Aussie Consumers Say No To High Game Prices

[Doobs]

Thanks Marc,

You make your point better than i can. I guess only people who work in retail,

or have a small retail business, can understand.

[SoFreshSoClean]

People seem to forget that the aim of a business is to make money!! All companies claim they love to give good service but it's all done to sweeten the deal and lighten your wallet.

Price cutting is the worst thing for a business, of course people do it to remain competitive but its a last resort.

eg. I work at Coventrys, the prices we charge at retail are higher than places like Malz etc.

Coventrys may make, for example $6 profit (made up number, wouldnt be that much) on the sale of one oil filter.

Malz might sell 6 oil filters at $1 profit each.

Who's cleverer in the end? Malz have 6x the customers to serve, 6x the receipts to print, 6x the data entry, etc etc. Not to mention returns, warranties blah blah.

At the end of the day, if a business can get away with charging high prices, then why the hell wouldnt they? I will refer to Apple as a prime example of this..

[Miguelone]

i usually try and get things form overseas when i can, or failing that.. steam.

i mean shit, how much is L4D2 selling for these days? $30? if you get it on steam when they have it on sale, $2. not to mention the good exchange rate with the US dollar at the moment.

Even on Steam things are usually around $20 cheaper in the US, I use mates in the US to buy games for me and gift them to my account.

Edit: Didn't see this point had already been raised.

Edited June 4, 2011 by miguelegant

[Dani Boi]

I support it. I dont buy games often so it doesn't really phase me.

[oweban]

Marc,

In the case of bikes and things of a physical nature, I'd want to buy locally as I want to know that I'd be able to go into the store if I have dramas and talk to someone about things, and have a chat about it. With purely digital items though, especially games (where I'll just dump the contents of the disc onto my HDD and install from there, or Steam) then it hurts for the price difference. I guess different sectors of the market, different strokes? I think we can all agree that it's a tough one

[mad082]

Marc,

In the case of bikes and things of a physical nature, I'd want to buy locally as I want to know that I'd be able to go into the store if I have dramas and talk to someone about things, and have a chat about it. With purely digital items though, especially games (where I'll just dump the contents of the disc onto my HDD and install from there, or Steam) then it hurts for the price difference. I guess different sectors of the market, different strokes? I think we can all agree that it's a tough one

my points were aimed towards people under the impression that it is the aussie retailers ripping people off.

[Madaz]

well its partially the gov. fault for taxing everything and then taxing again at the register WE ALREADY PAID IMPORT TAX ON IT then sales tax then a carbon tax next whats next installation tax it never ends

[gfunkk]

I find quite often I need to call my mate in the USA because something's cheaper on his steam than mine

[Joe_89]

Yea so ummmmmm, i spent $425 in EB games today, 3 preorders and a copy of LA Noir hahaha

[SoFreshSoClean]

Man our world is retarded.

I just bought deus ex human revolution from an online store in singapore for about $40 from Here. What you get is a CD-key to enter into steam.

BUT what happens on their end is they actually order the game, take a photo of the instruction manual and send it to you.

So somewhere in the world is my CD, box and manual of deus ex, all of which will never need to be used and will probably be thrown away.

As I said, retarded.

[Madaz]

yep why cant the distributors of said games make it easier for these people to onsell keys

i hav used G2Play in this manner

BF3 is about $42 atm and about $45 for the return the karkland one

[Chappy]

There is no excuse the retailers can make which will stand up to the un-deniable fact that the rest of the world pays far less for their games than we do.

We can argue whether its the governments fault, the importers fault or the retailers fault but the fact remains, something big had better change and it had better change soon or the retail sector is going to fall over.

Either all the involved parties can get together and discuss how to steer their ship away from that big water fall, or they can hang onto their greed and ride that thing over the edge.

Either way the buyers will win in the end because if the retailers all go belly up, it will just open the market for online sellers to take their place.

Good riddance to retail i say.

Edited August 30, 2011 by Chappy

[TerminalWraith]

Amen brother

[Madaz]

Yep Agrees strongly

[EeLeYe]

Well it's not just games. It's everything in general. Australia is f**king expensive!!!

Think about it, consumer electronics, clothes (proper brands), house, cinema, restaurant, cars, alcohol, parking in the city - the list is never ending.

Apart from fuel, everything is so expensive compared to other developed countries. Then again, we get the shit fuel anyway.

amiright ???

[Madaz]

youareright

[Damit]

Well it's not just games. It's everything in general. Australia is f**king expensive!!!

Think about it, consumer electronics, clothes (proper brands), house, cinema, restaurant, cars, alcohol, parking in the city - the list is never ending.

Apart from fuel, everything is so expensive compared to other developed countries. Then again, we get the shit fuel anyway.

amiright ???

The only thing you haven't put in is our average wage is higher than alot of countries like the us

so for a store to pay staff a higher amount they need to sell there products at a higher cost to still make a profit

but I do love the AUD atm as I just buy most things overseas at the lower cost so I see it as a win for us being payed more and having higher retail cost

[Nee-san]

From what I have read so far, those defending the price differential between Australia and the rest of the world have their arguments centered around the differences in minimum wage between developed countries.

Ok, you have to ask firstly what percentage of a products final cost is influenced by wages ?

Let's say wages count for 25% of a products final price, just for arguments sake.

even when you double the direct influence of wages, you are still no where near the the level of pricing for products in Australia, prices where markups well in excess of 100% are not uncommon.

Food for thought.

[TerminalWraith]

Nummy... G2Play prices are red hot...

[zamnap]

i just buy the game from outside but just have to be care full with the region