I'm having a moment of sudden and rare clarity here ...

They charge that price because they can and we weren't making a fuss about it.
What happened was the Australian dollar used to be almost half the US dollar - so games would cost almost twice as much. Now in the last few years we reached parity with the US dollar and over it a few times - but we were used to paying $100 Aus for games only worth half as much - so companies were getting twice what they would normally. And we were doing it voluntarily but now with online distribution we can purchase the same product for much much MUCH cheaper.

We only have a GST(goods and Services Tax) 10% of the cost of the product - thats it pretty much - so in some cases we're paying 800% on items because well - because they can. It's changing but by the time it does our dollar might lose its strength which means it is wasted anyways.

There's a parliamentary inquiry into the price disparity between Australia and overseas markets happening at the moment, and one of the things they are looking at is why we're still paying so much for digital distribution compared to America. Interestingly enough, both Apple and Microsoft have refused to appear before the inquiry or answer any questions.

I want Dawnguard, but I really don't want to pay AUD$25 for it. Does anyone have any idea on how long it typically takes for this sort of DLC content to go on sale?

Don't you know how expensive it is to ship bits over oceans?

Just want to add that the current price of the Australian (or Canadian or New Zealand) dollar is irrelevant seeing as we're all being charged in $US.

The $A being worth US$0.50 or US$1.50, makes no difference to the price in $US at all.

And I'm also likely to be waiting for a sale before buying. I did the same with the Old World Blues DLC which charged Aussies extra.

If I feel like getting back into Skyrim before the price decreases though I may still buy it at this price, but I doubt I'll have that urge in the next 5-6 months when the Christmas sale will be on.

Wow so even Australian game makers (if there are any left) over-charged their own people? So some of it is AU taxing and some is the lack of price adjustment, that makes sense

It is around the same price it was on XBL, Aussies always get ripped off for games whether it is a boxed version or digital, nothing new there. You want to play it and support the developer, you buy it.

Meh. I'd like to complain, I really would, but at the moment I'm really beyond caring. Normally I'm happy to launch into a 5000 word rant about how Publishers and Steam continually screw over Australians, but Dawnguard's just been one massive screw anyway. The fact that Bethesda accepted a bribe from Microsoft to launch the game on 360 first didnt really say much for the way things were going to go with this DLC.

I'll pay the $25 bucks for it because I know I'll get 20-40 hours of fun out of it, but frankly, I'm more than a little fed up with Bethesda being [censored]ers with this DLC.

Well, I know I shouldn't have, but I bought it... Skyrim has bought me many hundreds of hours of enjoyment (and surely many hundreds more) so to be honest, I don't really mind spending this much for a DLC. It is always nice if it's cheaper though! I wish they were priced more in accordance to the oblivion DLC (apart from the horse armour). Shivering Isles was good value with the amount of content included IMO.

the games are always more expensive here in aussie.
brand new game in the US costs $60-80 (CMIIW). brand new game in aussie costs $80-100.
ps1 final fantasy games in US PSN cost $10. ps1 final fantasy games in AU PSN cost $15.
when i see people in this forum complain about them wasting 60 bucks for a buggy game, i can only laugh. i paid 90 bucks for the same thing. 150% more expensive but the same in quality (buggy).

That depends entirely on the size and nature of the company. The huge ones quite often take losses to lure people to them...

But most likely you are right, valve most likely still take a profit, just my point was that sale or not Beth get the same amount from each sale.

Oblivion DLC is what, 6 years old? No doubt Dawnguard will seem cheap when compared to the latest DLC 6 years in the future.

Yeah, it's just offsetting the costs slightly, say I bought something for 50p, and wanted ￡1 for it, but noone would pay that high a price for it, but they are willing to pay 60p on a sale, sure I lose 40p profit on every sale I make, but, likely, I'll sell a lot more at the lower price, while still making small profit.

My experience is totally different though as I don't deal in online sales, so I'm not sure how it works. I wouldn't be surprised if the above is true though.

Edit: I'm not really great at explaining it in writing to be honest, I hope you get the gist of it though.

To be honest, whether you pay $20 or $10 for the content, you are still supporting the developers as the money will wind back at them eventually. Not really though, to follow the money is tricky, essentially Beth already got their money, as Valve likely already paid them for it. (I may be wrong, as it's an online deal, but it works this way with distributors and trade warehouses. They make you pay for the goods before you leave. As I said, maybe Beth have a deal with Valve that doesn't follow this properly or something.) Kinda like a sale or return deal? Like magazines.

I imagine it follows the iTunes model; Beth get a certain amount from each sale of DG, which does not change no matter what valve charge for it. If they don't divert that amount immediately beths way (unlikely) then they keep tally of the sales and send Beth the lump sum periodically (most likely).

Any self-respecting PC player is going to wait for a $5 sale on Steam.
Save mnoney on Dawnguard, for other things. Be smart!
Be just as cold, calculated, and money centered in your decision, as Beth was in the exclusion deal with Micro$oft...

Well in US the game costs 20 $ right?

if you make the conversion in Euros it shoudl be 16.1538

Instead they make us pay it 20 Euros wich is like almoust 25 Dollars ....

I guess the Aussies get the same European price alignement ...

I bought it for 20$ and I would buy it for 30 if was needed.

No way man, I would make a special price, just for you: US$300 (the highest price in all Tamriel)!
But seriously, why on earth do you want to increase the price for all of us?!?

Actually it's about 50% more, not 150%. Also, just because Australia has idiotic pricing, does that mean other nationalities can't voice their opinions on cost? No, it doesn't

hey folks, please make sure to keep your comments within the forum rules.. and within reason.

Stupid is as stupid does..

Forest Gump.. Great movie if you haven't seen..

How does paying less money to valve teach Bethesda a lesson? They get a fixed amount for each sale, regardless of whether valve sell it for $20 or $5. Just sayin.

Well, get Dawnguard from other sources (Steam was just the most convenient example).
The cheaper the better! (more money to buy other things).
As to teaching lessons to naughty non-human money making entities, the beast way is to simply ignore the whole thing, and forget all about them (no action is the best protest action, in potential financial transactions).

As it's dl only, steam, xbl and psn are the only means to that end. Let's not go into how we could debunk that, for fear of mod-wrath. I do agree with your last statement though, if you feel strongly enough to vote with your wallet and eschew the DLC/future titles, then by all means do so

Decision decision. $25 for a DLC or $70 for Dark Souls? Humm

If it was $15 yes. But whole different game for $45 extra. Sorry I be getting Dawn Guard later. Much later.