Game Prices.....

[ECA]

Ok we pay £30 for a game usually.


Apparently this is a good price blah blah blah.

Why then, when the PS2 is released in China, is the price of games around £12-15.

Is this possibly because they know if they tried selling their games there at £30 they would sell none as everyone would buy pirated copies?


Hello Mr Cartel.

:mgwhore2:

 

[Embattle]

The average trade prices for games in the UK is £20 for a PC game and £25 for PS2/Xbox/GC games.

There are many factors although you could look at it in a more positive way and say that technically the amount we pay as a percentage of our wages is most probably less than in China since we earn more.

 

[ECA]

Oh and no calling me a pirate blah blah I paid nearly 50 quid to import my copy of FFXI :-] ( Still would have preffered to give the developers a tenner and download it from an official server or something but sigh.... )

 

[ECA]

Originally posted by Embattle

There are many factors although you could look at it in a more positive way and say that technically the amount we pay as a percentage of our wages is most probably less than in China since we earn more.

Or we could look at it in the way that a market abundant with piracy is being rewarded with lower price official goods whilst those who can *afford* it get ripped off.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

yeah man i like paid for one game arn't i just the saint? :-]

:-]
;-]

Oh and im moaning about game prices yet i paid 50 quid because i couldn't wait a month or so :-]

.... anyway back on topic, arn't most of the games actually fabricated in asian countries? So obviously going to be alot cheaper there.

 

[Embattle]

Originally posted by ECA
Oh and no calling me a pirate blah blah I paid nearly 50 quid to import my copy of FFXI :-] ( Still would have preffered to give the developers a tenner and download it from an official server or something but sigh.... )

I wouldn't call you a pirate....perhaps a mug

 

[ECA]

Originally posted by Deadmanwalking

Oh and im moaning about game prices yet i paid 50 quid because i couldn't wait a month or so :-]

Don't expect a European release is Squares official line atm, the PS2 version isn't out in the US until early Q2 next year, we wont get it until summer at least.

So i'll have had 7-8 months, more playing time IF it comes out over here, and we're all playing on the same servers anyway so it doesn't matter if it does come out over here.

Anyway back to the topic at hand?

 

[Tom]

As a businessman, I charge whatever I think people will pay. The problems arise when businesses form a cartel and keep the prices high.

Besides, we're a richer nation than China, and therefore can afford more.

 

[Embattle]

Originally posted by ECA
Or we could look at it in the way that a market abundant with piracy is being rewarded with lower price official goods whilst those who can *afford* it get ripped off.

Sorry but that point is flawed, it won't stop the majority of piracy since £12-15 is still a considerable amount of money for most Chinese people....esp when a pirated game is a hell of a lot less.

 

[leggy]

I was reading about this recently. The ps2 is only just being released in china with a line up of 4 games. The reason for the lower price tag is exactly what ECA says: It's to prevent too much piracy.

The way I see it is this. I pay 30 quid for a game (or 35 if I go high street esp. game).
This is about half the price of a night on the piss up here. I go out nearly twice a week, which is about 12 hours total at the cost of 100 to 120 quid.

With this perspective, a game that'll give me 10 - 20 hours of reasonable fun costs pretty much fuck all.

 

[xane]

Its highly likely that most PS2 titles will not be available in China due to censorship, so £12-15 probably reflects the price of a year old crappy game anyway.

 

[throdgrain]

Originally posted by leggy

With this perspective, a game that'll give me 10 - 20 hours of reasonable fun costs pretty much fuck all.

Nail on the head time. Even more so if you think of the endless multiplayer aspect of pc games.
Reckon you got your moneys worth with half life ?

 

[Durzel]

I'm gonna state the obvious and point out that prices have nothing to do with the quality/quantity of the item, but are related to how much the market is willing to bear.

 

[Custodian]

Which is why I nearly always wait a month or so for the budget release.. with the addon thrown in... and all the bug fixes...