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Sad truth of Latin American prices: Switch Edition

Keinning

Member
This has always been like that.

...

Not really. It's just like that when companies make no effort to improve it. Thankfully i'm old enough to remember the master system days where sega sanctioned TecToy to do their thing and we had a legit market in our country. Even Microsoft and Sony took baby steps and started producing here to cut prices from "haha are you kidding me get out of here" to "this is expensive as shit". Nintendo is usually the worst offender since NES days.
 

Salsa

Member
Not really. It's just like that when companies make no effort to improve it. Thankfully i'm old enough to remember the master system days where sega sanctioned TecToy to do their thing and we had a legit market in our country. Even Microsoft and Sony took baby steps and started producing here to cut prices from "haha are you kidding me get out of here" to "this is expensive as shit". Nintendo is usually the worst offender since NES days.

I feel like SEGA always had a better presence. Probably cause Tec Toy and considering they even do exclusive stuff for Brazil I gather that might ring true

I was a Mega Drive kid (console actually had a switch in the back to switch regions or basically turn it into a Genesis), as were most my friends
 

Ezalc

Member
Solution: Move to the United States
Well shit, why did I never think of this before!

I imagine you guys have very high wages, otherwise I don't see how these games would sell anything.

Yes, we all live in mansions with dedicated rooms to each console and their entire games libraries.

OP, I feel your pain. It's why I play most of my games on steam. I still get a few games here and there if they're from a franchise I really love or something, but it's pretty rare to do so.
 
Nintendo is the worst offender. This is a big market and they don't even try having a minimal support here. Can't give them excuses for that and it's annoying how often people defend them on this.
 

dacuk

Member
I feel things like this is why I saw plenty of pirated game stores in the mall(s) when I visited Costa Rica about a decade ago.

The retail prices on non-bootlegged electronics in some of these countries is absurd.

This is now a thing of the past, mostly because newer consoles have better anti-piracy measures or there are other backup-loading methods not involving recordable media.

Now, as prices of not-modded consoles and original games are through the roof, people of middle or lower classes will always look for methods of getting games the cheapest possible.

It is a cycle.
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
Nintendo is the worst offender. This is a big market and they don't even try having a minimal support here. Can't give them excuses for that and it's annoying how often people defend them on this.
Nintendo could start by creating an eShop for our countries. They can't even be bothered to do that, that's how much they care for our region.
 

Ahasverus

Member
Ridiculous. This market is /enormous/, everyone and its mother had a pirated PSX/2 which means gaming is already /cultural/.

Many people would love to buy games and consoles (When a tell anyone I have a PS4 - Whose games I bought on a trip to the US because they're dirt cheap there- I get an automatic "Can I go to your place?") but prices being higher than the US while these countries being, well, poor, make it impossible.

Gaming companies should really look into regional pricing.
 

ozfunghi

Member
I don't understand how customs work over there exactly. Even with high import taxes, it could still be very much worth it, i can imagine?

Where i live (small EU country) it's very clear what customs cost. You will pay €12 for handling, then there is a 21% of VAT and an additional 4% import taxes. Both VAT and import taxes are calcullated on top of the total cost of the product + shipping + handling. Let's say you could have a Switch shipped for €330, the handling would make it 342, and the total cost with VAT and import taxes would be around €430. Still a lot cheaper than your average store price, i assume.

Do you know what the exact fees are when the package goes through customs?
 

Manu

Member
Besides, we got rid of female Donald Trump less than 2 years ago. No way I'm living through that again.

I don't want to get political in this thread but

Macri is much more like Trump than Cristina ever was, and I didn't even like her.
 

Ponchito

Member
Mexico is not that bad compared to other LATAM markets.

Some prices on the eShop are even cheaper than the US store.

Amazon MX definitely has the best offers, Nintendo, Sony and Xbox titles. Got Prime and I buy all my games there.
 

Fedemgsuy

Member
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=399503 -> look at this yung salsa using apostrophe's wrong

but yeah, visited a game store the other day (by chance really, you'll get why im all digital after this) and figured it was time for a follow up, specially since I actually want a Switch, unlike previous gen consoles

this is in Uruguay, all prices are USD



vent & share with me.

can you imagine paying $130usd for the Telltale Minecraft game, lmao

Salsa, you know damn well Gamestop is a nono, Banifox has better prices, for the console itself.
 

Salsa

Member
Salsa, you know damn well Gamestop is a nono, Banifox has better prices, for the console itself.

I wouldnt know I only buy PC parts from em, heh


I think potentially it is

I also think it aint worth these companies' returns to take that risk

the market is there. piracy is as easy to accomplish here as it is anywhere else in the world. the reason why it's so rampart down here is in the OP
 

OmegaFax

Member

kyo2004

Member
Colombia...

Console
GDDDOZ1.png

$1'700.000 COP = $580 USD aprox.

Games

$239.000 = $80 USD (Locked)... unless the game is at reduced price (like Super Bomberman R, but not so much: $219.000). And that's the official retailers (every retailer buys from Juegos de Video S.A.S, the official seller representative of Nintendo in Colombia).

