Poll: Australia: Games are too expensive

[42]

So with every game publishing company and his mum are scurrying for online passes, charging 15 dollars for map packs, paying subscription fees (believe me i felt the price rise of Microsofts XBL gold account), and of course dealing with the distributors price on top the game's price (EB Games charges almost 109 bucks for a new game here). The only sort of relief to overpricing of games lies in Steam, trade-ins, and the indie games that only charge as much for a pint and a lunch at the pub.

What i'm getting at is that I'm not buying the excuses anymore.

As Minecraft, Terraria, Super Meat Boy, have successfully proven, you don't need to charge 100 bucks to provide hours and hours of entertainment to have fun and a consumer base. And each of them so far has done so quite a good job at being good games that are fun to play and are available for a cheap price. and they certainly have turned a profit for them. (Minecraft achieving 2.8 million sales at time of writing, Terraria remaining in the Top 10 Steam sales list for almost the past month ((besides the recent steam sale)) and hell super meat boy found more success on Steam but this is not about console vs pc)

I mean even Valve has managed to make all their games cheap as hell, and even made one Free-to-play on a micro transaction system that works, and i mean seriously the Orange Box? Not to mention the Steam Sales.

All this has proven is that games don't need to be that expensive to turn a profit.

Now I have to admit several things i'm willing to concede in this argument, we have stores here in Australia that offer them for a lower price, but it still is expensive as hell. 79.99 is what regular new release games get at JB Hi Fi. I also get that companies also must have expenses covered shipping, production, paying employers, studios, marketing. That's fine, but get me if i'm wrong, an average hollywood film costs almost as much as a videogame does, and movies go for 12 to 30 bucks round here in australia. The upcoming video games this summer (here in australia.) including CoD, BF3, etc, will break records. I'm Not a business person, and no i don't run a company, but as a consumer, i think we deserve a bit of a break regarding pricing.

But inevitable commenters will say "But the game publishers are the greedy ones, they won't care about you're opinion" That means admitting defeat, because the one thing that makes publishers listen is their wallet, and if that is getting lighter then i think they're in a position to listen. But for crying out loud this is the modern age!! games are being innovative and forwarding the industry, with the engines available to run code on, and with the fact we have gone as far we can in terms of graphics, can't we just enjoy the now?

It's the Apple argument, can't we enjoy what we have a little longer, the future is coming, but we can enjoy the present that we have now. South Park does a better job explaining it then i do (see episode HUMANCENTiPad) but i dunno.
Fellow Australian Escapists do you think games are too pricey in this country?
Everyone else, do you see the price on games should be cheaper then they are? What do you think would be a reasonable reduction of price?

 

[Gregg Lonsdale]

That's why I base most of my game purchases on yahtzee's reviews. It's cynical but I'd go broke if I were buying what most people say is good.

 

[MercurySteam]

I've pretty much given up on JB HiFi as their prices are almost the same as EB's now, they're quite hard to actually get to and they don't have a 7 day return policy that has saved me hundreds of dollars in the past. On top of that, the local Gametraders store packed up and moved out. If it really bugs you then go where everyone else goes [http://play-asia.com/].

 

[Infinatex]

Nope, they are fine. The minimum wage in Australia at this moment is somewhere in the vicinity of $15-16 an hour. Our prices reflect that. I'm not sure what the current one is in the States ( I know it varied state to state) but the last time I saw some figures it sure as hell wasn't anywhere as high. (If someone has it I'd love to see exactly what it is!!)

The other thing is that even though the RRP for a new release game might be 109.95 no where actually sells it for that. I got Portal 2 (from my local GAME) for $74 when it came out and the advertised price was $119.95 at EB Games. If you are paying full price then you are doing it wrong.

 

[AmaterasuGrim]

Why don't you just buy the american game on ebay and get it for $67 AU?

Because unless it's region free it won't work i can buy ps3 but for xbox we have to purchase our region since most xbox games are region blocked, so unless you have a american xbox it won't work.

 

[LookingGlass]

Since I found OzGameShop [http://www.ozgameshop.com/] I've had much less of an issue with costs of getting games in Australia. Prices are in line with the Americans, and they do free shipping.

Personally I believe the bigger problem is that pricing has next to nothing to do with the actual amount of content you receive. Pretty much all games (keeping system e.g. pc, PS3, 360 consistent) cost the same when new. If I'm going to get 100 hours out of Oblivion and 12 out of Uncharted, shouldn't Morrowind cost $120 and Uncharted cost $30, rather than both hovering around $70-80 new?

I can barely believe that companies like Bethesda actually bother including that much content with things the way they are.

