I need to ask, why are games in Australia so expensive? Is your corrupt government forcing publishers to put high prices to deter people from buying INSIDIOUS TERRORIST TRAINING SIMULATORS DESIGNED FOR CHILDREN.
[editline]20th February 2011[/editline]
I mean, after all, the Australian dollar is worth more than USD.
[QUOTE=Squeaken;28161290]Jesus fuck, 60 dollars is cheap for us Australians.
Whinge more, we pay 100 dollars bare minimum for any decent game.[/QUOTE]
I was always wondering. why do games cost more in Australia?
edit
let me just rate myself clock
Because Australians have double the minimum wage.
We had this discussion before in a ton-fuck of other threads and people just keep ignoring this.
Whine whine whine whine.
[QUOTE=Overacheiver;28162274]Because Australians have double the minimum wage.
We had this discussion before in a ton-fuck of other threads and people just keep ignoring this.
Whine whine whine whine.[/QUOTE]
Oh so its like 50% taxes?
pc game publishers u so silly
Maybe you should see a map of Australia. 2 words, island and desert. It's a very large transport cost just to get any game to anywhere here really, plus we only have a population of 20 million. The price also stays consistent in each country, rather than consistent to the home territory (a game doesn't cost the equivalent in AUD as it costs in USD) because if the dollar changes they want to absorb the fluctuations without always changing around prices. And of course, advertising, which is affected by the population as well, more advertising for the same amount of people to see it. And, of course, we have GST, which is a 10% tax on everything. So that's my summary of an article on the subject in Gameinformer. I hope I understood it well enough.
Also what Overachiever said
Stop fucking complaining your games are dirt cheap, I saw a copy of Starcraft at EB selling for 40 fucking dollars.
Jesus christ I'm tired of americans complaining.
[QUOTE=BigHeaded B;28162201]waah im too young to understand the concept of inflation(also supply and demand!!!!!!!) wAAHH
[/QUOTE]
Only PC game prices are increasing, not console game prices.
Digital games have infinite copies.
[QUOTE=certified;28162212]I need to ask, why are games in Australia so expensive? Is your corrupt government forcing publishers to put high prices to deter people from buying INSIDIOUS TERRORIST TRAINING SIMULATORS DESIGNED FOR CHILDREN.
[editline]20th February 2011[/editline]
I mean, after all, the Australian dollar is worth more than USD.[/QUOTE]
We in Australia have a standard of living way higher than the United States, also don't forget that retailers here don't have such a large market to sell to, and to keep on selling they need to make sure to earn a profit. Digital distribution prices are the same as retail (mostly) for fair competition. We also pay a goods and services tax for most things which brings up the price on retail though.
I'm sick of people fucking blaming our government for every single game discussion involving us Australians. Stop blaming our government simply because of only one bad thing happening that actually got on the news internationally (L4D2 being censored, that's fucking it have a cry about it because as an Australian I don't).
[QUOTE=BigHeaded B;28162201]waah im too young to understand the concept of inflation(also supply and demand!!!!!!!) wAAHH
WAAH
my allowance is only enough to pay for 50 dollar games waah how am i going to pay 10 dollars more waah[/QUOTE]
Yep because we need money to make more copies of a digitally distributed game.
[QUOTE=Legend286;28162492]Yep because we need money to make more copies of a digitally distributed game.[/QUOTE]
since when is bandwidth and server upkeep free?
[QUOTE=Legend286;28162492]Yep because we need money to make more copies of a digitally distributed game.[/QUOTE]
One word: Competition
[QUOTE=thisispain;28162507]since when is bandwidth and server upkeep free?[/QUOTE]
It costs a fraction of disc production, boxing, and shipping. Data is cheap.
There really isn't justification for charging 60 dollars for a digital distribution version of a game other than basic desire to make more money.
[QUOTE=JoeSibilant;28162537]It costs a fraction of disc production, boxing, and shipping. Data is cheap.[/QUOTE]
source
[QUOTE=BigHeaded B;28162201]waah im too young to understand the concept of inflation(also supply and demand!!!!!!!) wAAHH
WAAH
my allowance is only enough to pay for 50 dollar games waah how am i going to pay 10 dollars more waah[/QUOTE]
Actually, let me explain to you how this actually works.
