D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
we pay roughly 90US for console games
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
The sad reality of other country`s videogame prices
- Thread starter Salsa
- Start date
lastplayed
Member
Well at least you have a kickass flag.
Version 3.0
Member
Salacious Crumb said:
Just because $150 is a ridiculous price doesn't mean $60 isn't a bad price. A guy with one broken leg still has the right to moan, even if he's lying next to a guy with every limb broken. But I can understand the resentment.
And you do have my condolences. I can't imagine living in a PAL region, much less where the OP lives.
manueldelalas
Time Traveler
That's why you should import games instead of buying them in a store.
Neckbeard69
Neo Member
Mad Max said:
That explains the prices in Finland!
After having lived here in Finland for 4 years I can honestly say that it is nowhere near a healthy competative economy.
If it was not for the excellent online shops from the UK I would have had to stop videogaming alltogether thanks to the insane prices here on the North Pole.
This year I will be moving from Finland to the Netherlands and I can't wait to have the experience the pleasure of a middle-european service economy again.
Neckbeard69 said:
This is a reality for me as well. I sometimes feel like im struggling to keep gaming :/ not wanting to sound like it was a huge depressing deal or something but i really wish i could just get up, walk a few blocks, and come back with a game.
I have to admint i bited at God of War for ps2 as an example back in the day at a retail store (mostly out of lazyness), dont really remember how much it was, but it sure was pricy.
Mad Max said:
Stuff like games is officially published in third-world countries but you still have to import it because some publishers don't want to use local factories to produce DVDs for some reason. I don't know why but I guess that's the reason why all PC games in Russia cost 13-30 bucks on the launch (jewel - box cases) and still console games cost 50-70 bucks.
Ryu bogard
Member
Wow those prices look painful.
Allan Holdsworth
Member
Well here in Argentina it's similarly crazy, though I think DS games are cheaper (still 60-80USD). Not sure cause I never check prices, they are just insane and I have no idea how they expect them to sell. Prices tend to vary a lot between official retailers and small importers.
In any case, the only way to get games for reasonable prices is to import online. You can 99% of the time avoid customs (which are a crazy 50% of the total price including shipping) and the shipping for a DS/Wii games is around $5 from the US.
Also I remember before the Wii, Iwata was saying that Nintendo was looking to expand to South America. Of course, after all the money from the DS/Wii they completely forgot about it :lol
In any case, the only way to get games for reasonable prices is to import online. You can 99% of the time avoid customs (which are a crazy 50% of the total price including shipping) and the shipping for a DS/Wii games is around $5 from the US.
Also I remember before the Wii, Iwata was saying that Nintendo was looking to expand to South America. Of course, after all the money from the DS/Wii they completely forgot about it :lol
Allan Holdsworth
Member
SalsaShark said:
Well I mean for smallish stuff like videogames. Importing consoles could be a pain though, I don't have the courage to do it so it's better to ask someone going to US (I knew a flight attendant that did importing business on the side, before I ordered online)
Hypereides
Member
At times, I really dont understand how american gamers will cry over the prices in the states, when Europeans pay way above with the ridiculous taxes we got.
I live in Australia, so I know what it's like but it's unfair to put it that way. Just because some other country has it worse doesn't mean they shouldn't complain.highluxury said:At times, I really dont understand how american gamers will cry over the prices in the states, when Europeans pay way above with the ridiculous taxes we got.
If some poor kid in Africa is dying of AIDS and starving does that mean that nobody is allowed to complain about anything?
Conflict NZ
Member
vazel said:
Here in NZ new releases are about $45NZD so around $32US. I have seen older releases for $20NZD so around $14US. Not bad compared to some countries.
PowerSmell
Member
hxa155 said:
GTA sold for that price because it was "banned" from being sold in Saudi Arabia.
whatevermort
Member
Can I ask what those sort of prices have done to piracy there? Is it more prevalent (both in terms of people you know, and shop-sanctioned piracy)?
Witchfinder General
punched Wheelchair Mike
Damn, I'm so glad that my parents emigrated from Uruguay and I was born here in Australia. Yeah our prices might not be great but at least they're not that bad.
Augemitbutter
Member
i import 95% of my games, otherwise i'd go crazy,
and broke.
and broke.
PjotrStroganov
Member
Ikkarus said:
And those price make me thankful that I can easily import UK games to NL.
Here new consolegames are about 60 euro. Importing makes me spend 10 to 20 euro less on the same game. Excluding shipping.
Sohter.Nura
Member
ntb825 said:
Import costs are a big part of it. If I'm not mistaken, in Brazil, just the import tax makes the product increase 60% of the price. Then you add sale tax, merchant tax, buttrape tax and etc the price just hikes up so much.
That, and also the fact that the currency of these countries is SO weak against the dollar. Prices have gotten a little bit better in Brazil because of the currency getting stronger and some efforts geared towards the import market to better, but it's still outrageously expensive. I remember my friend saying he paid 190 for a copy of Demon's Souls in Brazil
ChoklitReign
Member
Feels good to live in a country with free trade and few tariffs. Hail capitalism!
That sucks, dude.
