Longtime readers of Destructoid will know that among the things that help cause my anger management problems, the disproportionately high prices of consoles and videogames in the UK is a pretty large issue. In the UK, we pay up to 27% more for our hardware than those in the US, and we even have to pay more than our European cousins and Australian friends. It's not exactly fair, and the European Union seems to agree, as it has announced a name and shame policy to bring pressure to Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.
Further to this, if any of the big three companies are considered to be ripping the UK off, they could even face fines of up to 10% of their turnover. I've not always been a fan of the EU, but if they expose the way the UK market gets treated, then they're okay in my book.
"Just exposing the real price of certain goods in different parts of the EU can have the desired effect if undue markups are being placed on items," said a spokesman for the Union. I really hope so, because so far console makers have just blamed UK taxes and continued to give us the shaft. With Capcom proving it can charge less for it's Xbox 360 games, hopefully it's found that there's no real excuse for the way companies treat Britain, outside of pure greed.
It's not like I don't believe companies should have the right to charge what they want, where they want. But we also have a right to expose their practices and say "hang on, this really is bloody rubbish." With more consumer awareness on just how much game companies rip the UK off, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo might have to buck up their act.
Contest:
12:06 PM on 01.30.2008
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Its fuckin absurd.
AND FUCKING PERSONA 3 IS STILL NOT OUT.
It's like a clearance sale on everything ALL THE TIME! Just a hint.
I really hope that this will affect us, because all the stores are, for whatever reason, buying the games from freaking Sweden or smth, and Swedish booklets + insane waiting times don't make a gamer happy...
It's always so fresh and delicious.
The prices that you britfags have to pay for gaming is insane
I could be wrong but the UK has about a 17% tax, and that is included within your pricing.
However prices in the US are listed without tax which is added to the purchase at the register.
I doubt this'll come to anything, this is the delightful European Union we're dealing with. An organisation with more red tape than the world red tape...I forgot where I was going with that.
Also, Captioning is Win Too!
Having lived in the UK all my life I can confidently predict that game hardware and software prices will never be in line with the rest of the world. Why? Beacuse nothing else is. The only thing that is affordable or cheap in the UK is alcohol specifically designed to bypass the taste buds and get you pissed quickly so that you can forget about living in a damp cold, expensive prison island known as Britain.
Sorry I just don't like it here. Did you know, the UK is the slug capital of the world? Fact.
But the other part is the difference in tax schemes. On average, US consumers pay $60 for a new game and then pay a sales tax of somewhere around 7.5% for a grand total of about $64. If the EU used a similar sales tax instead of the much higher (15-25%) VAT, then a £40 game would drop to about £32 list + 7.5% sales tax = 34.4 = about $69. Or to be Britain-specific (because of the lower 17.5% VAT), drop the price of every British game 10%, and increase the price of every American release by 7.5%.
Plus, I'm willing to bet but too lazy to verify that EU import duties are higher than those in the US.
That's not exactly accurate:
PS3: 300ł (~400€) vs. 400€
360 Elite: 300ł (~400€) vs. 450€
The Wii does seem to be cheaper (something like 30€, but I haven't found the exact same bundle). Prices are checked for Game stores in the UK and Spain, respectively.
I'm pretty much just waiting for the reason why we're paying $10 more for 360 and PS3 games.
Dr. Phil.
I hope he felt that one.
-_-
anyway you can't expect even pricing just last year
dollar was about .80 euro and the pound 1.5 euro.
now it's doller = 0.676498 euro and pound = 1.334 euro.