Are publishers racist or hate Europe ?

[Stavros Dimou]

This is an old known annoying matter but with the arrival of Nintendo 3ds I remembered it once more,and I'm furious about it.
The problem is that europeans end paying both hardware and software much more expensive than americans and japanese.
It seems like most publishers doesn't consider the value and buying power of a currency before pricing their goods.
They just make up a number,and ask from people to pay that number of currency not matter its value.

Lets use Nintendo 3ds as an example.

It cost 250 dollars in the U.S.A.
In Japan it costs 25000 yen.
In Europe it cost 250 euros.

Let's translate the values of euros and yen to U.S. dollars.

25.000 yen = 309.2 US dollars
250 euros = 355.02 US dollars.

We are asked to pay in our currency an amount of money which translates to 105.02 dollars MORE than the (according to many Americans) already expensive price of 250$.

But 3ds is not the only case,everything from the price of games to the price of other technology stuff like the iPad is more expensive here.
The price that the cheapest iPad had when it came out last year in Europe was 750 EUROS !!!
750 EUROS = 1065,82 DOLLARS.

Since all that stuff is made in China or Taiwan why do we have to pay anything from 30% up to +100% more than other people do ?
It's almost racistic.

 

[PureChaos]

in the UK i think it's selling at around £200, which is around $320-ish

EDIT: just checked Amazon, it's £187 on there

 

[moretimethansense]

I was going to make a post that agreed with you while making a "stupid American" joke or two and a "greedy dev" joke or three but "racistic"?
Really man?

 

[Binerexis]

When I went to the US a couple of years ago, I found that the opposite was the case: games in England cost a lot less but the conversion to dollars was really harsh. Just before going out there, I had bought Modern Warfare 2 for around £30 for the PC. In the US, the cheapest I could find it was just over $60. Whilst it may not have been the case in the past, it certainly looks like publishers are trying to charge people the same 'real' amount for games rather than trying to pick on individual areas. In fact, the only annoying thing regarding games and areas of the world is the delays in release time/localisation but even that isn't much of an issue any more.

 

[Watchmacallit]

You forgot Australia. Our dollar matches America's and we're still paying almost twice the price for games for apparently no reason.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

You forgot Australia. Our dollar matches America's and we're still paying almost twice the price for games for apparently no reason.

I'm sorry.
From what I know the games you get are PAL too,which means PAL regions pay the most.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

I was going to make a post that agreed with you while making a "stupid American" joke or two and a "greedy dev" joke or three but "racistic"?
Really man?

O.K. maybe it wasn't the right word as europeans or americans and whatever aren't really races,but I meant that there are unfair distinctions made,which is also what happens in racism.

 

[ten.to.ten]

That's the way it always has been. You know why they do it? Not out of hatred or bigotry, just because they can.

 

[EzraPound]

Corporations are not racist, they will con money from people of any race.

 

[Rednog]

Err, a bit surprised that people are a bit dense to the fact on how game pricing works. Developers don't go hey let's just make the game this and this price in each region. They usually go ok this is the price we want and then they send it out to the various countries who have to slap on their various fines and other tariffs which jack the price up in many countries. Hell I know in Poland electronic tariffs on somethings jack up the prices by at least 20+%. Also the conversion rate varies so much during the year that to expect developers to constantly monitor them and adjust prices accordingly is a bit silly. They make a base price and then that price gets inflated by your government. So go blame them instead.
That said there are some places in the world where the local currency is damn near worthless (parts of europe included) where you can actually get games and some hardware for far cheaper than the US or any other market. A 2 hour trip and I got myself a legit copy of Crysis 2 for $29.

 

[Frostbyte666]

Don't forget that the european gamer (and australian) doesn't get considered for some releases whatsoever, yes I'm still bitter about not being able to get parsite eve 1 and 2 on PSN.

 

[DracoSuave]

Since all that stuff is made in China or Taiwan why do we have to pay anything from 30% up to +100% more than other people do ?
It's almost racistic.

Then move closer to China. I don't know if you own a globe, but the closest route between China and Taiwan to Europe is this thing we call 'Asia.' That thing is huge, and expensive to ship large amounts of product over. Apparently, you have to pay things like 'customs fees' and all sorts of things. Contrast with shipping to the States where you have this thing called 'Pacific Ocean.' Ships don't have to deal with borders along the way, and as a direct result can be considerably cheaper for transporting cargo across the globe than air.

It's just more expensive to get stuff from the eastern coast of Asia to Europe than it is to North America. In some cases, it's cheaper to ship it to the US or Canada, toss it on a train, send it cross country, then ship it to a European Port... and if you think it's not more expensive to add 'ship across this country, than put on a different boat' I got a bridge to sell ya.


Australia, I can't explain. I swear the only thing more hostile to gamers playing games than their government is their distribution channels. It's like everyone who isn't a customer just hates the product and makes you want to feel bad for being a part of it.

 

[moretimethansense]

I was going to make a post that agreed with you while making a "stupid American" joke or two and a "greedy dev" joke or three but "racistic"?
Really man?

O.K. maybe it wasn't the right word as europeans or americans and whatever aren't really races,but I meant that there are unfair distinctions made,which is also what happens in racism.

Not the right word?
It's not a word at all.
The word you were looking for would be rasist, though bigoted would be better, though still not quite right for the context.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Games are double or even triple their price in USA here in Norway. Seems we're the Australia of Europe.

 

[Radeonx]

Yup, because clearly the publishers are creating an elaborate scheme of hate crimes to swindle you filthy Europeans out of money and slowly povertize the continent.

Or they just want as much money as possible. I'm guessing it is the formal, though. It makes way more sense.

 

[funguy2121]

This is an old known annoying matter but with the arrival of Nintendo 3ds I remembered it once more,and I'm furious about it.
The problem is that europeans end paying both hardware and software much more expensive than americans and japanese.
It seems like most publishers doesn't consider the value and buying power of a currency before pricing their goods.
They just make up a number,and ask from people to pay that number of currency not matter its value.

Lets use Nintendo 3ds as an example.

It cost 250 dollars in the U.S.A.
In Japan it costs 25000 yen.
In Europe it cost 250 euros.

Let's translate the values of euros and yen to U.S. dollars.

25.000 yen = 309.2 US dollars
250 euros = 355.02 US dollars.

We are asked to pay in our currency an amount of money which translates to 105.02 dollars MORE than the (according to many Americans) already expensive price of 250$.

But 3ds is not the only case,everything from the price of games to the price of other technology stuff like the iPad is more expensive here.
The price that the cheapest iPad had when it came out last year in Europe was 750 EUROS !!!
750 EUROS = 1065,82 DOLLARS.

Since all that stuff is made in China or Taiwan why do we have to pay anything from 30% up to +100% more than other people do ?
It's almost racistic.

No, it is not racistic, it's not racistic at all.

By your own admission, it's more costly in Japan than in the U.S. So, are you suggesting that the Japanese are racist self-loathers who LOVE America and hate everyone else? Granted, I did once meet a full-blooded Iraqi who hated everyone but white Americans, but he was a meth addict. I doubt the same is true of most Japanese game designers.