• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

STEAM- Announcements & Updates 2011 Edition |OT2|

Status
Not open for further replies.

legend166

Member
DiscoJer said:
No, it's not. But most people on the internet can't grasp the concept that different countries have different economies and thus different pricing on the same items.

If they see it on sale in a different country for less, they go "ZOMG, I'm being ripped off, so & so are evil gouging bastards!"

Do you think charging $50US in America and $90US in Australia is price gouging?

I do.
 

Card Boy

Banned
DiscoJer said:
No, it's not. But most people on the internet can't grasp the concept that different countries have different economies and thus different pricing on the same items.

If they see it on sale in a different country for less, they go "ZOMG, I'm being ripped off, so & so are evil gouging bastards!"
My respect for you has gone down the shitter. You are speaking about stuff you have no clue about. If the shoe was on the other foot you would be crying Price gouging aswell.

Until then the US Free trade agreement needs to include Digitial distribution and the ACCC's power needs to be extended so Valve is punished.
 

PaulLFC

Member
DiscoJer said:
No, it's not. But most people on the internet can't grasp the concept that different countries have different economies and thus different pricing on the same items.

If they see it on sale in a different country for less, they go "ZOMG, I'm being ripped off, so & so are evil gouging bastards!"
MW3 price in USD: $60
Equivalent price in AUD: $63
Actual price of MW3 on Australian Steam: $100

Yes, they ARE being ripped off.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
legend166 said:
Well it's not like I'm calling for people to be arrested.

I'm not sure what you mean by the last one.

My worry is this - publishers are going to go to Valve and say "Look, we're losing all this revenue because people are using Russian key resellers - give us the ability to region lock keys." Valve is more likely to give into that than people saying "Look, we're losing all this revenue because people are gifting across countries to avoid our obvious anti-consumer tactics."

Even the publishers who don't price gouge are probably thinking "Damn, we're not even being dickheads like EA, and we're still getting rorted."

Note - I don't think charging $50 in the States and $20 in Russia is price gouging.

They do have that ability.

PaulLFC said:
MW3 price in USD: $60
Equivalent price in AUD: $63
Actual price of MW3 on Australian Steam: $100

Yes, they ARE being ripped off.

The kicker? The game is cheaper at retail, albeit barely.
 

LyarVonLyar

Neo Member
Just out of curiosity are the Aussie prices being driven up by some institutionalized factor such as a tax or tariff? Or are the games being priced at such prices just because they have the Australians by the balls.
 

Card Boy

Banned
PaulLFC said:
MW3 price in USD: $60
Equivalent price in AUD: $63
Actual price of MW3 on Australian Steam: $100

Yes, they ARE being ripped off.

Dont foget the 2% foreign transaction fee our banks charge us

It's actually $107AUD

LyarVonLyar said:
Just out of curiosity are the Aussie prices being driven up by some institutionalized factor such as a tax or tariff? Or are the games being priced at such prices just because they have the Australians by the balls.

The later. There is no tax on Digital downloads.

Because everybody is ripping us off its now 'OK' to do so.
 
LyarVonLyar said:
Just out of curiosity are the Aussie prices being driven up by some institutionalized factor such as a tax or tariff? Or are the games being priced at such prices just because they have the Australians by the balls.

We've always been charged more, but our dollar was substantially weaker in the past. Obviously there are going to be other factors which add to the price, like shipping and localising for a country in the southern hemisphere with a smallish predominately English-speaking population, so even when the dollar was a lot weaker it was never an exact conversion.

That burned but it made a little sense.

Right now though, we're at or near parity with the USD which means that the practice of charging us more makes a lot less sense. There aren't even any issues with shipping and localisation to be used as excuses now because we're talking about digital PC games here; as far as localisation is concerned Australians can just buy the exact same version as Americans, or people in the UK.

The real elephant in the room is that retailers still gouge people quite severely. New 360 games can cost up to $120 AUD at EB Games (which is why sane members of console-AusGAF religiously use JB HiFi). Given this situation, it's not hard to imagine why some publishers feel comfortable charging us exorbitant amounts for games.
 

LyarVonLyar

Neo Member
Wow that is ridiculous. Is Australia on a different format like NTSC/PAL? Just curious, that there doesn't seem to be much incentive to import, even though you shouldn't have to.
 

