I still paying so much for games???

 

Because your stores are hoping the majority are still ignorant about the value of their dollar. It was much the same in Canada at first. Our dollar went on parity with the USD and occationally jumped above, but the stores were still charging as if we were getting 60 cents to the dollar.

 

We had the advantage of cross border shopping however. Stores in Canada were losing money by refusing to price appropriately because every time the dollar jumps above the USD, everyone near the border goes for a weekend trip to spend as much money as they can duty free. Of course this has the effect of dropping the dollar back below the USD a little bit.

 

Just stop buying and let the stores know, managers in particular, about why you're stopping. Even if they're just passing on the extra cost being charged by the US companies to you, it'll make them go back to those companies to demand a proper price.

 

Yeah, unfortunately the majority would have to do that. I won't hold my breath.

[Rybags]

We've always been ripped off for games.

 

They charge "what the market can bear".

 

I remember the $40 and $50 2600 ripoffs when the US was paying $15-$25 (and our dollar was worth more like US $1.20 at the time which made it even worse).

 

And it continues in the modern day with many new PC games over $100.

 

Last time I got stung was $80 or so I paid on release day for the turd otherwise known as "Far Cry 2".

 

Pricing like that just serves to vindicate aquiring new games by other means.

[Mord]

We've always been ripped off for games.

 

They charge "what the market can bear".

 

I remember the $40 and $50 2600 ripoffs when the US was paying $15-$25 (and our dollar was worth more like US $1.20 at the time which made it even worse).

 

And it continues in the modern day with many new PC games over $100.

 

Last time I got stung was $80 or so I paid on release day for the turd otherwise known as "Far Cry 2".

 

Pricing like that just serves to vindicate aquiring new games by other means.

 

That's how it always is, even with the case I mentioned for Canada. Show you won't bear it anymore. If enough people end up doing the same, the prices will go down.

[MagitekAngel]

Yeah, as Mord described, its the same deal in Canada, though not as bad as Australia. New titles are often about ten dollars more here.

[Rex Dart]

3DS has region lockouts...

Edited December 27, 2011 by Rex Dart

[MagitekAngel]

3DS has region lockouts...

 

Well, fuck....

[+HammR25]

If the business bought the stuff when the Australian dollar was a lot less than a US dollar then they may not want to take a loss on it but the US dollar has been down quite awhile now.

[Metal Ghost]

Yea, I never understood that....same thing seems to happen in Europe as well. I'm in the US so I may not be quoting prices correctly here, but it always seems that, for example, when a new console launches it's like the same exact price in $, € and £, even though I know that at least on average a Euro goes for ~1.3-1.4 USD, while a British Pound is closer to 1 1/2 what a US$ is worth.

 

That having been said, and I'm not sure whether this is true in Australia or Canada (though I expect it's true in Canada ?), but the cost of simply doing business in Europe is MUCH higher than it is in the US. Part monetary policy, part socalized governement, but it simply costs a lot more to bring product to market in certain countries than it does in others.

 

Not saying that's the entire reason, and have no idea if that even makes sense in Australia, but that is often the case.

[thegamezmaster]

It's all one big racket! Sucks.

[so_tough!]

Yea, I never understood that....same thing seems to happen in Europe as well. I'm in the US so I may not be quoting prices correctly here, but it always seems that, for example, when a new console launches it's like the same exact price in $, € and £, even though I know that at least on average a Euro goes for ~1.3-1.4 USD, while a British Pound is closer to 1 1/2 what a US$ is worth.

 

That having been said, and I'm not sure whether this is true in Australia or Canada (though I expect it's true in Canada ?), but the cost of simply doing business in Europe is MUCH higher than it is in the US. Part monetary policy, part socalized governement, but it simply costs a lot more to bring product to market in certain countries than it does in others.

 

Not saying that's the entire reason, and have no idea if that even makes sense in Australia, but that is often the case.

 

It's always been more expensive in Europe. I've heard Americans on atariage complain about prices of certain retro items (example "they were looking for 20 dollars for it, what a rip off!"), but I'm often left thinking,"what? That's not a bad deal at all" lol

Edited December 28, 2011 by so_tough!

[DemonoidTentacle]

3DS has region lockouts...

 

crap...

[HatefulGravey]

Shipping costs? Hell I don't know. Its all about the money man. Problem is I can't buy it and ship it to you for less then you can buy it for.

[Mord]

Shipping costs? Hell I don't know. Its all about the money man. Problem is I can't buy it and ship it to you for less then you can buy it for.

 

No, but an enterprising company would realize it's easy to bypass shipping half way across the world by setting up a method of getting the things produced locally in Austrailia to begin with.

[hunged13]

Yea, I never understood that....same thing seems to happen in Europe as well. I'm in the US so I may not be quoting prices correctly here, but it always seems that, for example, when a new console launches it's like the same exact price in $, € and £, even though I know that at least on average a Euro goes for ~1.3-1.4 USD, while a British Pound is closer to 1 1/2 what a US$ is worth.

 

That having been said, and I'm not sure whether this is true in Australia or Canada (though I expect it's true in Canada ?), but the cost of simply doing business in Europe is MUCH higher than it is in the US. Part monetary policy, part socalized governement, but it simply costs a lot more to bring product to market in certain countries than it does in others.

 

Not saying that's the entire reason, and have no idea if that even makes sense in Australia, but that is often the case.

 

well,generally in Europe the exchange rate for electronic goods is 1 $=1 Euro but here in Greece we have to pay even more money because of the increased VAT (30-32% if i recall correctly) which means that for a "blockbuster" game we have to pay up to 85-90 dollars...