COD: MW2 pricing in Australia

[Sharp]

TL;DR - Steam price of MW2 is still $89.99USD in Australia. They should drop the price.

I have to ask those at Steam, why is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 still in a grossly overstated price bracket? Greater than even some brand new games on here? For those that don't know, in Australia, the game retails at a price of $89.99USD on Steam, when I can purchase it in a box in stores here for roughly $40AUD new.

I've been wanting to purchase MW2 for a while now, as I sold it on my Xbox a long time ago. I'd like to play the campaign again, and play online with my friends, but for some odd reason, the price on Steam remains at such an unattractive and barbaric price, that I'm very much considering just buying it away from Steam, even though I'd prefer to have the same capabilities as my friends who play on here.

Now, I understand that Steam is meant to have a competitive edge on the gaming market, especially as it is a digital-distribution service, however; it seems that some prices, if not many in the Australian market, are overpriced compared to that of their overseas markets. The exchange rate for the AUD versus the USD is marginally even, with slight imbalance; yet a large price difference remains with a game such as MW2.

From a business point of view, it doesn't make sense for the price to still be so high on Steam, because it reduces the amount of customers who will buy it. Considering the price, which from what I've noted hasn't changed since the release of the game (except during sales), I will happily take my money elsewhere if such price fixing is not rectified. I don't like to be ripped off.

Regards,
SLR135.

[Satoru]

Publishers set pricing not Steam.

[Sharp]

Escrito originalmente por Satoru:

Publishers set pricing not Steam.

But why then, are prices in stores $40 odd, compared to Steam?

Brick and mortar stores would not purchase their stock to distribute it, if the wholesale price of a four-year old game was $80. They have a percentage of profit which they earn according to the price and current retail value of a game, similar to Steam; which is why a game that wholesales at $36, is sold onwards in a store for $40. It doesn't add up, that the price for an old game is so high considering Steam doesn't have to pay shipping rates and Activision doesn't have to pay for the manufacture.

It's highway robbery.

[Satoru]

Stores have different problems

Inventory costs stores actual MONEY every single second it's on the shelf. Lease/floor space/depreciation/etc. Thus there are incentives to move product. Distributors also sell the product at a lower price in retail since retailers dont want to carry older games unless they're forced to or if the price point is attractive.

Steam can store a trillion copies of a game at ZERO cost. Thus if as a developer I see that users in Australia are still buying MW2 on the Steam store at a good rate at the current price, there's zero need for me to discount it in any way. I have ACTUAL data as to who's buying what at what price. If demand says 'hey this game is still selling like hot cakes' then why discount it. If demand goes down then they might natrually depreciate the pricing relative to other games. But they may not depending as well. The publishers ultimately has the power to decide how that pricing should work. And because setting the game at a high price has no cost to Steam or the publisher, they don't really care.

How is it highway robbery when by our OWN admission you can go to a retail shop and buy MW2 cheaper. No one is FORCING you to buy on Steam. If you are forcing YOURSELF to buy it on stema that's YOUR problem. I prefer steam but i'll go to amazon, gmg, gog, etc if the price is right. You have CHOICE. so don't complain about highway robbery when it's more like 'highway robber in a crowded city and you're next to a police station'

[Felix]

Rumour has it that Valve take 30% or so of the income for each game sold on Steam, with the publisher/developers taking 70%. The publishers set the prices for games on Steam.

In retail, this is completely different. The publishers sell the game to the retail stores. To them, that's a sale. Now the retailer prices it at whatever price they want to allow them to make a profit while still being competitive to the other retail stores.

MW2 is getting pretty outdated, in terms of CoD games. For this reason, the retail stores are probably selling it at a much lower price now because they are wanting to get rid of any extra copies they have of it.

[Sharp]

Satoru, you seem upset. Best you breathe a little, or else you might have a brain haemorrhage.
The only reason I've posted on here is because a lot of things like this occur in Australia. Prices are supremely higher than that in the United States, for exactly the same item. Our currencies are roughly on parity too, so it should be the same, correct? Yet, when I compare it, Americans can buy a brand new game for $50, whereas I can buy a brand new one for $110. That's a rough idea. I can tell you now though, MW2 hasn't seen a permanent price change for Australian Steam users ever since it was released here.

FrazerJC, I understand. It's a business and all of course. Both act very differently with respect to each other. I work and sell video games in a department store here, and I can tell you that out-dated games would not be purchased for the price that is advertised on Steam, and subsequently, demand on Steam would drop as a result. Now, if Steam wanted to ship more copies of the game, then optimally they would reduce the price, right? They have an unlimited supply, but rely upon demand to sell games, and if that demand is not catered for through competitive pricing, then why do they bother?

[Felix]

People still buy MW2 at that price on Steam, though, otherwise Activision would have surely contacted Valve to lower the price by now?

Maybe people new to CoD who have bought Black Ops 2 later thought "I want to try MW2" and just purchased it off Steam for the convinience of it being a simple download away. I'd imagine quite a lot of people have done this, meaning Activision are still getting their sales for MW2 at the price currently set.

[Eragon]

If you havn't found it alredy you might find this website interesting http://www.steamprices.com/au/topripoffs

The Australian goverment are actualy looking into the unfare sofware prices right now. They have alredy braught in representetives from Apple, Microsoft and Adobe to explane themselves and they weren't satesfied with any of there excuses. They are now considering what they can do to change it, one of the main ideas is to ban geo blocking or at least make it illegal for companys to enforce it.