Does the Global Market Exist?

A certain, prominent Australian gaming site (run by a major Telco) has launched its online games store this week. For some this would be a cause for celebration because the development of online delivery of games has seen a price drop in game titles for direct download overseas. This is not so in Australia. You would think that without the overheads of carrying stock, opening stores as well staffing these stores and the money saved on delivery costs associated with receiving product in your store that online delivery would create the possibility of selling software at a greatly reduced price. This does not seem to hold true in Australia.

This new online shop which offers direct to your hard drive delivery of the software is, in fact, selling software at full retail price. If you are not a member of the Telco offering this online delivery service (of course, membership has its privileges and members get the software at a slight discount) then you would have to pay $89.95 for the new Tomb Raider Legend. Full price. At least if you go to the store to purchase it you would receive the box, instructions and not all of the hassles of updating a direct2drive game (the direct2drive downloaded games require special update patches released for them). The funny thing about this is that if you have a look around and consider some of the other options for online delivery, such as direct2drive, you could in fact purchase this same product for only $39.95US ($53.97AUS). This is a saving of over $30 for exactly the same product. I can tell you what I would prefer to be doing with my money and it does not include shelling out the difference to a major Telco which already has millions of its own. How do they possibly think that this system will work? If you are prepared to purchase software and download it online then you are more than capable of doing a google search for the same software to see where you can get it at a cheaper price.

It seems to me that the world marketplace is reluctant to accept the global nature of the internet in order to provide online delivery. Another example of this is in relation to Amercian television shows. Itunes in the US offers the second season of lost on a download basis of $1.99US per episode the day after it is shown in the states. However, you cannot purchase these television shows if you do not live in the US. I would certainly pay $1.99US to download every episode of Lost after it was shown in the states. Why should they complain about people illegally downloading television shows when they only offer a paid download service to a specific region? If they opened up this system to the world they would make a lot more money out of it and not have to worry so much about monitoring people's internet usage. Why is this same system not set up in Australia? Why is the world so backwards in coming forwards?

Steam, for all its faults, at least has managed to put its pricing point for new software at a more than competitive price. Titles like Red Orchestra are more than half what you would pay in a shop for the same title if released with a box and packaging.

Unfortunately, the market in Australia is run by vultures. The marketplace is completely out of balance and reletive technology prices are more than they should be when compared to overseas. You just have to go to the football and look at the price of a meatpie and a beer to know that Capitalism has taken a foul turn to complete opportunism in this country.

(This article is not written to promote Direct2Drive.)