Salsa

Member
Steam is the only time ive been happy about not having any sort of videogame retail laws/whatever in my country. We are basically dead ground for retail since publishers stopped giving a shit and piracy kicked in, wich means retail games here cost 170+ USD (seriously), but we get the same Steam prices as the whole SA/NA region. Digital distribution saved my gaming life.
 

Gvaz

Banned
legend166 said:
Did you read what I posted?
I actually didn't, sorry.

edit: Okay now I did. I understand what you're saying, but it's either buying them for cheap or not buying them at all. How many aussies do you know that use steam and actually put up with their stupid regional pricing? Valve just goes along with it, and to region lock things would just put issues on valve's current gifting system that works just fine for the time being. They could probably change it to regions like USA/EUR/ASIA or whatever, but there really would be no benefit for consumers, no matter how they try and spin it.
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Stallion Free said:
How about you practice what you preach.
Awesome new game? Full price?
Wait for Steam Sale, attempt to trade games previously on sale, beg.

On regional pricing, its going to sadly come to a halt, because of the Russian Keys. Gamers paying the typical price you see for the first Steam Sale, day 1. Except the publishers are only receiving cash based off 20$ titles instead of the 30-40$ normally charged for on Steam.
 

Card Boy

Banned
Joe Molotov said:
EA Price Drops:

The Sims 3 $30 (-10)
Hot Pursuit $20 (-10)
Shift 2 $20 (-10)
Alice $30 (-20)
Darkspore $20 (-10)


The Sims 3 $79.99USD
Hot Pursuit $19.99USD
Shift 2 $79.99USD
Alice $49.99USD
Darkspore $69.99USD

Fixed for AusGaf. I'm deadly serious, those are the actual prices.
 

Nelo Ice

Banned
Joe Molotov said:
EA Price Drops:

The Sims 3 $30 (-10)
Hot Pursuit $20 (-10)
Shift 2 $20 (-10)
Alice $30 (-20)
Darkspore $20 (-10)

damn! couldve waited for $5 hot pursuit >< well at least that means i can prolly get alice for $7.50.
 

legend166

Member
Gvaz said:
I actually didn't, sorry.

edit: Okay now I did. I understand what you're saying, but it's either buying them for cheap or not buying them at all. How many aussies do you know that use steam and actually put up with their stupid regional pricing? Valve just goes along with it, and to region lock things would just put issues on valve's current gifting system that works just fine for the time being. They could probably change it to regions like USA/EUR/ASIA or whatever, but there really would be no benefit for consumers, no matter how they try and spin it.

I'm not arguing in favour of region locking.
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Joe Molotov said:
EA Price Drops:

The Sims 3 $30 (-10)
Hot Pursuit $20 (-10)
Shift 2 $20 (-10)
Alice $30 (-20)
Darkspore $20 (-10)
Alice at 30$ and Bulletstorm at 20$ bolds very well for me and the winter sale.

Even if both at 66% off, I'll probably pick them up.
 

Cmagus

Member
Joe Molotov said:
EA Price Drops:

The Sims 3 $30 (-10)
Hot Pursuit $20 (-10)
Shift 2 $20 (-10)
Alice $30 (-20)
Darkspore $20 (-10)

...I bought my Alice from G2B because it was so much on steam then what do you know the next day it drops in price lol I rather have it on steam than origin oh well good game so far and that hair is so gorgeous.Also Payday the Heist is coming October 11th now it got delayed on PC
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
Finished Dark Messiah today. I like the core to it, had some really fantastic ideas, but it needed more ambition to be a great game.

8.8 hours on the play clock.

I'd say its worth the 2.50 I picked it up for. Don't expect much in the way of replay or exploration, but it was a solid 9 hour ride.
 

Derrick01

Banned
shintoki said:
Alice at 30$ and Bulletstorm at 20$ bolds very well for me and the winter sale.

Even if both at 66% off, I'll probably pick them up.

Don't hold your breath for Bulletstorm. The game didn't even get a tiny store wide sale during the summer sale. It was my #1 game for that sale and even a tiny 33% drop would have made it $20 and I would have bought it....but nothing happened.
 
