I've bought most of my DS games from play-asia, so I can recommend them. I've found some bargains in local stores - for ex. I found Castlevania:POR for $10 in Dick Smith - but yes on the whole prices here are ludicrous. The problem here is that Australians are used to paying higher prices, and producers are happy to keep it that way. That's why they love region locking. See also: Blu-Ray.
Sorry to be so ignorant, but why are the prices so much higher in other countries?
One reason is pretty simple: the market for videogames outside of the US and Southeast Asia is so incredibly small (relatively) that very few companies care about it at all. Europe is an afterthought, and Australia comes after that. I don't have any numbers handy, but I'd wager the US alone is a larger market than both combined.
OR: Guy1: Look the USD is tanking! Guy2: Should we lower our AUD prices? Guy1: Are you crazy? I bought these things months ago when the exchange rate was against us. Guy2: And? Guy1: If I lower the price now I lose out. That book that sells for USD20 cost me AUD20 to buy and I sell it for AUD30. If I drop my prices down based on the exchange rate changes I can only sell it for AUD20. Which means I have a net loss when you factor in delivery and overhead costs.
The Australian Dollar has been > 80 U.S cents for over a year now. That might explain a markup of 30% or so, perhaps. But seriously, some D.S. games that can be gotten for $30 are being sold for $60... A markup of 100%... That only makes sense if the current year is 2001 (The Australian dollar dropped below 50 U.S. cents that year). *Checks clock*. Hmm, nope, 2008.
Sorry to be so ignorant, but why are the prices so much higher in other countries?
One reason is pretty simple: the market for videogames outside of the US and Southeast Asia is so incredibly small (relatively) that very few companies care about it at all. Europe is an afterthought, and Australia comes after that. I don't have any numbers handy, but I'd wager the US alone is a larger market than both combined.
I don't know about Europe, but since there's only ~20 million people in Australia, the fact that it's a small market for video games is, sadly, self-evident. Europeans, on the other hand, probably just fail.
In any case, unless the prices drop from $60-$70 AUD to $40-$50 or so, I think I'll keep ordering from Play Asia for the most part. If local retailers can't keep up, then meh. I don't need them.
My games arrived; It took about 3-4 days for them to reach me. Also, one of the games wasn't in stock (I knew this when ordering), and because it was going to take a while for them to get it in, they sent the other four without it. However, they will charge no extra shipping once the last game is ready to ship.
On the whole, I am very satisfied. I would highly recommend ordering from play-asia.com to anyone in a country where games are overpriced.
Here's a decent source for data on European video game sales (from this report), with some figures on Asia Pacific and the USA mentioned. Converting to USD, the figures it gives (for video game software sales) for 2007 are:- Europe (specified countries):- $10.05bn (incl. UK: $3.17bn, France:$2.20bn , Germany: $1.93bn) USA:- $9.5bn Asia Pacific:- (2006) $10.19bn
For Australia, I know the figure is approximately at $1bn, but this includes hardware, so the appropriate figure is probably somewhere above half of this?
On the whole, it seems Europe is a decent market for video games after all. The UK has, in fact, quite a high amount of per capita video game spending. Based on these figures (estimating $0.5bn for Australia), the per capita spending goes UK ($52.16) > US ($31.55) > Australia ($24.47).
Well, I went to a not-so-good convention today because my friends were going and had free passes. However, there were lots of tables where you could play board games for free, and I got my first taste of teh german board gaming today. So, the same issue returns again - I noted an example price of ~$70 AU = $67.30 USD for Settlers of Cataan. Some limited searching suggests this is unimaginably awful; Where should I buy them on the internet to avoid such epic fail?
Thanks Steve; those prices are almost twice as good as Australia's. If I order a few games at once, I can probably get really fast shipping without paying too much per game.
Thanks Steve; those prices are almost twice as good as Australia's. If I order a few games at once, I can probably get really fast shipping without paying too much per game.
I guess that's it once again for this thread :P
If you join their aff program you can save even more on your next purchase. I've been running their aff program on one of my sites for about two years and used it to save money on my game purchases.
Comments
In any case, unless the prices drop from $60-$70 AUD to $40-$50 or so, I think I'll keep ordering from Play Asia for the most part. If local retailers can't keep up, then meh. I don't need them.
Also, one of the games wasn't in stock (I knew this when ordering), and because it was going to take a while for them to get it in, they sent the other four without it.
However, they will charge no extra shipping once the last game is ready to ship.
On the whole, I am very satisfied. I would highly recommend ordering from play-asia.com to anyone in a country where games are overpriced.
Converting to USD, the figures it gives (for video game software sales) for 2007 are:-
Europe (specified countries):- $10.05bn (incl. UK: $3.17bn, France:$2.20bn , Germany: $1.93bn)
USA:- $9.5bn
Asia Pacific:- (2006) $10.19bn
For Australia, I know the figure is approximately at $1bn, but this includes hardware, so the appropriate figure is probably somewhere above half of this?
On the whole, it seems Europe is a decent market for video games after all. The UK has, in fact, quite a high amount of per capita video game spending. Based on these figures (estimating $0.5bn for Australia), the per capita spending goes UK ($52.16) > US ($31.55) > Australia ($24.47).
So, the same issue returns again - I noted an example price of ~$70 AU = $67.30 USD for Settlers of Cataan.
Some limited searching suggests this is unimaginably awful; Where should I buy them on the internet to avoid such epic fail?
If I order a few games at once, I can probably get really fast shipping without paying too much per game.
I guess that's it once again for this thread :P