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.