 

[Hamish Durie]

well i asked a good friend of mine(the manager) of my local EB and Australia has a very small population campared to say the US or Europe now the actual game DEVs only give Aus a small amount of games to sell(mabye 15,000) in the entire country or state now EB has to make ends meet so they sell there much more limited supply of games to gamers who might not even buy those games so they have to jack up the prices.
ok metaphor time- USA is a slice of toast and games are the butter or whatever you put on your toast, they have alot of games so they can sell cheaply
Australia same size toast with 1/10 of the butter so EB and GAME have to sell their butter for big $$$ so that they can still buy games to sell and feed their kids.
What i have a problem with is games actually not making it to AUS or coming in later then certin other countries

edit: the reason steam can sell cheap is because it's not a real copy of the game, no disk has to be made or transported

So with every game publishing company and his mum are scurrying for online passes, charging 15 dollars for map packs, paying subscription fees (believe me i felt the price rise of Microsofts XBL gold account), and of course dealing with the distributors price on top the game's price (EB Games charges almost 109 bucks for a new game here). The only sort of relief to overpricing of games lies in Steam, trade-ins, and the indie games that only charge as much for a pint and a lunch at the pub.

What i'm getting at is that I'm not buying the excuses anymore.

As Minecraft, Terraria, Super Meat Boy, have successfully proven, you don't need to charge 100 bucks to provide hours and hours of entertainment to have fun and a consumer base. And each of them so far has done so quite a good job at being good games that are fun to play and are available for a cheap price. and they certainly have turned a profit for them. (Minecraft achieving 2.8 million sales at time of writing, Terraria remaining in the Top 10 Steam sales list for almost the past month ((besides the recent steam sale)) and hell super meat boy found more success on Steam but this is not about console vs pc)

I mean even Valve has managed to make all their games cheap as hell, and even made one Free-to-play on a micro transaction system that works, and i mean seriously the Orange Box? Not to mention the Steam Sales.

All this has proven is that games don't need to be that expensive to turn a profit.

Now I have to admit several things i'm willing to concede in this argument, we have stores here in Australia that offer them for a lower price, but it still is expensive as hell. 79.99 is what regular new release games get at JB Hi Fi. I also get that companies also must have expenses covered shipping, production, paying employers, studios, marketing. That's fine, but get me if i'm wrong, an average hollywood film costs almost as much as a videogame does, and movies go for 12 to 30 bucks round here in australia. The upcoming video games this summer (here in australia.) including CoD, BF3, etc, will break records. I'm Not a business person, and no i don't run a company, but as a consumer, i think we deserve a bit of a break regarding pricing.


It's the Apple argument, can't we enjoy what we have a little longer, the future is coming, but we can enjoy the present that we have now. South Park does a better job explaining it then i do (see episode HUMANCENTiPad) but i dunno.
Fellow Australian Escapists do you think games are too pricey in this country?
Everyone else, do you see the price on games should be cheaper then they are? What do you think would be a reasonable reduction of price?

 

[banksy122]

First I though you were going to complain about Australian game prices compared to US game prices. Thank god you didn't do that.
OT:I agree, games are expensive, but nothing excessive. The minimum wage is actually quite high compared to the difference between min wage and game price in other countries, so it doesn't take long to be able to afford games.
It is very easy to buy games that work on Australian systems for half the price as retail, such as Ebay stores(There are british stores that sell exclusively to Australia because our area code is the same), and other small business'. First rule is just never buy from EB, Game or games that have localized pricing on steam.

 

[jamesmax]

ok dam i will naver think 73$ is a lot anymore(im in canada)

 

[banksy122]

Personally I believe the bigger problem is that pricing has next to nothing to do with the actual amount of content you receive. Pretty much all games (keeping system e.g. pc, PS3, 360 consistent) cost the same when new. If I'm going to get 100 hours out of Oblivion and 12 out of Uncharted, shouldn't Morrowind cost $120 and Uncharted cost $30, rather than both hovering around $70-80 new?

I can barely believe that companies like Bethesda actually bother including that much content with things the way they are.

Different types of games have different types of fun. An RPG might last you 100 hours, but is all of that heaps of enjoyment or just running from place to place? Where as an FPS might last you 10 hours, but all of that is going to be fighting and constant gameplay. Some games shouldn't cost as much as they do, but don't compare prices RPG/RTS' to FPS'/TPS. They hold different enjoyment levels.

Captcha - Basket case. This might indeed be true.

 

[LookingGlass]

Personally I believe the bigger problem is that pricing has next to nothing to do with the actual amount of content you receive. Pretty much all games (keeping system e.g. pc, PS3, 360 consistent) cost the same when new. If I'm going to get 100 hours out of Oblivion and 12 out of Uncharted, shouldn't Morrowind cost $120 and Uncharted cost $30, rather than both hovering around $70-80 new?

I can barely believe that companies like Bethesda actually bother including that much content with things the way they are.

