Unexplained (thus far) price jump for Australian and New Zealand users?

[Relendis]

Just inquiring as to why there was a large (AU$49 to AU$89/NZ$50 to NZ$90) jump in price for Australian and New Zealand customers. If it was a mistake, then label it as such, mistakes happen...but when there is an overnight jump that large that goes completely unexplained then people start to get ♥♥♥♥ed off. So let's open the channels of communication before the flaming starts...

Edit: Well this has snowballed and been taken up by several gaming websites and still no response. Damn shame that.

[CoreGoon]

Australian minimum wage is over twice the US average.
The population is thinly spread across a huge area, making distribution of physical goods expensive. The price of digital goods is pushed up by the physical stores so they can still compete.

Good old greed also figures into it of course.

[Dem glasses is shit innit]

Publicado originalmente por CoreGoon:

Australian minimum wage is over twice the US average.

And this matters how? The games are developed in the US and published in the US.

Also, yeah, our minimum wage is more, but the average salary in the US is over double what the Australia average salary is.

[Jigen]

the aforementioned kotaku article does a good job of explaining why it is so hard to explain

[Stallion]

This game is a turd judging from player reviews anyway. Considering they put it on sale so fast after it was released it obviously did not move as many units as they were expecting it to. They might have even made a loss on the game.

And that's not suprising considering that they are so willing to spit in the faces of their consumers with regional pricing. I was willing to buy this game for $50 before release but after they raised the price I decided that unless they reduced it to under $10 there was no way I would go near it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was driven away from purchasing either.

Here's a tip Firaxis and 2K... People support companies who support them... Maybe you'll remember that the next time you take a beloved franchise, rip the soul out of it to try to achieve mass-appeal with people who will never be interested in 4X TBS and then try to gouge as much money as you can through regional pricing.

EDIT - Also to the people referencing Kotaku... Kotaku is not a reliable source. They have a vested interest in protecting publishers (note publishers, not developers) because they're in bed with them. There is no reason for an 'Australia tax'.

[Jigen]

This game is excellent fun multiplayer; I've had dozens of epic matches and continue to do so every day :D

[RagnorIronclad]

Publicado originalmente por CoreGoon:

Australian minimum wage is over twice the US average.
The population is thinly spread across a huge area, making distribution of physical goods expensive. The price of digital goods is pushed up by the physical stores so they can still compete.

Good old greed also figures into it of course.

The current physical store price is AUD$79 which is equivalent to US$63. The current Steam store price is over AUD$110.

[Fall of the Republic]

Crazy isn't it, any idea when the next sale is or ETA on the expansions?

[Tytalus]

Publicado originalmente por CoreGoon:

Australian minimum wage is over twice the US average.
The population is thinly spread across a huge area, making distribution of physical goods expensive. The price of digital goods is pushed up by the physical stores so they can still compete.

Good old greed also figures into it of course.

US median household salary is $37,690 vs $27,069 in Australia, so the game should be $36 dollars in Australia.

But minimum wage in Sierra Leone is $0.03 vs $7.25 in the US, so the game should be 20 cents in Freetown. Lets all move there.

But a coffee costs 300 Rupees in Mumbai, while a used AK-47 cost $800 in Nevada, so quoting total uncorrelated costs shows Absolutely Nothing Useful

[iSnack2.0]

Publicado originalmente por jensenthecat:

Aussie dollar is very low at present about 86cents in the AUD.

Lol, Steam displays prices as USD in Australia. We don't even get to pay in our own currency even though they set special high prices for us.

[iSnack2.0]

Publicado originalmente por Baldrik:

Pricing

I live in australia and the price to purchace this game is $89.99, whereas i have a friend in the USA and his purchase price is $49.99. given the exchange rate, this does not equal a $40 difference........ Please explain

The $89.99 is in USD not AUD. You can't attribute even a tiny amount of the increase to exchange rates.

[Martin]

Can't see how they've made a loss on the game, it's clear they used about 5% of the staff of civ5.. I wouldn't be surprised if the 5 people shown in the dev blog vids were actually all of the staff concerned with making it.

[donald23]

Publicado originalmente por Martin:

Can't see how they've made a loss on the game, it's clear they used about 5% of the staff of civ5.. I wouldn't be surprised if the 5 people shown in the dev blog vids were actually all of the staff concerned with making it.

If you want to know who worked on it, the credits are the most reliable source... You can find them in the game and here: http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/sid-meiers-civilization-beyond-earth/credits

[Stallion]

40% off? No Thanks.

Will be waiting for 90% off.

~ A former fan and an Australian.

[Hephaestos]

if I were you i'd wait for the DLCs not just the reduction as that's the main beef people have... it feels empty compared to older Civs.

then again you post wasn't serious so....

[Stallion]

Publicado originalmente por Hephaestos:

if I were you i'd wait for the DLCs not just the reduction as that's the main beef people have... it feels empty compared to older Civs.

then again you post wasn't serious so....:butterfly:

I'm 100% serious... I said from day 1 that I wouldn't buy this game until it was a full 1/10th of the price. That's all the money the developers will get out of me after spiting their Australian customers with a totally unjustifiable price hike. I will not support a company that does not support me or my country.

Up to this point I had dutifully bought every Fireaxis game upon release for full price... No longer.