Derrick01 said:
Don't hold your breath for Bulletstorm. The game didn't even get a tiny store wide sale during the summer sale. It was my #1 game for that sale and even a tiny 33% drop would have made it $20 and I would have bought it....but nothing happened.
To be fair, EA didn't have very many games on sale during the Summer Sale.
 
The Broken Ska Record said:
To be fair, EA didn't have very many games on sale during the Summer Sale.

I think there was an EA week of daily deals as well after the Summer sale, but they stuck with the usual suspects (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, NFS etc.). I was hoping some of their other games like Deathspank, Shank and Bulletstorm would go on sale but it seems like they've forgotten all about those now.
 
DiscoJer said:
No, it's not. But most people on the internet can't grasp the concept that different countries have different economies and thus different pricing on the same items.

If they see it on sale in a different country for less, they go "ZOMG, I'm being ripped off, so & so are evil gouging bastards!"
MW3 US: $ 60 (GDP per capita: $ 46)
MW3 DE: $ 80 (GDP per capita: $ 40)
 

Card Boy

Banned
firehawk12 said:
I thought the reason Australian prices are high is because of their version of VAT and all that.

There is no GST ('VAT') on imported goods or digital downloads.

Since buying from Steam is both, then there should be no regional pricing.
 

confused

Banned
Picked up Runway, as I enjoyed the first title and had been waiting for a cool Steam sale all week. Everytime I have plenty money Steam has shitty sales :(
 

LyarVonLyar

Neo Member
I'm bummed EA discontinued selling the original Alice with the deluxe version of Madness Returns. I really want to play the original despite how clunky or dated it may be.
 
spindoctor said:
I think there was an EA week of daily deals as well after the Summer sale, but they stuck with the usual suspects (Dragon Age, Mass Effect, NFS etc.). I was hoping some of their other games like Deathspank, Shank and Bulletstorm would go on sale but it seems like they've forgotten all about those now.
That's true. I was hoping for a Bulletstorm 50% off sale, which never happened. D:
 

PaulLFC

Member
Joe Molotov said:
EA Price Drops:

The Sims 3 $30 (-10)
Hot Pursuit $20 (-10)
Shift 2 $20 (-10)
Alice $30 (-20)
Darkspore $20 (-10)

And in the UK...

The Sims 3 £30
Hot Pursuit £30
Shift 2 £30
Alice £30
Darkspore £30

KuGsj.gif
 

X05

Upside, inside out he's livin la vida loca, He'll push and pull you down, livin la vida loca
SalsaShark said:
Steam is the only time ive been happy about not having any sort of videogame retail laws/whatever in my country. We are basically dead ground for retail since publishers stopped giving a shit and piracy kicked in, which means retail games here cost 170+ USD (seriously), but we get the same Steam prices as the whole SA/NA region. Digital distribution sales saved my gaming life.
Agreed. And fixed :p
Still, depends on the publisher, EA games are actually more expensive and some aren't even available.
GFWL games aren't available either, but that's probably a blessing in disguise :lol

Given our salaries, I wouldn't mind cheaper prices though.
 

Kerrinck

Member
SalsaShark said:
Steam is the only time ive been happy about not having any sort of videogame retail laws/whatever in my country. We are basically dead ground for retail since publishers stopped giving a shit and piracy kicked in, wich means retail games here cost 170+ USD (seriously), but we get the same Steam prices as the whole SA/NA region. Digital distribution saved my gaming life.

Same here in my country, although EA seems to hate us for some reason since their prices are always higher. Probably to push the origin service.
Probably the biggest reason why I try to stick with steam since most of the other digital stores usually have some sort of region lock.
 
PaulLFC said:
And in the UK...

The Sims 3 £30
Hot Pursuit £30
Shift 2 £30
Alice £30
Darkspore £30

KuGsj.gif
Eh, Germany has you beat on most:

The Sims 3 €45
Hot Pursuit €20
Shift 2 €50
Alice €50
Darkspore €50

€50 = £43
 

plc268

Member
Any single player content in the DLC? Not sure if I can link up with my Co-op buddy now (we have drastically different schedules), and I'd be damned if I play co-op with randoms.
 
I just bought a new PC and I have steam installed on the SSD but I would like the games to be downloaded to another HDD. Is that possible? I know that you can move them after you download them but I would like to have them download directly to my "game" HDD.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom