By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Nintendo may have dropped the price, but Australia is still getting screwed too hard.

radishhead on 01 August 2011

 

I thought that all Australians were hardcore people that shot beasts in the outback? How can they have time to play videogames? :o



Click this button, you know you want to!  [Subscribe]

Watch me on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRadishBros

~~~~ Mario Kart 8 drove far past my expectations! Never again will I doubt the wheels of a Monster Franchise! :0 ~~~~

Around the Network
starcraft on 04 August 2011
superchunk said:

Wait... your actually comparing one of the smallest markets in the world, that is an island with a population less than the state of California to the largest buying economy in the world?

Of course its going to cost a lot more to ship it to an island with a FAR smaller consumer market.... just like everything else over there except kangaroo steaks.

It does NOT cost $80 EXTRA per unit to ship something from China and store it here.  An enormous portion of our population is also concentrated in a very small area.



starcraft - Playing Games = FUN, Talking about Games = SERIOUS

Joelcool7 on 04 August 2011
starcraft said:
superchunk said:

Wait... your actually comparing one of the smallest markets in the world, that is an island with a population less than the state of California to the largest buying economy in the world?

Of course its going to cost a lot more to ship it to an island with a FAR smaller consumer market.... just like everything else over there except kangaroo steaks.

It does NOT cost $80 EXTRA per unit to ship something from China and store it here.  An enormous portion of our population is also concentrated in a very small area.

Your right, however Nintendo needs to localize the product in your country. Nintendo needs to market in your country and they need to run operations in your country. Also your branch of Nintendo needs to maintain profitability and be worth while for Nintendo to localize and operate.

Your country has a much higher wage basis and less population. This means Nintendo has to hire more staff expensively then they have to sell that device competitively. Now I agree your sorta being screwed the real thing is Nintendo should pull out of your country all together, it isn't profitable enough.

Fact is Nintendo probably doesn't make much profit in Australia. It costs alot to localize a game. Make deals with retailers to carry your product and then market the product. Also those taxes you mention, taxes are also placed on Nintendo's products they and the retailers are taxed to death thus they need to raise prices as well.

Their are so many reasons for the higher prices in Australia when compared to countries like Canada or the USA.

-Taxes

-Localization

-marketing

-running an Australian branch

-Retailers demanding prices

-shipping to Australia

etc...etc... I feel sorry for you I really do. But it does make sense and also with your higher wages and such it isn't as bad as you make it seem!



-JC7

"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer

 

scottie on 04 August 2011

275/170 = 1.62

400/250 = 1.6 (i.e. Wii launch prices)

Sure, the Aussie dollar is currently doing quite well, but generally short term effects are ignored by companies doing pricing.



Hephaestos on 04 August 2011

since people do seem to care about australia after all....

You have the same problem in Europe with the drop of the UK £ (been stable for 3 years though).
Games come out at €59.99-49.99 for Wii and €69.99 for HD... in the UK it's £34.99-29.99 and £49.99-39.99...

exchange rate is 1.15..... so that's €41-35 for Wii and €57-46 for HD

Train round trip is 5 hours and 100€..... So guess where I do my Christmas shopping?
(correct, not there, Zavvi has free delivery all over Europe so I save time and 100€ :p)



OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Around the Network
Hephaestos on 04 August 2011

oh and EU is at an 1.42 ratio to US prices currently... that's the exchange rate.... It went up to 1.6 2 years ago.



OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Zlejedi on 04 August 2011
lvader said:
It only looks bad because of the strong Aus $, it's not like the prices in local currency are much higher than what they have been in the past. We had the same thing in the UK, something we called ripoff Britain. Now because of the weak GBP we have some of the cheapest prices in Europe.

True - years ago importing from US was the way to go for whole Europe now UK is best source of games - not only it's cheaper but shipping costs are same and region locks don't matter :)



PROUD MEMBER OF THE PSP RPG FAN CLUB

superchunk on 04 August 2011
starcraft said:
superchunk said:

Wait... your actually comparing one of the smallest markets in the world, that is an island with a population less than the state of California to the largest buying economy in the world?

Of course its going to cost a lot more to ship it to an island with a FAR smaller consumer market.... just like everything else over there except kangaroo steaks.

It does NOT cost $80 EXTRA per unit to ship something from China and store it here.  An enormous portion of our population is also concentrated in a very small area.

When I said cost a lot more to ship.. I didn't literally mean JUST SHIPPING COSTS. I was referring to the entire process that was laid out more directly by JoelCool7.

I was using ship as a generic term. I probably should have said "sell on an island...."



scottie on 04 August 2011
superchunk said:

Wait... your actually comparing one of the smallest markets in the world, that is an island with a population less than the state of California to the largest buying economy in the world?

Of course its going to cost a lot more to ship it to an island with a FAR smaller consumer market.... just like everything else over there except kangaroo steaks.


Actually, Kangaroo steaks aren't cheap here anymore. Back in the day it was simply that farmers shot kangaroos when they were going to damage fences or annoy the farmers slightly. So students loved the cheap, and healthy meat. But then eating kangaroo became the in thing and prices skyrocketed.



superchunk on 04 August 2011
scottie said:
superchunk said:

Wait... your actually comparing one of the smallest markets in the world, that is an island with a population less than the state of California to the largest buying economy in the world?

Of course its going to cost a lot more to ship it to an island with a FAR smaller consumer market.... just like everything else over there except kangaroo steaks.


Actually, Kangaroo steaks aren't cheap here anymore. Back in the day it was simply that farmers shot kangaroos when they were going to damage fences or annoy the farmers slightly. So students loved the cheap, and healthy meat. But then eating kangaroo became the in thing and prices skyrocketed.

On my trip to Australia, I had some really good roo steaks.