Well, that's a good way to make sure no one here buys it.. or to make everyone get around the price hike anyway. I'll put my tick in the not buying it box anyway.
I have bought every civilization game and addon for pc so far (and even iPhone) within days of them being released, sometimes even preorder, but being price f***ed like that means I won't be paying for this one.
It makes me feel way dirtier than mugging an old lady for it as she leaves EB, so that's what I'll do.
There's gotta be some agency we can go to with this, surely. Would the ACCC take complaints on the subject? I know Steam is hosted overseas, but all of these publishers work within Australian borders as well.
I should point out that ALL of the other digital distributers are moving to block off Australians from making purchases. Direct2Drive used to sell to us, GamersGate is now doing region blocking on EA titles, Impulse... etc, etc.
It's not that we're being charged more because of the long shipping distances, conversion rates, which i'd be happy to accept (to a degree). They have the same overheads delivering digital content to their US/UK customers as to us. Quite simply, they're bilking Australians because they know we can't do anything about it and our dollar is worth a lot.
in the Rockstar thread I think someone got their purchase refunded when they tried the VPN method
LOL? Why?
It would go like this.
1. Buy US Civ 5
=$50 profit
2. Refunded US Civ 5
=$0 profit
3.a) Forget about Civ 5 altogether and go buy any of the other awesome games for $50
b) Pirate Civ 5
=$0 profit
£29.99 & £39.99 for regular and deluxe respectively, exchange rate puts them at $49.80 & $66.60 AUD respectively. Pre-purchase saves £10 & also includes Cradle of Civilization Map Pack: Mesopotamia.
$49.99USD & $59.99USD comes too $56.00AUD & $67.30AUD
Plz digg and share it if you can - we're going to be using this particular game to really start hammering on publishers about their price differences. This is a good one as we have a few months of lead time to work on them before the game is released, so there's a lot of opportunity to make people aware of the price difference BEFORE they shell out their money for the game.
What wankers. Digital distro could and should have been a great way for dev's to bypass the publishers which in turn would mean more money for them and us. It's just being used as a tool for c**** to be c****. Let's take a dump on these guys, wtf are they gonna do about it! Haha!
Civ4 had some nice additions but the combat went way backwards. Combat has always been the poorly done part throughout the series, I think Civ3 had the best but it was still s***.
No sale. 2K seems to be about the worst at price gouging Australians lately. Do the retail game outlets in Australia really have that much pull with Publishers to force this sort of action or is it genuine gouging by Publishers?
Good luck on getting a response Trog. My most recent attempts at contacting their support was a query around Borderlands DLC availability after they'd pulled the main game from Steam. Took months to get a real person response (not quite the 72 hours their auto responder indicated). After further delay they then eventually told me that they "don't know if the DLC would be available in Australia". Of course by that time BL had been restored (at the Aussie premium taxed price) and the DLC had been released (also at their hiked prices) on Steam.
Import! CD-WOW have it for $52 shipped. They're not always quick but they're almost always cheap. Steam is a real disappointment when big companies force the same overcharging as retail. I love Steam but when it's being used as a rape tool it's not so cool. 2K must be run by d***wolves, it's the only logical conclusion (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/8/11/).
So, does making a second steam account in a U.S name and gifting it to your main account still work? Or does it go off where your credit card is located?
i'm a little ashamed to admit this but i couldn't help myself and crossed the picket line. i've already pre-ordered the deluxe edition on steam; it's pre-loading now.
As I understand it all versions of this game tie into steam, so that copy should be just the same as any other. Though if anybody could confirm that it would be great.
doesn't the article state that the price difference is due to the publisher 2K and not Steam? why all the anger at Steam over this when in THIS case it's not their fault?
Posted 11:31am 07/5/10
Posted 11:35am 07/5/10
Posted 11:37am 07/5/10
Their nose must really hate face!
Posted 11:44am 07/5/10
In response, I'd like to offer the following:
"F*** you 2k".
That is all.
Posted 11:48am 07/5/10
Posted 12:12pm 07/5/10
Posted 12:16pm 07/5/10
Posted 12:23pm 07/5/10
I won't get price gouged though... there's more quality games then I even finish for me to ignore s*** like this.
Suck a f*** for regional pricing, THIS is what promotes piracy.
last edited by CHUB at 12:23:18 07/May/10
Posted 12:26pm 07/5/10
It makes me feel way dirtier than mugging an old lady for it as she leaves EB, so that's what I'll do.
