Norwegian media outlet Dagbladet.no writes today about Norway's cultural minister wanting to add a new and worldwide unique tax to videogames, to "give more funds back to Norwegian publishers and developers". On the counterscale, the industry itself does not want this arrangement, since it'll hurt imported and translated games and make games in general so expensive that people will stop buying them alltogether. This does not deterr the minister however, and he cites that cinema and home video market already has this tax, and has yielded fabulous results. Well, the audience disagrees, strongly. A new DVD in Norway costs 130 NOK and upwards, mostly ranging in the 200 NOK area which would equal about 35-40 $ in todays exchange, and a ticket at the cinema costs 80 NOK and upwards most places, while movie rentals set you back 50 NOK.
Videogames here are already the most expensive in the world, with new console games usually costing around 550-600 NOK, and this tax would add another 100-150 NOK on top of that. I can't speak for the masses, but such an extreme price would certainly have me heaving for breath and turning to importing or even piracy in most cases. Even the biggest game producer in Norway, Funcom (Age of Conan) are opposed to the idea, and one of their PR managers replied on my mail that "This will certainly not benefit us at all, our games are mostly based on subscription fee's, and this tax would make the initial purchase up to 30% more costly, which surely would turn people away from the game, loosing us longterm income via fees."
So, the industry is opposed to it, the audience most certainly is in the highest tax nation in the world today, but politicians press on and you can bet your life this will go through... 
Mummelmann out.
PS: Linky for those who read Norwegian or simply for those who want to see this beast of a minister and his $$ grin beside Conan the Barbarian... http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2008/03/07/529080.html
