They have to spend extra money for the distributors to convert the games to upside-down format. It's expensive because they have to hire factory workers to flip every disc and move the bits around individually on every hard drive in all of the Steam servers.
/sarcasm
You think you have it that bad? Singapore pricing is as worse as Australia
[QUOTE=Dr Kevorkian;31853205]I'd like to see steam prices drop, and then retail outlets decide to get competitive instead of being pussies about it.
Like when an Aldi opened just down the road from Woolworths. Woolies practically shit themselves and started dropping prices.
Needless to say I had fruit loops for breakfast for a month.[/QUOTE]
Except those retail outlets can instead of competing refuse to stock those games and fuck the publisher over, who do you think the publisher will cave in too?
i think its because our stupid government put a fucking tax on video games so thats why they cost more but i could be wrong...
[QUOTE=darkrei9n;31853935]Except those retail outlets can instead of competing refuse to stock those games and fuck the publisher over, who do you think the publisher will cave in too?[/QUOTE]
Good point, though that'd probably fall under being a pussy about it.
I also hate how we cant have R rated games, and gorey games like left 4 dead are the low violence versions
[QUOTE=Whomobile;31838540]This is what pushed me off console gaming, $100+ dollars for a PS3 game? no way.[/QUOTE]
He is buying it off steam bro...
Steam = PC
not console
[QUOTE=Mr.face;31855258]I also hate how we cant have R rated games, and gorey games like left 4 dead are the low violence versions[/QUOTE]
Though an R18+ rating seems to be coming soon.
[QUOTE=flyschy;31839224]This is a data from a few years ago but it shows that income has nothing to do with regional pricing.
[IMG]http://i52.tinypic.com/3135cef.png[/IMG]
U.S was higher than Australia even.
[url=http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/soc_glance-2011-en/04/01/index.html;jsessionid=ty8xez7dd3v4.delta?contentType=&itemId=/content/chapter/soc_glance-2011-6-en&containerItemId=/content/serial/19991290&accessItemIds=/content/book/soc_glance-2011-en&mimeType=text/html]Source[/url][/QUOTE]
I'd just like to point out that this isn't the [i]actual[/i] household income, seeing as it's adjusted for purchasing power parity.
Basically, cost of living is already taken into account (and each figure is usually adjusted to match the US cost of living). To take Norway as an example, our median disposable household income is almost twice as high as what's listed in the chart you posted, yet the cost of living here is also almost twice as high as in the US.
In fact, this goes to show that regional pricing [i]is[/i] reflected by income, and unfortunately it's very hard to find a list of countries by nominal (non-PPP) household income.
As for retail games here in Norway, they seem to have dropped in price over the years. I remember when we bought Super Mario 64 at release, it cost us $155. A few years ago, game prices hovered around $100-$120, and now they're usually at around $80-$90.
[QUOTE=BCell;31853348]You think you have it that bad? Singapore pricing is as worse as Australia[/QUOTE]
The Singapore government has A LOT of benefits for it's people. Excellent retirement, housing, tax back etc etc. We don't get that here, just inflated prices on everything.
"Oh yeah mate catch a dingo and sell it on barbie for some videa games mate!."
No but really, Why do we have outrages prices for video games? I mean our dollar is worth more than the US now!
Is there any tax imposed on imported entertainment in Australia?
[editline]21st August 2011[/editline]
Also this article is a little dated, but relevant. Hope I'm not late.
[url]http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/05/monday-musings-the-price-is-right/[/url]
[QUOTE=crackberry;31838585]Wow, that is ridiculous. I would hate to be in Australia.[/QUOTE]
It's okay you just learn not to be a nerdy kid who bases his entire enjoyment in life around video games. Most other products aren't exorbitantly expensive.
[QUOTE=thrawn2787;31846770][url]http://www.ebgames.com.au/search?title=modern+warfare+2[/url]
This shit is the same price as retail. [B]If steam charges a lower price retail cannot compete. Steam could seriously harm the competition and look like it was trying to get a monopoly in Australia and I'm sure someone would sue.[/B][/QUOTE]
You've almost got it right. Except there's nothing illegal about this (so nobody sues), and it isn't Steam's fault, but the publishers.
It's got nothing to do with publisher's profits, either. The major, if not the sole, reason is to stay in the good books of retailers they ship discs to. Because if they don't...
"Yeah, that's some nice prime shelf space we've given ya. Shame if somethin' were to happen to it..."
-snip-
[QUOTE=cathal6606;31841993][url]http://www.ultimatumgamekeys.com/en[/url]
Try this when its back up. You can get deus ex 3 for around half price.[/QUOTE]
website is now open
[QUOTE=mr apple;31838097]living at home with 2 parents earning ~50,000/year each, it gets hard to pay the bills sometimes, let alone affording entertainment.[/QUOTE]
50,000 a year, each? The cost of living must be ludicrously high if it's difficult to pay bills with that kind of income. That's a good deal of money.
[QUOTE=Vandl92;31860019]50,000 a year, each? The cost of living must be ludicrously high if it's difficult to pay bills with that kind of income. That's a good deal of money.[/QUOTE]
Most of the money goes to tax.
Just buy your games from Russia, they're super cheap over there.
[QUOTE=JustGman;31860533]Just buy your games from Russia, they're super cheap over there.[/QUOTE]
Yeah but then the price to ship it over costs more than the game itself?
[QUOTE=pvt.jenkins;31863131]Yeah but then the price to ship it over costs more than the game itself?[/QUOTE]
Buy it online
This doesn't only have to do with games either, it also comes under stuff like clothes, a t-shirt from a brand in America that may cost $10 will cost about $60 here. The Sony Headphones that I use I bought for $50, and found out you could get them retail for $15 in America from the same store.
I understand regional pricing but this goes beyond the bounds of common sense. Everyone says its because the minimum wage is higher than America which may be true, but the cost of living in Australia is retardedly high, especially in Sydney.
[QUOTE=thrawn2787;31846770][B]If steam charges a lower price retail cannot compete. Steam could seriously harm the competition and look like it was trying to get a monopoly in Australia and I'm sure someone would sue.[/B][/QUOTE]
You can't sue somebody simply because they charge less money for a product. WaMart would be under by now.
They will never lower the prices because there are still idiots willing to pay them.
That blows, but there's gotta be a reason for it.
I'm not buying games at retail prices anymore, I can deal without it and have money to spend on other things.
there are so many taxes on our taxes we cant even buy a game without it having a tax on it then we got gst
I will gift you a game on steam if you pay me 10 dollars less than the difference
why hearts I'm trying to make money off your misfortune
It's not just games that are fucking insanely overpriced in Australia though.
My Dad was trying to buy some audio gear of whatever sorts a few months ago, which was manufactured in Australia as well so you'd think it'd be cheaper to get it here. Turned out to be 1/4th of the price to buy it overseas anyway.
You know what's worse?
Some games that came out 2+ years ago cost at LEAST $70
Like the Sims 3 cost $70 Retail, $80 on Steam and I got it on ebay for $24 including postage. The steep prices and censorship are killing our gaming market, an R18 rating will help our market but steep prices are driving people into piracy.
/rant
(Time to move to Iceland)
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