77 - 93 USD for fullprice games in Norway.. It's a direct currency conversion.., but it's expensive enough around here for it to be infamously so (and many turns to piracy because of it). Not as bad as it used to be during the N64 though; back then N64 games was about 110-120 USD in the stores which was just insane.
Sohter.Nura
Member
ChoklitReign said:
Well, you have to think, most of these legislations were done a long time ago during the 20th century. A lot of countries like Brazil were only industrialized back in the 20th century. These tariffs were done at the time to protect the brazilian industry from imported goods. They're antiquated on the globalized world but at the time they made a little sense.
Here in Peru things are like that too. I can count with one hand how many 360 games I own(besides HDR and MvC2), I'm always selling my used copies and buying used ones(well, that was before sf4, now I only play ssf4). Prices for sealed copies are similar to those on the OP. Consoles here are sold for twice/thrice their original price like nothing. Most of us legit peeps depend on friends/family coming from the US to get fair prices.
Piracy here is "the law", not only with video games but with movies/sitcoms and music too. Most of the people I know have flashed their 360s. Hell, no one will buy a used 360 that's not flashed! Also banned 360's are sold like nothing, very few people play online here. You can go to any market and buy bootleg copies like nothing, even cops own some of the stores. Prices go from USD $0.70 to $3 for a pirated game/movie/album. There's nothing "black" about them, there's even people WALKING on the streets on bus stops/red lights selling bootleg copies of movies/music and sometimes even top selling games like super mario bros wii/mario kart wii.
Hey, a pic of one of those stores HERE. I'll try to get pics of the prices of the console prices around here so you can all feel better(except other fellas from around here).
Piracy here is "the law", not only with video games but with movies/sitcoms and music too. Most of the people I know have flashed their 360s. Hell, no one will buy a used 360 that's not flashed! Also banned 360's are sold like nothing, very few people play online here. You can go to any market and buy bootleg copies like nothing, even cops own some of the stores. Prices go from USD $0.70 to $3 for a pirated game/movie/album. There's nothing "black" about them, there's even people WALKING on the streets on bus stops/red lights selling bootleg copies of movies/music and sometimes even top selling games like super mario bros wii/mario kart wii.
Hey, a pic of one of those stores HERE. I'll try to get pics of the prices of the console prices around here so you can all feel better(except other fellas from around here).
Naked Snake
Member
Damn, and I thought we had bad here (Jordan). At worst games here retail for 140% of the US prices. So a $40 DS game would be something like $56, PS3 games go for $85... Hardware prices tend to be higher though, especially when a console is recently launched. I never buy anything locally though.
Patrick Bateman
Member
wmat said:
Well, it's those peoples own fault if they're buying their shit at Gamestop.
LSauchelli
Member
Well, here in Argentina I bought my Wii practically on the launch window. It costed 2600 pesos, that was at the time U$750. I bought the 360 some six months ago, it costed U$580, and it's an Arcade, I figured it was cheaper to buy the HDD later on. I was thinking of buying a PS3 for their exclusives and Blu-rays, but then I checked the prices on BRs... I'm not going to pay +100 dollars for a season of Lost or the Godfather trilogy.
It sucks, but it has been this way for a long while.
It sucks, but it has been this way for a long while.
The problem is that in most countries games are imported from overseas retailers. This means local retailers paid the US retail price for these games, and have to add shipping, taxes, their own costs and profits on top of it. They often don't have power to go and buy directly from publishers/distributors.
And since the US retail price is already far above mass market for most LA countries, local retailers need to compensate for certain low sales by increasing the price even more.
Considering publishers are moving towards increasing prices even more in the US/Eur/Japan, I don't see this situation improving anytime soon. Getting rid of piracy does not solve the problem either: the PS3 is piracy free and inherited a magnificent brand awareness form the PS2, however Sony took years to actually launch the PS3 in Brazil and their games are actually more expensive than the ones from legit importers.
I predict that, when all consoles become piracy-free, console gaming will just disappear from Latin American countries, as well as other in-development countries. At most they keep playing pirated PS2 and 360 games 10 years from now.
And since the US retail price is already far above mass market for most LA countries, local retailers need to compensate for certain low sales by increasing the price even more.
Considering publishers are moving towards increasing prices even more in the US/Eur/Japan, I don't see this situation improving anytime soon. Getting rid of piracy does not solve the problem either: the PS3 is piracy free and inherited a magnificent brand awareness form the PS2, however Sony took years to actually launch the PS3 in Brazil and their games are actually more expensive than the ones from legit importers.
I predict that, when all consoles become piracy-free, console gaming will just disappear from Latin American countries, as well as other in-development countries. At most they keep playing pirated PS2 and 360 games 10 years from now.
Broman1978
Junior Member
Gamestop and GAME usually charge 90 Dollars for new games here in Sweden ...=/
(699 sek)
(699 sek)
Naked Snake
Member
People sometimes wonder why I wish to live in the USA... how about just these reasons:
1) Much higher wages
2) Way cheaper products
3) Best availability of products.
Yes, consumerism and all that.
1) Much higher wages
2) Way cheaper products
3) Best availability of products.
Yes, consumerism and all that.