So I've had this game on my Steam wishlist for a while now, and I've just removed it.

You're going to charge me US$89.99, an extra $40, just because I live in Australia? For the same game, delivered via the same means to every body else?

No. I've removed the game from my wishlist.

If I ever do buy it, I will make sure to buy it on sale and have it gifted to me via a friend in the US to avoid getting ripped off. But I probably won't because stuff like this leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

I'm sure it's not the dev's fault, I'm sure it's the publisher jumping up the price for no reason other than pure greed, simply because they can. Well your attempt to get an extra $40 has assured you the loss of $50.

Great move there.

There was a similar price discrepancy with Fallout New Vegas and many Australian gamers lamented this as common across the industry. From my understanding games used to be more expensive due to the cost of importing them and because there was a greater disparity between the US and Australian dollars – while both of these have diminished the price has not caught up. As for Steam, I’d guess retailers won’t agree to stock a title if it can be purchased for far less online. Again, that is a guess, but it does make sense and it would explain why the prices on Steam (for all publishers) usually reflect retail prices.

Hopefully as digital distribution takes off retailers will feel the pressure to reduce their costs.

(Note: moderators are non-employee volunteers. We are not privy to details that haven’t been made public and nothing we say should be taken as official. My speculation is simply that, speculation.)

I've noticed that Steam has done this for a few titles but not all. One thing that may also be influencing these prices are high profile retailers such as Gerry Harvey (Harvey Norman) speaking up and saying that online delivery services such as Steam are killing local retailers because they can sell and obtain units of these products for a much cheaper price.

If you are unsatisfied with prices from a retailer, whether they be online or a local store, you can always shop around. A few other sites that generally have good prices and have been reliable for me so far are GAME Australia, Games Market and PlayAsia. I'll let you look those sites up yourself, they are pretty easy to find.

They have to hire all those voice actors that speak Australian.

I don't get it man the steam versions should be a lot cheaper I feel sorry for your case in Australia hopefully this problem will be resolve but that is likely not going to happen sadly :sadvaultboy:

careful using that method -- if valve catches wind of you circumventing their pricing system in this way, they will ban both you and your friend's account. it's happened quite a bit with european gamers already who have done this. if you do decide to go this route, then stay away from facilities like paypal to transfer the money.

if you are truly 'gifted' a game, you don't have to worry about this -- but the minute money is exchanged, you'll be breaking valve's TOS.

example:

http://i.imgur.com/ALt6b.png

Don't be stingy and whiny, at most one or the other. And, look on the bright side, its to help your economy out. lol

I feel bad for you guys, here its $59.99, possibly $54.99 or $49.99 for PC. Lets be nice and say its $59.99. You guys gotta pay 1.5 of what we pay and its approx dollar for dollar, then you have to pay 2 sets of taxes on top of that? Or just one?

svcks that the game industry rips off the legitimate game purchasers. The fact of the matter is greedy publishers do not want to give up any dollars even when production costs for online distribution are significantly less and transport/import/whatever is no longer a factor at all. Cost is not the only reason (in many cases, not sure in this one) people circumvent regions, where different versions of the game are sold based on what is apparently socially acceptable there, etc. English also appears to not be the forte of the individual from Valve responding to that Steam user.

I am not sure if this is the case, but does Australia have some sort of VAT tax added? or some other similar "sin" taxes added to video games? Just a thought. Most online prices have the local taxes included in their price anymore.

Yes but only in local sales. Steam does not, or need to, charge the 10% tax since it's an import. So if Hunted is AU$79.95 at Game and AU$88 at EBGames that includes sales tax, and that's in Australian dollars, so it equates to US$68.75 and US$75.70 with today's exchange rate before tax. Now you can see the problem because if you can get the boxed copy for that why would someone want to get the digital copy (and massive download that goes with it in a country were we don't have unlimited download plans) for $15 to $20 more!!

A much more reasonable local price for games would be about $60 taking into account exchange rate, the 10% tax (GST it's called) and the cost of distribution. Conversely if the Steam price was about $60 it would equate to a fair competition to local prices (slightly lower due to the download nuissance). Before anyone goes on about the benefits of Steam don't forget Hunted is a Steamworks game so if you get the boxed copy you still get a digital version as well. Either way the issue is with local profiteering on the back of the strong Australian dollar and we shouldn't get punished for digital distribution.

The good news for us is that a few major publishers are starting to charge the same as the US for digital sales and when you can buy a AAA new release from one publisher for US$50 and another for US$90 I'm pretty sure I know who will get the most sales and profit. It's only a matter of time that Bethesda catches up with the rest and realises we aren't going to put up with this any longer.

I and every one I know (and most of my friends are gamers too) buy their games from imports via the UK or Asia as that is the best current distribution channel to get games at a fair price. Or, if we can bare it, we simply wait for Steam or store sales or the like. The local game distribution channel is slowly killing itself. I mean have you any idea how much $100 is in this country? - it's a frigging lot of money and not something most of us can splash around when we feel like it.

It's not too late to change this Bethesda. I hope you are listening.

Just because others do it doesn't make it right for Bethesda to do it too.



Not in this case. Steam is more than local prices. See my post above. By any argument it would be as if Steam was priced not to make local prices competitive, but to make local prices decidedly cheaper and a better deal. What's more if you are completely ignoring the fact that it's not retailers that set the price but it's the distributers that do, i.e. Bethesda in this case. Retailers apply their profit margins, local sales tax, and that is the price.



Agreed but again this is not going to happen until publishers reduce the local costs. Until they sell the games to the retailers at the same cost price as they do to US stores, plus a margin to cover local packaging, or importing, whatever they do, then there's little retailers can do.

Bethesda have a great opportunity to set an example and win back Australia and New Zealand customers. They would end up with such a good reputation local sales would flow like a flood. I have bought every Bethesda game they have ever made and I yearn for the days I can pick up my pre-order from a local retailer. I do miss that excitement, beats watching the download meter.