Game Pricing - Australia's Raw Deal

Video Game pricing in Australia is a rort. The release of Stalker this month will see it's RRP set at $89.95 in Australia. However, in the US the game will be released for only $39.95 (US) or, as converted currency, approx. $51 (Aus). That means that somewhere along the line we are paying an additional $38 or 40 per cent of the cover price again. Where does this money go?

Surely the cost of importing the product, or even producing it here does not warrant an additional 40 per cent in cover price. What is stopping consumers purchasing their PC games online at amazon and paying an additional $10 in postage. They will still be paying a significant amount less than purchasing the product here. The sad thing is that doing this would take away trade from Australian traders. I know, being in a retail shop, that the additional 40 per cent is definitely not going in to the retail shop owners pockets. In fact the percentage of profit made by retailers on the pricing of games has gradually been going down (like everything else) over the last couple of years. It used to be that in the book industry the retailer made approx. 100 per cent markup on the purchased price of literature.

Who is it that sucks up the money that comes out of our pockets. If it is not the retailer (and I assure you it definitely is not) then it must be the publishers and developers who are making the extra money out of Australian Gamers. PC Games are not region encoded and can be played on any PC anywhere. What incentive is there to keep gamers' dollars in Australia when they can easily pay and download a game from overseas for a much cheaper price (direct2drive). Then you have the other consideration. The gaming industry is obsessed with Piracy . So much so that id creator John Carmack came out in the last week and said that piracy is costing the industry billions. They don't seemed to be too concerned about ripping consumers off and turning them in to pirates. No one comes out and says that unfair regional pricing is costing consumers billions. John Carmack is more concerned about what is not going in to his hip pocket as opposed to what is coming out of yours. Why would consumers want to pay an additional 40 per cent on the cover price of exactly the same product? Where is the additional 40 per cent of value in the product they are paying more for?

As a further comparison. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 retails for $59.99 (US) in the states. Converted currency makes it approx. $76 (AUS). However, the RRP for this game in Australia is $119.95. This is an additional $43 on the converted American price.

I am an Australian consumer and I am angry about the price difference. Where is the money going? and if we are meant to have a global economy why isn't there pricing parity? Of course, the film industry know all about the need or want to be able to control world wide releases and pricing of DVD movies through their region encoding.

The industry is more than happy to jump up and down and cry like babies when they talk about the cost of piracy to the industry. However, they are reluctant to talk about the inconsistancy of pricing around the world for the same product and how much this costs consumers. You'll find that this does not just occur with games either, but all products. I am not an advocate for pirates, but I don't believe that consumers in one part of the world should have to pay an equivalent 40 per cent more on the cover price than those from elsewhere in the world.