This post is not completely related to the Game itself, but the pricing of the game in Australia.
As many Australians know, and some informed Non-Australians alike, currently we Australians are paying up to $90USD ($100AUD) for a game that retails at $49-$59USD in the United States and United Kingdom.
Before the Economic Crisis/Boom for Australian Resources market The Australian Dollar was buying around 60-70 UScents, but now it is buying 80-90 UScents, Logic would state goods imported into australian dollars, in this case games, would have dropped in price, but they didnt , the price in Australia stayed constant, so we are paying More USD for games than non Australian Residents are across the world.
Being the Rough n Tough Aussies we are, at a retail level we have taken it on the chin, and on a digital download perspective we have started to utilise Digital distribution networks such as steam and D2D and even started importing Games from the US and other countries alike. (as even with postage on importing we can save up to $30USD sometimes)
But to our suprise even digital distribution networks such as steam have started to jack prices up for the Australian version of Steam.
For Example Metro 2033 is $49.99 USD on the US Steam store, But on the Australian Steam store it is $79.99USD (yes we Australians have to pay in USD on Steam)
Now i know its not steam directly at vault, its the Publishers that ask the price to be jacked up, ironically in most cases the games that are jacked up are published by 2Kgames, to which are partly developed in 2k's Australian Studio.
But the Bastion of Light in all this mess has been blizzard, keeping thier Australian and US prices the same in USD.
But with the Release of Starcraft 2 blizzard have establised a Oceanic Server base for battlenet, based in Singapore. which has subsequently allowed blizzard to set up thier own seperate store on battlenet for Oceanic users, this is where blizzard have shat upon Australian and New Zealanders.
The Digital Price for SC2 on the US region Store is $59.99 USD
The Digital Price for SC2 on the Oceanic Region is $89.99 AUD ($80 USD)
Now can anyone see the differnce here?
$80USD-$59.99 USD is $20.01 USD lets just say $20 USD for easier reference.
Thats Right We have to pay $20 USD more. for SC2 than everyone else.
Now i know people are gonna say, its only $69AUD in shops right now! and people are gonna say but currency fluctuates! and oh but they have to cover costs etc etc!
The Arguement of Currency fluctuation is kinda invalid as the Amount has remained constant for almsot 2 years now.
but on a matter of Principle and Equality dont you think this is unfair?
Also my respect for Blizzard has decreased slightly. and as you can tell im a bit pissed with the prices.
/endrant
As many Australians know, and some informed Non-Australians alike, currently we Australians are paying up to $90USD ($100AUD) for a game that retails at $49-$59USD in the United States and United Kingdom.
Before the Economic Crisis/Boom for Australian Resources market The Australian Dollar was buying around 60-70 UScents, but now it is buying 80-90 UScents, Logic would state goods imported into australian dollars, in this case games, would have dropped in price, but they didnt , the price in Australia stayed constant, so we are paying More USD for games than non Australian Residents are across the world.
Being the Rough n Tough Aussies we are, at a retail level we have taken it on the chin, and on a digital download perspective we have started to utilise Digital distribution networks such as steam and D2D and even started importing Games from the US and other countries alike. (as even with postage on importing we can save up to $30USD sometimes)
But to our suprise even digital distribution networks such as steam have started to jack prices up for the Australian version of Steam.
For Example Metro 2033 is $49.99 USD on the US Steam store, But on the Australian Steam store it is $79.99USD (yes we Australians have to pay in USD on Steam)
Now i know its not steam directly at vault, its the Publishers that ask the price to be jacked up, ironically in most cases the games that are jacked up are published by 2Kgames, to which are partly developed in 2k's Australian Studio.
But the Bastion of Light in all this mess has been blizzard, keeping thier Australian and US prices the same in USD.
But with the Release of Starcraft 2 blizzard have establised a Oceanic Server base for battlenet, based in Singapore. which has subsequently allowed blizzard to set up thier own seperate store on battlenet for Oceanic users, this is where blizzard have shat upon Australian and New Zealanders.
The Digital Price for SC2 on the US region Store is $59.99 USD
The Digital Price for SC2 on the Oceanic Region is $89.99 AUD ($80 USD)
Now can anyone see the differnce here?
$80USD-$59.99 USD is $20.01 USD lets just say $20 USD for easier reference.
Thats Right We have to pay $20 USD more. for SC2 than everyone else.
Now i know people are gonna say, its only $69AUD in shops right now! and people are gonna say but currency fluctuates! and oh but they have to cover costs etc etc!
The Arguement of Currency fluctuation is kinda invalid as the Amount has remained constant for almsot 2 years now.
but on a matter of Principle and Equality dont you think this is unfair?
Also my respect for Blizzard has decreased slightly. and as you can tell im a bit pissed with the prices.
/endrant