Console games are 60 dollars because of something called Royalty fees, where a publisher pays money to the console production company. This is why Microsoft could afford to sell the Xbox 1 at a loss. They made more off games then if they sold at profit.
PC games however stayed around 50 bucks due to not having the fees.
Now before we run off claiming games cost a lot more to make NOW then they have before, that is false. In fact from a cost-profit ratio games nowadays are cheaper.
[editline]20th February 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=thisispain;28162507]since when is bandwidth and server upkeep free?[/QUOTE]
It is not free but it is REALLY cheep when compared to writing, stamping, printing manuals, shipping games.
i'd highly doubt that last bit, now a days some companies will bring in multiple, pretty good, actors as well as even do recording sessions which cost money to go where they need to go and etc
it depends on the game i'm sure, but there are games out there that do such things, take a look at LA Noire for example, they have quite a lot of actors and the actors aren't just going to do it for free
Not to mention that a publisher gets like 3x more money per digital sale than a retail purchase because there's not cost of good, production, shipping, etc.
$60 retail game = ~$14-16 when all is said and done.
$60 digital game = ~$35-42
It's just greedy to charge $60 for a digital PC game...
[QUOTE=Antdawg;28162481]We in Australia have a standard of living way higher than the United States, also don't forget that retailers here don't have such a large market to sell to, and to keep on selling they need to make sure to earn a profit. Digital distribution prices are the same as retail (mostly) for fair competition. We also pay a goods and services tax for most things which brings up the price on retail though.
I'm sick of people fucking blaming our government for every single game discussion involving us Australians. Stop blaming our government simply because of only one bad thing happening that actually got on the news internationally (L4D2 being censored, that's fucking it have a cry about it because as an Australian I don't).[/QUOTE]
You mad bro?
More pewpew less QQ.
[highlight](User was banned for this post ("Meme reply" - Craptasket))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=thisispain;28162581]source[/QUOTE]
You need a source to tell you it costs more to make a disk, box, cover art and to ship it then it does to download a gig of data?
that data still has to be uploaded, and that provider still has to run its servers
[QUOTE=Antdawg;28162481]We in Australia have a standard of living way higher than the United States, also don't forget that retailers here don't have such a large market to sell to, and to keep on selling they need to make sure to earn a profit. Digital distribution prices are the same as retail (mostly) for fair competition. We also pay a goods and services tax for most things which brings up the price on retail though.
I'm sick of people fucking blaming our government for every single game discussion involving us Australians. Stop blaming our government simply because of only one bad thing happening that actually got on the news internationally (L4D2 being censored, that's fucking it have a cry about it because as an Australian I don't).[/QUOTE]
No need to get your kangaroos in a bunch
[editline]20th February 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=JerryK;28162691]that data still has to be uploaded, and that provider still has to run its servers[/QUOTE]
Point? It's still cheaper than retail distribution.
[QUOTE=JerryK;28162691]that data still has to be uploaded, and that provider still has to run its servers[/QUOTE]
Yes but you only have to upload it like once. I mean if even small game companies do it it cant be that expensive. Sure running your own server will not be free but there is no way it costs as much as shipping a with a disk and all that.
[QUOTE=fenwick;28161409]Game prices used to be much higher...
[img_thumb]http://static.arstechnica.com/gaming/genesiscatalog-inflation-adjusted.jpg[/img_thumb]
N64 games used to be $70.
Quit whining.[/QUOTE]
Times change.
[I]You[/I] quit whining.
The cost to develop video games is extremely high now.
It's not a small time industry anymore.
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;28162831]Times change.
[I]You[/I] quit whining.[/QUOTE]
what the hell are you talking about
You're all making Australian's sound like dicks.
Usually the excuse over here is because it 'undercuts local retailers'.
[editline].[/editline]
I personally think Crysis 2 is worth the price, though.
In Poland we usually pay 30-45$ for brand new games. Of course some games are released on lower prices, but you won't find many games above 40$.
dead space 2 was definitely worth 60 dollars
i don't mind unless it's not worth that much
The three games mentioned in the OP cost 49.99€ on steam and without any discount.
They can charge whatever they like, I'll just wait for the game to go on sale.
Haven't payed $60 for any PC game yet, and only will if there is a game I really, really want.
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