Different types of games have different types of fun. An RPG might last you 100 hours, but is all of that heaps of enjoyment or just running from place to place? Where as an FPS might last you 10 hours, but all of that is going to be fighting and constant gameplay. Some games shouldn't cost as much as they do, but don't compare prices RPG/RTS' to FPS'/TPS. They hold different enjoyment levels.

I get that, and I'm happy to pay more for something, not necessarily additional game length. E.g. L.A. Noire has next to no replay value and is about 12 hours long, but you pay extra because you're paying for the new facial technolgy they built. Makes sense. If they actually spent a few years creating the game, then yeah $80 is reasonable.

But if one team produces an FPS in a year with the same size team that it takes 3-5 years to produce an epic RPG, shouldn't the RPG team be compensated proportionately?

Perhaps my original example was weak. My point was simply that not all games should cost the same. A cost system involving employees involved in the project, licensing costs (e.g. game engine, franchise licensing such as Star Wars) and time spent would be the ideal... though a bit complicated. But with things the way they are, I feel like the developers incentives are discouraging massive, content-rich games.

 

[Pat8u]

I grew up with these prices so I don't care that much

OT So my point is Games arent to expensive they are to expensive to make maybe but not to expensive to buy may I point out the fact \that gaming is a very cheap hobby compared to other things

 

[Pat8u]

I've pretty much given up on JB HiFi as their prices are almost the same as EB's now, they're quite hard to actually get to and they don't have a 7 day return policy that has saved me hundreds of dollars in the past. On top of that, the local GAME store packed up and moved out. If it really bugs you then go where everyone else goes [http://play-asia.com/].

Ive never been to game before are they cheaper than eb? I have a local game close to me so should I be going there instead of Eb And JB?

So with every game publishing company and his mum are scurrying

Isn't it every company and their dog?

 

[CodeOrange]

Everything is too expensive in Australia.

 

[yuval152]

I have to pay 350 NIS(DAM YOU TAX)+wait 3 weeks(untill it gets here) for a regular new game.(recently released) so you are not alone T_T

Also for Every 1$USD i have to pay 3.4430045 NIS

and btw

F you Benjamin Netanyahu

Spoiler

i live in israel

 

[Rowski]

With the current exchange rate ($1 AUD = $1.05 USD) it shits me to tears when I read about U.S. gamers getting their games for $60. Remember, the $79 JBHifi price mentioned above is the absolute MINIMUM price we can get new release games here in Australia, and that's only on guaranteed big selling games. $109 is more par-for-course in every other game shop.

That's just bricks'n'mortar stores, though. I now get games from ozgameshop.com for more realistic pricing. Why it's cheaper to buy games in the UK and ship them individually halfway the world is beyond me, but obviously it works for them. It might mean a wait of another week, but that's not a big issue.

As for the games being worth the $80 or whatever - well yeah, I guess so. I will easily put much more than 100 hours into Skyrim when it arrives, and if BF:BC2 was any indication I will play BF3 for multiple hundreds of hours too. Oh and I will probably play Gears3 until either I die, they release another Gears, or they switch off the servers - whichever comes first.

You put it in that perspective, and games value-for-money makes going to the movies akin to flushing money down the toilet for an experience not that much different to public transport.

TL;DR - We aussies get rorted on pricing compared to the known universe, but it's still worth it for sweet gaming goodness.

 

[MercurySteam]

I've pretty much given up on JB HiFi as their prices are almost the same as EB's now, they're quite hard to actually get to and they don't have a 7 day return policy that has saved me hundreds of dollars in the past. On top of that, the local GAME store packed up and moved out. If it really bugs you then go where everyone else goes [http://play-asia.com/].

Ive never been to game before are they cheaper than eb? I have a local game close to me so should I be going there instead of Eb And JB?

Actually now that I think about it, that was a Gametraders store. I do remember them giving me a fair shake for most games, though I wish I knew that they also had a seven day return policy before I traded in my copy of Just Cause 2. They will typically also give you more money for your games than EB or JB. GAME isn't much better than EB but they have a great website and if you get your games delivered to your house then you save money because they ship it straight from the warehouse, plus if you live in Sydney then you usually get it delivered within 24 hours. They also repaired my Borderlands disc

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Nope, they are fine. The minimum wage in Australia at this moment is somewhere in the vicinity of $15-16 an hour. Our prices reflect that. I'm not sure what the current one is in the States ( I know it varied state to state) but the last time I saw some figures it sure as hell wasn't anywhere as high. (If someone has it I'd love to see exactly what it is!!)

The other thing is that even though the RRP for a new release game might be 109.95 no where actually sells it for that. I got Portal 2 (from my local GAME) for $74 when it came out and the advertised price was $119.95 at EB Games. If you are paying full price then you are doing it wrong.

Closer to $18, depending on the age and job. In America I think its between 8 and 10 per hour, that's for an adult aged over 18. Australia also has higher taxes on certain goods, computer games being one of them.

So the game price is fine, it's the overhead that's driving up the prices.