Fortunatelly, we have an underground market (via FB groups) with people importing this kind of stuff from US at reasonable prices.
 

siriocaz

Neo Member
Mexico is not that bad compared to other LATAM markets.

Some prices on the eShop are even cheaper than the US store.

Amazon MX definitely has the best offers, Nintendo, Sony and Xbox titles. Got Prime and I buy all my games there.
Amazon definitely works with Xbox and PlayStation. Just saw ME Andromeda for 180 pesos, 10 dollars.

With Nintendo, not so much. Consoles, controllers and games are too overpriced, especially the first two.
 

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
Holy cow!

This is why region free is so important
Yes. I bought my first 3DS here so I didn't really care about that, but being able to import my Switch from Europe was great.

I don't want to get political in this thread but

Macri is much more like Trump than Cristina ever was, and I didn't even like her.
Economically maybe, but in terms of actions and behavior not in the slightest. But as you said, this is not the thread for that, so I shouldn't have brought that up.
 

Fireblend

Banned
Here in Costa Rica games have gotten super cheap lately (last 6 months or so). I've been getting Switch games for close to US retail price, and even pre-ordered Mario Odyssey for slightly less than $60 for me and my brother and will pick em up the day of release.

I feel super lucky.
 
Bring Back gradiente :\

Buying from Canadian eShop sometimes is better deal then fisical here in Brasil.

3DS eSHop had games in 159 BLR price range (1º party) now a day Retail goes from 179 ~ 259 BLR

Online Stores you can get some good deals.
 

ReyVGM

Member
Not really. It's just like that when companies make no effort to improve it. Thankfully i'm old enough to remember the master system days where sega sanctioned TecToy to do their thing and we had a legit market in our country. Even Microsoft and Sony took baby steps and started producing here to cut prices from "haha are you kidding me get out of here" to "this is expensive as shit". Nintendo is usually the worst offender since NES days.

I assume you are talking about Brazil, which is a huge country. But for smaller countries and islands, you are screwed.
 

Salsa

Member
Yes. I bought my first 3DS here so I didn't really care about that, but being able to import my Switch from Europe was great.

best bud was in Japan (on a work & holiday sorta deal) and he bought a japanese Switch after I randomly told him about it being region free through whatsapp, he's happy af
 

lord

Member
Amazon definitely works with Xbox and PlayStation. Just saw ME Andromeda for 180 pesos, 10 dollars.

With Nintendo, not so much. Consoles, controllers and games are too overpriced, especially the first two.
Latamel was a mistake
 

Salsa

Member
Do you not realize how big Central and South America are?

Like I said it aint his point but you also gotta admit it's a hard market to crack when.. alternatives are so well established

it's their fault, but it takes money and risk to revert it, and Nintendo specially has to make that bank after last gen

I do think they "tried" with Brazil... idk what they tried but im sure they tried something and it seems like it went terrible for em
 

Eylos

Banned
How i see Brazil market from best to worst

Best: Xbox hardware and software in a Fair price always on good Sales

Regular : PlayStation hardware price is a little high, and Also the New games but you Will find good deals on games and there's used games


Worst: Nintendo, you are doomed
 

Ahasverus

Member
It absolutely is. Everyone would love to have a current console because /everyone/ had a PSX/2 (Pirate but whatever). Gaming is a thing here.

I've known people who save the whole year only to buy Fifa/Pes every year and that's all they use their console for. Of course those people would like to be able to buy more games, but again, these games cost /half the minimum wage/ of already poor countries.
 
Do the prices blow up because Nintendo doesn't have an official market presence there and so local stores import the stuff themselves?
 

Laieon

Member
Pretty much the same here in Argentina.

I walked into an electronics store yesterday and they had a mini SNES. Only 4000 pesos! (That's over U$S 200)

That's crazy. Here in Korea they're like $140ish. Switches are about $400-450, although that should be changing once it's released officially in December. Games are reasonably priced, roughly $65ish USD.
 

Cess007

Member
How i see Brazil market from best to worst

Best: Xbox hardware and software in a Fair price always on good Sales

Regular : PlayStation hardware price is a little high, and Also the New games but you Will find good deals on games and there's used games


Worst: Nintendo, you are doomed

Sounds pretty much like in Mexico, tbh
 
Like I said it aint his point but you also gotta admit it's a hard market to crack when.. alternatives are so well established

it's their fault, but it takes money and risk to revert it, and Nintendo specially has to make that bank after last gen

I do think they "tried" with Brazil... idk what they tried but im sure they tried something and it seems like it went terrible for em

Both Latamel and Gaming were trash. If Nintendo wanted to sell games, they needed actual decent companies to distribute them.
 

Madao

Member
give how importing works in my country (Panama), the cheapest option for me is physical from US online retailers like Amazon. buying enough games with a prime membership is cheaper than going digital also (by a tiny bit but i'd rather own all my games physical).

all the Switch equipment i own was purchased this way since local prices, even though they're on the better side of the whole region, still suck.

i'm still mad that most videogame companies treat this region as if it doesn't exist. going digital is a hassle with the way they support these regions and physical prices are a joke.
 

Ezalc

Member
Like I said it aint his point but you also gotta admit it's a hard market to crack when.. alternatives are so well established

it's their fault, but it takes money and risk to revert it, and Nintendo specially has to make that bank after last gen

I do think they "tried" with Brazil... idk what they tried but im sure they tried something and it seems like it went terrible for em

I mean, people pirate still here but steam is going a long way to change that. The problem I feel is still the dumbass government policies that prevents them from being able to charge a better price here.

So honestly, I don't blame the game companies that much in the physical side. They could at least have a goddamn digital store though, that being absent is pretty bullshit.

Sony actually made a factory here in Brasil I believe, along with Microsoft for the Xbox so they have that over Nintendo.
 

Balfour

Member
It really sucks. Someone has to take the loss. Either the consumer or the companies when it comes to situations like this. If they keep it the same price in terms of exchange rates, then the consumer in such countries get boned. If they lower it so the average person there can afford it more easily, then they take a big hit per unit sold. Obviously they are going to choose the first option. And then if you lower it, sadly, you have people in the countries like here in the US who will complain about others getting a lower price in terms of exchange rate. Even if those people are small, they can complain quite a bit.

Like FFXIV for a time had a lower subscription price in such countries because. No one really knew about it, but recently they made it the same as everyone pays because they thought it was either unfair to others or they weren't making profit off those players. I couldn't tell you. And even though no one really knew about it, once someone posted their disgruntled situation, plenty people felt that those other players should feel good that they got a discount for so long and should have to pay the same as everyone else even though it is much less affordable there


It's a crap situation that's not going to change any time soon unless a company is feeling generous. And most won't as they exist to make money
 

siriocaz

Neo Member
Latamel was a mistake
Yes.

Do the prices blow up because Nintendo doesn't have an official market presence there and so local stores import the stuff themselves?
Yes. Nintendo also has official distributors in a few countries, some of which increase prices because they can't handle their greediness. At least that's the case with Latamel in Mexico, they get their stuff in relatively low prices, but for some reason they suggest to retailers to sell items sometimes twice the price that you could find them in the United States.
 

Fewr

Member
This is part of the reason I became a Blizzard and PC fan. I'll get a switch and games but when they're on sale only.
 

kyo2004

Member
Do the prices blow up because Nintendo doesn't have an official market presence there and so local stores import the stuff themselves?

Officially, videogames here are cataloged as Gamble products, hence they have 29-31% tax (IVA+Import Tax), but, at least here with the retailers... nope, every retailer (Alkosto, Panamericana, Exito, Falabella) gets their allotment via Juegos de Video S.A.S. at reduced price, it's just that they want to profit 300% or more from the local customers.

And with the others players,

MS has a great representation here, so it's easy to get the console, games, accesories and even prepaid card at reasonable cost.
Sony has a good representation with console prices and games but no PSN and no way to attach a local CC with a US PSN account hurts.
PC ecosystem. We have a handful sites selling PC parts at reasonable prices, some major manufacturers (like Asus, Gigabyte, MSI) has local representation, so it's relatively easy get a decent PC. And for games, Steam, Humble and GoG are a godsend with plentiful of options to pay and great prices.
 

Keinning

Member
How i see Brazil market from best to worst

Best: Xbox hardware and software in a Fair price always on good Sales

Regular : PlayStation hardware price is a little high, and Also the New games but you Will find good deals on games and there's used games


Worst: Nintendo, you are doomed

we had better sales on the xbox store before. nowadays they're pretty shitty to be honest

still, browsing it for a few minutes can find you 'odd' stuff like this:
song of the deep - 15$ turn into 120R$
tacoma - 20$ turn into 36R$
cuphead - 20$ turn into 77R$
lego jurassic world - 20$ turn into 180R$
lego the hobbit - 20$ turn into 200R$

some games still end up in a reasonable price here. others end up out of question. but at least we have some options. nintendo can't offer even that
 
Officially, videogames here are cataloged as Gamble products, hence they have 29-31% tax (IVA+Import Tax), but, at least here with the retailers... nope, every retailer (Alkosto, Panamericana, Exito, Falabella) gets their allotment via Juegos de Video S.A.S. at reduced price, it's just that they want to profit 300% or more from the local customers.

If companies cared they would go to CAN, Mercosur, Pacific Alliance, etc. to try changing those laws tho.
 

Eylos

Banned
we had better sales on the xbox store before. nowadays they're pretty shitty to be honest

still, browsing it for a few minutes can find you 'odd' stuff like this:
song of the deep - 15$ turn into 120R$
tacoma - 20$ turn into 36R$
cuphead - 20$ turn into 77R$
lego jurassic world - 20$ turn into 180R$
lego the hobbit - 20$ turn into 200R$

some games still end up in a reasonable price here. others end up out of question. but at least we have some options. nintendo can't offer even that


I was talking about retailers, shops etc. The prices are better than PS4 there.
 
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