Price of Games

[Tropico]

Hi all,

I?ve just bought a xbox 360 basically for GTA 4.

I know the 3rd generation console has more expensive games but what i don?t understand is the difference in price in europe and US.

GTA iV 59.99$ in USA
GTA IV 115$ in Europe ( 75? ) not bought online but from a normal retail.

When before they used to convert dollars in euros for games all of a sudden it has increased alot.
GTA deservers that money for the amount of hours i will have but a game like assassins creed or bioshock?


Why is there a difference in US and Eurpe prices.Tax maybe?


I usually by pc games from steam, but for xbox games im sure to buy online from now on.

 

[comoxer]

Christ that's expensive, sure it wasn't the Special edition? What retail store was it?

 

[Tropico]

A french franshise called FNAC.

 

[Dynasty]

You can get a stock 360 here for ?150 or so, and get a bundle with GTA4 for ?160

And if thats 75 EUROS, then thats..err..?59...and I bought mine in-store for ?45, but even then thats seriously higher than usual, couldve been because I got it at the midnight release or something.

Usually games in the UK for the 360 are ?35-40 off the shelf, and ?20-30 preowned.

 

[Tropico]

?150 for a xbox 360? arcade maybe?and that is cheap.

here converting from euro to dollar and pound

arcade 320$ or 163?
premium 434$ or 221?
elite 587$ or 300?

I dont get the difference in prices form UK USA and euro zone countries.
They should be very similar.
Lets hope the dollar gets stronger again.

 

[Tropico]

But if they keep this up soon with apps like steam and people buying from online shops with shipping to your front door normal retailers are doomed.

 

[Polaris]

Retail version of GTA 4 is around $60 here in Central Europe.

 

[Citrus]

The US gets everything cheaper, thats how it goes.

60 here for ?150 or so, and get a bundle with GTA4 for ?160

There was a good deal at play.com the other week (189 for Premium and 199 for Premium + GTA4) but it's been taken down, probably due to them running out of GTA4s

 

[Bad^Hat]

Boo-hoo.

Normal retail price here - anywhere between $100 and $130.

Converted to US - between $75 and $100.

For Xbox 360, only games published by Microsoft get the courtesey of a $100 price tag, everything else is $120 minimum. We don't pay that much less for PS2 or DS new releases either, which usually come in at about $80 (around 60 US, what they pay for full price next-gen games).

 

[Tropico]

Well i?m just glad i?m not a kid anymore and dont depend on parents buying games or i?m pretty sure with these prices i would get 2 maybe 3 games a year.

 

[Kyorisu]

Boo-hoo.

Normal retail price here - anywhere between $100 and $130.

Sucks for you a few retailers here (read: not game stores but the big chains) are trying to start selling at $75 AUD. That goes bellyup when the publishers demand a minimum price of $100.

 

[Tropico]

Cutting the midle man with online direct downloads (steam , xbox live etc) we will get better prices im sure.
GTA deserves the money and so does the orange box and maybe the witcher.
You just have to choose games more carefully.

 

[PvtRyan]

Console games are generally 60-70 eurobucks here in retail stores, where PC games are 50-60. But online it's a lot cheaper, most PC games can be gotten at 36-40 and console games are around 50.

 

[jimbo118]

ATM HMV is the cheapest places for 360 games in Ireland, not exactly cheap but most new games are 59.99 euro which was the price for last generation games when they were out. It can up to 75 though in some places which is a sham.

Pc games are usaly 40-50.

 

[VictimOfScience]

The prices are getting out of control. My brother said that in Hungary Wii games are being sold for the equivalent of $90 USD! That is INSANE!!

 

[Gargantou]

Well you have to keep in mind the USD is worth alot less these days, so I dont think the USD is a good 'measurement' currency, these days the Euro is what the USD was at the 'height' of its worth around the mid 90s or so.

As an example, in the mid 90s, an USD was 10 SEK, now an USD is only worth 6 SEK, quite a difference.

A new 360/PS3 game here in Sweden is 100 USD, back in the mid 90s that would have been around 1000 SEK, these days it's only 600. Which IIRC is infact less than what N64 games cost when they came out originally.

So in Sweden atleast, I wouldn't say that gaming prices are getting out of control.

Anyway, if you use USD, everything sounds alot more than it actually is in 'real value' since the USD has such a low worth, for example, a Swedish 360 game, 600 SEK, that's 100 USD, but only like 60 euro, that sounds quite different, 60 vs 100.

Perhaps also US economy is so shit that if games cost 100 USD there, no-one would buy games, whereas despite the comparably 'high' price of games in Sweden, there's still alot of people buying the games.

 

[elrasho]

Yeah I went Sweden, the price of hookers has sky rocketed!

 

[VictimOfScience]

Good points (both of you).

People complain about gas prices here too, but it is much worse in other regions. Silly Americans.

 

[Gargantou]

Well Gas Prices are increasing alot here too, for example the price for ordinary fossil fuel for cars here in Sweden increased by 20 percent during the period of Q1 this year, it's quite frightening.

I'm politically active here in Sweden and one of the main issues I drive within my organization is the importance of reudcing reliability on fossil fuels as much as possible to avoid a total infrastructural collapse of society.

Oh well, venturing off-topic, sorry.

 

[Tropico]

Too many people taking a share from the price of the final product dev, publishers, MS or sony and then retail owners or online shops.
Harware prices going down software prices going up.
Soon the consoles will be free...
With the percentage MS gets from the games plus what theu make form xbox live i?m sure this might happen.