PlayStation®Network

[MofoMik]

I cannot believe the price difference for the Uncharted 3 DLC between Australia and the US. The Fortune Hunters Club is $39.95 here compared to $24.99 in the US store. After seeing that I was going to purchase just the Coop adventure.. but its double the price here! How the hell can that be justified considering the Australian dollar is slightly stronger than the US dollar and its distributed online, so there is no importing fees? Its ridiculous!

[Renze]

This particular topic has been brought up (and answered) many times on this forum, so I suggest you go find those threads and read them. But consider this: If they had to recalculate the price every time the value of the dollar changed, they wouldn't bother putting the content up to avoid having to pay someone to constantly alter all the prices.

[MofoMik]

Although you raise a valid point, the dollar has been on parody with the US for roughly 2 years now. I realise the pricing will never be equal in all regions but you would think that it wouldnt be almost double the price still.

Ill check out the other threads.

[Ravana]

The only reason the prices are higher here is to gouge us. 

Things like that DLC we are trapped. 

We pay almost double for our hard copy games than europe despite it being exactly the same disc they sell there. 

[crash987]

1 would think that a download game / DLC would be about the same price around the world as theres no inport duties, staff wagess. its all on 1 big server that people around the world can acses to get the content. 

[Renze]

Prices are set by several factors, including the minimum wage ($15 an hour in Australia compared to $8 an hour in the US), how much they think people will spend in a given region (read as: how much they think they can get away with), and what the publisher (not everything is published by Sony, or by the same publisher in every region) decides.

We live in a greed-centric world. You can either accept it, work a way around it, or protest it (like the 99% crowd, gee that was effective </sarcasm>).

[CPL_Clerk]

Hi Everyone,

For what some people are not noticing, PlayStation on a global scale is seperated in three regions:

Asia, America and Europe.

PlayStation Australia falls under PlayStation Europe as we fall under the same Bluray region as Europe.

To make comparisons to the American dollar to Australian dollar, this can vary and it doesn't take in factors like the currency rate at the time when the game was made!!!

Also with Australia falling under Europe, even though the American dollar is at a low, the Euro is quite stable so therefore to base costings on one level of currency that PlayStation Australia doesn't fall under doesn't assist in providing a correct costing for the developers and game makers.

For thirs party game makers, those costs would be up to them as they are the manufacturers of their games.

Hope this helps!!

CPL_Clerk

[Rastan_Saga]

Yeah I am pretty sure I have covered this topic extensively some where else.

Ras.

[lotsacirclework]

---

CPL_Clerk wrote:

Hi Everyone,

For what some people are not noticing, PlayStation on a global scale is seperated in three regions:

Asia, America and Europe.

PlayStation Australia falls under PlayStation Europe as we fall under the same Bluray region as Europe.

To make comparisons to the American dollar to Australian dollar, this can vary and it doesn't take in factors like the currency rate at the time when the game was made!!!

Also with Australia falling under Europe, even though the American dollar is at a low, the Euro is quite stable so therefore to base costings on one level of currency that PlayStation Australia doesn't fall under doesn't assist in providing a correct costing for the developers and game makers.

For thirs party game makers, those costs would be up to them as they are the manufacturers of their games.

Hope this helps!!

CPL_Clerk

---

Very nicely phrased CPL.  But you mske a couple of mistakes.

Using the numbers from the PS blog 

If you are a fan of the Uncharted Multiplayer content than I would recommend joining the Uncharted 3: Fortune Hunters’ Club for €24.99/£19.99

€24.99 at 6.30am 15/2/2012 works out to AU$30.69

The worst exchange rate over the last 12 months is AU$35.66

£19.99 currently is AU$29.35

And over the past 12 month

£19.99 was $32.92

Now new games with a RRP of £49.99

Currently AU$73.28

12Months AU$82.33

So why this price discrepancy?  I dont know about the OP, but I have had enough of bending over and taking it like a gamer.  (The wallet that it, get you mind out of the gutter)

On a tangent.  Why am I charged currency convertsions fees when ever I buy something of PSN.  Are Sony stating that the advertised price is false?  Are they actually paying GST, or submit a BAS?  Are they ripping us, and the government off?  Are they to tight to open a local bank account?

feel free to rant at megalopolies.

[smokeypsd]

I would really just want to see some more transparency involved in it. It seems that we come under a blanket pricing under all of SCEE no matter how our economy is doing. with a minor change in the equation for tax. It hurts Australian revenue and the growth of gaming. We are also constantly treated differently in the delivery of content, perhaps it is in income coming out of our country which makes us be treated like this to begin with. It isn't just consumers which pay the price for faulty pricing, it's the developers too.

In the end it is forcing me to take my money overseas constantly.