Guys, I'm an aussie...we have a far better economic position than the rest of the western world...in fact, China owes us money, as opposed to the USA being owned by China...

WTF?

Why are aussie gamers chocked in a very painful place without even getting a tube of KY gel for our over priced DLC? Glad our soldiers are dying in other nations wars so our gamers get the pork flavoured fun tube...thanks, Beth and Steam.

If this is contentious, get one of your lawyers to ban me, I've bloody well payed for it....

....what

Australians are paying $6.50 for Hearthfire...not $5. Even though we are in a far better financial state than the rest of the western world.

I was simply pointing out that the US games industry is screwing over australian gamers to pay for their nation's piss poor economic management.

Blood and honour...the true folk in the US and western europe will know what I speak of.

So? They can charge what they want. They want to make money. And you obviously bought it even though it was more expensive. So it works!

Yes, very nice...but does it work? Beth has a history of non-working dlc. But the thing that really has grated me is that very few dlc from other companies cost more across the board for non-'home release' dlc...yet, in this case, Beth or whoever has obviously decided to economically discrimate against people from a nation who have a better economic outlook...in fact, a nation that without a qualm backed the companies nation with our own blood in a war not of our choosing, simply because we believed they were done wrong.

I am so glad that aussie land is on good terms and economic grounds with the developing world, at least we won't starve in a few years time.

Edit: It doesn't matter that it's only $1.50 more, it's the principle of being butt [censored] that counts.

Ultimately, this thread doesn't matter...I've just phoned my US hating federal member of parliament who will be raising the issue of comparative game costs with the US state department via the embassy here...she's also put me in touch with a red-ragging lefty lawyer who will chase Beth's contacts in aussie land. I so love it when our members of parliament are also gamers...

I'd even pay $6,50 but I don't even have access to DLCs in my country...

Well, if you're in a better economic state, you can easily afford an extra $1.50

It's not wrong to charge more in one country than in another? You have a good economy you say? That means you can afford higher DLC prices, and Bethesda can earn more money! No, it's not the "nice-guy" style.. but there really is nothing wrong whatsoever with it.

wow, its a $1.50 Id hate to be standing next to you if you ever lost a $5 bill.

Well, it's capitalism. As long as you buy stuff with those prices, they keep selling them to you at those prices. Especially for digital goods it makes no sense. Here in europe we have the same thing, Steam is still convinced that 1€=1$, though it's not as bad as it is for you australians.

As for the "it's only 1.50" argument, i wouldn't pay even that much for this. In euros nor dollars

Australian video games usually cost more in general. I never understood why but I know it's something Yahtzee complains about frequently.

1. Bethesda isn't selling you the game, so ask the people who sold it to you.

2. This is an "across the board" affair, not limited to BGS DLCs or games. SO, my guess? Check your local and national tax and tariff laws, things like that. After all, Australia IS widely known for their tough import/export laws and fees.

Bigger picture: A player who likes this DLC is likely to get way more than $6.50 worth of entertainment value out of it. (Personally I'm still enjoying it after a month now.)

Ah. Probably this!

In Europe it costs 5 euros. That's 6,5 US dollars. You pay 6,66 US dollars. In economic terms it's called price discrimination. Americans are poor svckers, and get it cheaper. Get over it

Might it have something to do with currency equivalence? Like the Brits only having to pay 3.5 pounds? Not all dollars are equal.

It kind of is.
5 EUR = 6.52 USD
6.5 AUD = 6.61 USD

Not that big a difference, is it?

But what do I know. This guy got it right:

Wait ... since the USA is fighting everyone's wars then shouldn't we get everything for free?

Actually, no we're not. You're also definitely smoking some pretty potent crack. Your assessment of the US vs. Aussie trade deficit are completely specious arguments.

More specifically, the price you paid for the Hearthfire expansion--or any US game from any US publisher to be exact--depends on several factors.

The 2 most critical of these factors are the international currency exchange rate and inflation. These two factors are not mutually exclusive. The former changes on a DAILY basis. The latter drives the former, because it indicates the relative rate of inflation between the 2 countries the buyer & seller are located in. The greater the degree of inflation in the sellers country, the higher the currency exchange rate. US based corporations have to account for this phenomenon, regardless of whether they're physically located in that foreign country or do eCommerce. But of course you knew this as an educated Australian consumer who buys US based games right?

Here's a heads up:

As of midnight today, the USD was inflated against the AUD by a ratio of 1 : 98213. So $5 USD = $4.91 AUD.

http://themoneyconverter.com/USD/AUD.aspx

Assuming you Aussies have to pay sales tax like we do, then this inflation and other factors such as trade agreements/tariffs etc. etc. would all contribute to the price hike. I'm not sure what your financial situation is here. But even if you're not old enough to pass the "M" rating requirement for this game, $6.25 isn't exactly a mind blowing sum of money to pay for the expansion content. Especially since it adds significant value in terms of game play hours to your game.

edit: No one held a gun to your head and made you buy this DLC expansion. If the ugly Americans in their big, bold, bad USA are so screwing over you Aussies by our f@cked up economy, then why bother buying our overpriced games? Why not buy from European based software developers or better yet--your own country?

Excellent point. Thanks for pointing out the obvious 400 point pink mammoth in a dwarf filled room. This is precisely the point I was making with my dissertation on relative inflation between two country economies!

I'd have bought Hearhfire for $10USD if thats what it cost. I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Not for this price, but for a full game's prices it is.

Oh dear, $1.50... I guess you'll have to skip that Snickers bar on way to the store..

And I'd pay more than that if I could get it for my PS3.

Well, the one decent thing about this is that it is another example of the comparative price imbalance for digital downloads and video gaming to be put forward in the current review of the issue by our aussie federal government.

As some of you, particularly the australians, may be aware, our Federal government recently reviewed the video games rating system, and intend to bring it in line with that applied to literature and movies...the flow ons from that are that our parliamentarians now have a greater understanding of the issues aussie gamers face, and more importantly from our perspective, just how many of us there are and that if we organise we can form a potent lobbying voice (currently, there's an estimated 10 to 15 times more video gamers than gun owners in australia, as a comparison). The second flow on was that the pricing issue became mainstream, and is either currently under review, or due to be reviewed very shortly.