Call of Duty 4 Steam Price Jumps

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Call of Duty 4 Steam Price Jumps

Post by trog @ 12:33pm 22/11/07 | 68 Comments

Midda pointed out that Kotaku have, uh, pointed out that the price of Call of Duty 4 on Steam for Australian users has bounced from US$49.95 to US$88.50 - bringing it more in line to what you'd be paying in stores. I'm sure we'll be seeing the benefit of that strong Aussie dollar any day now.

call of duty steam

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Kamma
Posted 03:12pm 22/11/07

Apparently we are supple cash-cows, waiting to be milked.

But hey, less product means more money these days!

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Kamma
Posted 05:10pm 22/11/07

you can't stop progress so suck it up.

I'd hardly call this progress. It's another step in the WRONG direction. They're charging a stupid amount of money for a game which is almost exclusively multiplayer.

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Nathan
Posted 05:15pm 22/11/07

Whether its our dollar going up in general, or a weaking of the US dollar in general makes no difference when its Australian's purchasing from an American company.

To make the figures easy, lets say we were AU50c = US$1 . If we paid AU$100, Steam would get US$50, about the same a US consumer will pay.

Now lets say AU$1 = US$1. If we paid AU$100, Steam would get US$100, about double what a US consumer would pay for the exact same set of bytes.

The general strength or lack there of the Euro, Yen, etc is essentially irrelevant (yes US$50 might not globally buy the yanks as much as it used to, but receiving US$50 from americans is no better or worse than receiving US$50 from an Australian) .

This is 100% about protecting Australian retailer/distributors at the expense of the consumer.

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Term
Posted 07:58pm 22/11/07

yep, is all confirmed as boba's fault for pointing out the cheep steam price in comparision to the gameshop price :)

I agree,this is totally crazy and seem to remember this being considered during the dual import laws, I would be extremely interested in what the ACCC has to say, since they have been anti regionalisation issues for exactly this point, where an international company protects the retailer ahead of the consurmer.

I'm so interested in their thoughts on the issue I'm going to give them a bell tomorrow and see what they ahve to say.

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Haklin
Posted 08:20pm 22/11/07

If all goes to plan I'll score a copy in the comp....if that doesn't work....i'll rebel the evil forces in other ways...maybe watch care bears or something

[img]http://www.insidertricks.com/care-bears/images/bears/Tenderheart_bear_large.gif[/img]

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Kaos
Posted 09:25pm 22/11/07

This is MORE than the retail price at expensive stores like Harvey Norman and Dick Smith. I bought a copy at Harvey Norman for $89. That was PACKAGED, contained a MANUAL, a DVD and was SHIPPED. All those things. This is a bunch of data being downloaded via an Australian ISP.

Tell me how it can possibly cost $10 more.

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Term
Posted 10:36pm 22/11/07

oh boo hoo, having to pay proper price for a game

Comments like this is why I'm rapidly becoming of the opinion that all consumers are sheep and as a collective generally stupid. What the hell says its a 'proper' price, the price that the Australian publisher says, or the price that the market charge. The market rate for this game is 50AUD - however we are having regionalisation of games used against us in Australia to prohibit our ability to purchase this game for this price, and the publisher is using racketeering methods in order to extort more money out of the consumer in Australia.

This is my personal view of course :)

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Term
Posted 10:52pm 22/11/07

here is the ACCC's position on Region coding (RPC)

Region Coding

The ACCC has for some time been investigating the regional playback control (RPC) technology present in DVD players and accompanying films. The ACCC is aware that DVD RPC effectively divides the world into six regions for the purposes of DVD distribution, preventing inter-region substitution of discs and hardware. The practical effect of RPC is that a consumer who has purchased a DVD player in Australia may be prevented from playing films obtained from overseas. The ACCC believes that overseas markets give Australian consumers access to a wider range of competitively priced film titles, with special features not otherwise available in Australia. In the ACCC�s view, this means Australian consumers are forced to pay higher prices for films with fewer features and a lesser range of film titles.

RPC is also present in Playstation technology, albeit on a more limited scale. Playstation, which is produced by the various Sony computer entertainment companies, is distributed according to three regional zones: North America, Japan (which covers all of Asia), and Europe, which includes Australia. The RPC restrictions in Playstations can be overcome by installing a mod chip in a Playstation console.

While its being discussed with a specific case and in regard to mod chiping, this is no less relivent as there is a manufactured region coding (RPC) being employed here by Activision and Valve software.

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Haklin
Posted 11:28pm 22/11/07

why wouldn:t you just buy it in a box at eb and support local businesses ???

Fair point but others would argue...'well driving my car to the store and buying the game which is cased in cardboard which i will throw away is a waste on resources' ..that and it was a hell of a lot cheaper online.

Digital distribution is the way of the future....sellers just need to learn how not to piss of a volatile market

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Kaos
Posted 12:20am 23/11/07

Yeah Cainer, how about you don't post exactly the same thing as me two hours later and butcher it by calling EB a 'local' business. EB is part of GameStop Corp., a chain based in the USA.

And wtf does the Recording Industry Association of America have to do with anything?

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Yapa
Posted 12:46am 23/11/07

Part of the reason why steam is so great is that its cheaper and you can get the game within a few hours without moving ur ass.

If the game is the same price as in the store, or very close to it, then steam loses big time. I would much rather a nice box, manual and the actual CD of the game if its the same price or $10 more... and I can probably get it quicker from the store without losing my download quota.

So basically if the price of steam games is the same as in shops, or very similar I really wouldnt even try steam. So far it has been very good though and I've made over a dozen purchases. Lucky I got COD4 early and already finished it :)

Yapa

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Term
Posted 01:30pm 23/11/07

obes, I have a sticker here with 'you're a Hero' on it, yours for the low low price of 999 bucks

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Yapa
Posted 09:46pm 24/11/07

Yes steam is making me purchase games I dont even want.... I see specials and I grab them! Just need more space and more download quota!

But as someone said above, I think Activision will lose more $ because of this than selling the game at a reduced price, or the correct price? Especially with all the publicity... most will probably download it in some way :( At least the legit copies can still play multiplayer!

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