Space Marine: Aussies charged 200%

Yep, we can add another to the list of games I refuse to buy because publishers want to charge Australians twice as much. I've checked with my North-American friends and they're being charged half as much as I would be at the Steam store.

I urge you not to buy this game, or if you must (through other channels) please do not pay twice for a game. It only encourages them to continue these extortive rates.

Oh and I let Relic know how I felt as well.
Space Marine | AUS $90 ?!

 

Should have titled it $90 USD in Australia?

Most Americans probably wouldn't know what the AUD exchange rate is like.

 

What a crock.
enough said.

 

Thanks for sticking it in their faces Reoh. I think every aussie gamer agrees with you that this is a joke which has gone on long enough.

 

That'll be them protecting the local box-shifting retail outlets again then.

I blame EB rather than steam.

 

I had this serious comment the other day from the friend that helped me workout what it cost him from NA. "Is that because of the violence?"

Sigh...

 

Lol - I don't really get it but perhaps we should be charged more for the developers to include the ability to censor half the game for the australian market.. just in case..

 

It's because they only half paid attention during the whole L4D2 nonsense - they think that AU, like (or even moreso) than DE, is subject to unreasonably strict rules covering violence in video games - it's now become an automatic response from many folks overseas, thinking it must be because of "violence" (I even saw a post from one guy who claimed that in Australia, the higher prices were due to alcohol consumption in video games - WTF?!).

CHOICE has made a submission to the Productivity Commission which, in addition to other pricing disparities, draws attention to how AU gamers are being screwed on digital content:

Submission to the Productivity Commission inquiry into the retail sector - CHOICE

 

I reckon the publishers and retail stores are in cahoots here. The publishers set the prices on steam, and they'd have a decent say over brick and mortar pricing too. It's more $$$ for both, and every single retail store in Austraila does it. Price fixing at it's best.

What's perhaps most obvious are the actual console system prices as you think there's be some price parity between hardware.

160Gb PS3: is $500 AUD vs $300 USD.

160GB PlayStation 3 - EB Games Australia
160GB PlayStation 3 - GameStop USA

Yet look at any other hardware market, even Apple or computer components:

Intel Core i5-2500K CPU: $219 AUD (Umart) vs $225 USD (Newegg)

Which is almost even given the exchange rate:

219 AUD in USD - Google Search

I thought such agreements to fix prices was illegal in some countries, guess it's not here. Edit: Well lookie here, according to Wikipedia price fixing is illegal in Australia and their description of price fixing seems to describe this situation down to the letter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_fixing

So you have to wonder why this is still happening, and do we in fact have legal grounds for complaining/campaigning for some kind of change?

I know TOG has a few lawyers in their member ranks, don't know if any of them practice international trade law though, would be nice to hear some other opinions on this. Google-fu and wikipedia only go so far.

 

This subject has even caught the eye of News.com.au
Australian shoppers ripped off by retailer mark-ups - Choice | News.com.au

 

Hmm, well it's a start. Anyone else reporting on this?

News.com.au are all bark and no bite, probably because of lot of this stuff is really badly researched. Would love to see more credible news organisations trumpeting this issue as well.

 

It was all over the Fairfax-owned newspapers too.

 

At the very least maybe it will open people eyes to other ways of getting the game (or any game) at a more reasonable price.

 

guys,

use
Video games for PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, DS, PSP, PC & Mac from ozgameshop.com

or
GAME PC Downloads

half price. just wait for it to turn up on them.

I just pre-ordered Battlefield 3 for $44.99AU on ozgameshop.

 

+1 for ozgameshop. Some of those games can be purchased and delivered from the UK at 50% of the Aus Steam prices. I did it for brink and was very happy with them. Why buy from steam just to be charged over 100% markup. What am I paying for?

PS> Just ordered ME3, Duke, and Deus Ex from ozgames as well.

 

For the first time I also went OS for a game - Brink from Ozgameshop. I'd do it again.

I don't mind paying a fair price for a game. Double that of everyone else around the world (apart from perhaps NZ, they may be in the same boat as us) sorry. I'll either import it or plain won't buy it.

Ozgameshop was less than half price with free shipping! Goes to show the markup we're being stung with.

 

I was happy to wait for them also. Slow but satisfying

 

It's not just games but most things over here. I buy books from the UK less than 1/2 price with free delivery and recently a set of lights for my bike. My local retailer, 12kms away, quoted me $400. I got them from a bike retailer in the UK with free delivery for AU$100.

It's not just regional pricing but also the Australian government restrictions on retailers. Yes 50 years ago stopping retailers from selling goods from overseas was a good idea to protect the Australian economy. Now we live in a global market and the consumer will go where the cheapest price is.

 

OMG

REVOLUTION!

Ok so what the plan and how to we use the international power of TOG to take this further?

Maybe we could hack Steam, anyone go the phone number to those PS3 guys? Surely they accept the Aussie payment of the almighty cartoon.

 

How to check to see if the game key will activate on Steam?

There is also play-asia.com which I have used a number of times no dramas at all, again just have to wait. Its great for PS3 games even the ones that sometimes don't make it to certain areas... Due to weather *cough* and stuff and other related things ...