Posted 12:26pm 07/5/10
i'll end up buying the deluxe version no matter what cause i'm a sucker for civ games but if i can save myself 30USD i'll be much happier :D
Posted 12:34pm 07/5/10
Posted 12:36pm 07/5/10
I should point out that ALL of the other digital distributers are moving to block off Australians from making purchases. Direct2Drive used to sell to us, GamersGate is now doing region blocking on EA titles, Impulse... etc, etc.
It's not that we're being charged more because of the long shipping distances, conversion rates, which i'd be happy to accept (to a degree). They have the same overheads delivering digital content to their US/UK customers as to us. Quite simply, they're bilking Australians because they know we can't do anything about it and our dollar is worth a lot.
Posted 12:39pm 07/5/10
It would go like this.
1. Buy US Civ 5
=$50 profit
2. Refunded US Civ 5
=$0 profit
3.a) Forget about Civ 5 altogether and go buy any of the other awesome games for $50
b) Pirate Civ 5
=$0 profit
WIN!
Posted 01:54pm 07/5/10
£29.99 & £39.99 for regular and deluxe respectively, exchange rate puts them at $49.80 & $66.60 AUD respectively. Pre-purchase saves £10 & also includes Cradle of Civilization Map Pack: Mesopotamia.
$49.99USD & $59.99USD comes too $56.00AUD & $67.30AUD
Posted 02:31pm 07/5/10
--------------------
http://blogs.watoday.com.au/digital-life/screenplay/higherlogo.html
http://blogs.theage.com.au/digital-life/screenplay/2010/04/19/afewyearsago.html
Posted 02:54pm 07/5/10
Posted 03:09pm 07/5/10
Plz digg and share it if you can - we're going to be using this particular game to really start hammering on publishers about their price differences. This is a good one as we have a few months of lead time to work on them before the game is released, so there's a lot of opportunity to make people aware of the price difference BEFORE they shell out their money for the game.
Posted 03:23pm 07/5/10
*Hint*: Me.
Though they have a while to pull their s*** together.
Posted 03:43pm 07/5/10
Posted 04:13pm 07/5/10
Civ4 had some nice additions but the combat went way backwards. Combat has always been the poorly done part throughout the series, I think Civ3 had the best but it was still s***.
Posted 06:48pm 07/5/10
Posted 07:21pm 07/5/10
Good luck on getting a response Trog. My most recent attempts at contacting their support was a query around Borderlands DLC availability after they'd pulled the main game from Steam. Took months to get a real person response (not quite the 72 hours their auto responder indicated). After further delay they then eventually told me that they "don't know if the DLC would be available in Australia". Of course by that time BL had been restored (at the Aussie premium taxed price) and the DLC had been released (also at their hiked prices) on Steam.
Posted 08:23pm 07/5/10
Posted 09:10pm 07/5/10
So if you really want to make a difference, send a letter to the ACCC highlighting this, and citing abuse of market power by the said EB's.
If the ACCC actually investigates and finds said parties guilty, they'll have to get used to the oh-so-flattering hue of orange overalls.
Posted 11:24pm 07/5/10
Posted 12:35am 08/5/10
Stop screwing over your customers, and they might f*****g support you.
Posted 12:06pm 09/5/10
Posted 09:23pm 09/5/10
Posted 10:02am 12/5/10
Posted 10:07am 12/5/10
Posted 12:03pm 15/9/10
Steam is a real disappointment when big companies force the same overcharging as retail. I love Steam but when it's being used as a rape tool it's not so cool. 2K must be run by d***wolves, it's the only logical conclusion (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/8/11/).
Posted 12:16pm 15/9/10
Posted 12:30pm 15/9/10
i'm such a dirty scab :(
Posted 12:35pm 15/9/10
Posted 12:49pm 15/9/10
So how does that work. you put your cd key into steam and it reconize it?
Posted 12:58pm 15/9/10
How has that gone?
Posted 12:58pm 15/9/10
linky to g2play
Posted 01:21pm 15/9/10
They can regionalize my left nut.
Posted 03:17pm 15/9/10
Posted 07:12am 24/9/10
yeah...you cant do that from Aus
Posted 09:04am 24/9/10
http://www.ozgameshop.com/pc-games/sid-meiers-civilization-v-5-game-pc
Problem Solved.
Posted 09:11am 24/9/10
Posted 11:00am 24/9/10
Posted 03:46pm 27/9/10
Posted 12:21pm 28/9/10
http://www.ozgameshop.com/pc-games/sid-meiers-civilization-v-5-game-pc
they import game boxes from UK.
Posted 01:05pm 28/9/10
Posted 03:23pm 03/10/10