has steam made retailers more competitive?

[eriol33]

hey guys, I'm living in new zealand, first time living in a developed country actually, I was very surprised when found the games prices are ridiculously expensive. even old games such as LA Noire is still priced around 36 NZD, I even saw king's bounty armored princess priced about 40 NZD, fortunately I could get most of the old games for dirt cheap price in online game store such as steam, gog, etc.

but I really don't get it, why the price in retailers are still expensive (especially in PAL region)? they are facing tough competition from steam, but why the game price is still bloody expensive, even for the old games? free market supposed to increase competition and drive down the price, but it seems just don't work in gaming.

it seems, every game market outside US is basically have to pay premium price?

 

[Gahars]

Are these games for PC or consoles?

If they're for the PC, well... the sort of person who'd still go out and buy a physical copy of these games probably doesn't overlap with the sort of person who deal hunts on Steam, GoG, etc.

If they're for consoles, well... there you go. A lot of console players are intimidated by the prospect of serious PC gaming, and so they buy a console instead. That sort of person isn't going to be able to access Steam anyway. Publishers and stores can charge higher prices because Steam isn't in the running here, not really.

Plus the price in foreign countries is driven up in general by a lot of factors. The cost of exporting and localizations often goes into the pot, and sometimes there are just random, arbitrary policies that play a role (if I remember correctly, some government stipulation on trade is the reason that video games, even digital ones, cost much more in Australia than other regions). Not to mention that as long as people continue to buy the games at the higher price, retailers have no incentive to lower it.

 

[Taleweaver]

It's a matter of supply and demand, I guess. Most games originated in the US, so there are no import costs. And foreign games had to have similar prices because otherwise they wouldn't sell.

Most other countries had some sort of import tax which eventually lowered or got rid of once online purchases became available. Australia, however, kept the price because people just kept buying them. I figure New Zealand follows that same train of thought. (I'd link to the extra credits video as the source, but I can't remember which one it was, really).