This. Europe has terrible prices, which is why i buy everything possible from uk webshops like zavvi, the hut and amazon. UK is cheap, compared to the rest of the EU!

Import duties - The U.K has a freer (slightly) trade market than the U.S. 

VAT, how does the VAT compare to U.S sales taxes? 

Exchange rates - I don't see how this should affect things, the GBP has been far more stable of a currency than the USD and therefore companies are able to predict exchange rates better. 

Less competition? Possibly. 

Fewer consumers? Possibly.

Larger Profit margins? Possibly. 

Different supply/demand curves (with different elasticities) - I think this is the culprit. Of course it is hard to predict since video games are nowhere near perfect competition. 

Back in 2008, the pound was worth $2 US dollars.

Just last year, it was lingering around at $1.5 USD.

That's 30%, right there. No need for a change in tariffs, taxes, or pricing strategy. It's as simple as currency exchange.

For game console hardware in particular, which all three manufacturers are regularly selling at a loss now, does anybody really think they'd just decide to use the loss-lead strategy everywhere except Europe? They charge those prices because that's what it costs them to sell a console in Europe.

Yes, I suppose you're right, and the areas in which the U.S lags in terms of free-trade likely have to do less with luxury goods and more with normal goods/resources. 20% is pretty crazy, here in Pennsylvania it is 6% (in Pittsburgh 7% because of sports stadiums.) Then again the U.K corporate tax is only about 20-22% while in the U.S it can be as high as 30-40% (federal + state + local) on top of sales taxes of 0-11.275%. 

Weird views in here. Let me lay down some facts for you.

RRP for the PS4 in US is $400, lets say average VAT is 5% on that, so in total $420.
UK RRP for PS4 is £350, this already includes the VAT which is 20% currently, so based on current exchange rate is $595.
So far not great. Let's compare the UK price to EU price. 400Euros (Germany value which includes tax), current exchange rate means 444Euros. So more again.

Maybe people are right, maybe games are cheaper. Let's have a look at Destiny on US Amazon vs UK Amazon.

PS4 US Destiny is $60 (this is RRP), plus the 5% tax.
PS4 UK Destiny is £45 (this is £10 under RRP), either way it is still $75 or so (worse if you look at Download on PS store which is RRP fo £55, which is $93. The reason Amazon UK is selling under RRP is because every retailer does to compete, if they don't they won't get the sales.

Yet for some reason in the US the PS3 and PS4 versions of the game are the same price, here in the UK there is £10 difference in RRP but even then the PS3 version is £40 on amazon so closer to the US price.


So.. yeah, we get screwed. To think people think games are cheaper is laughable.

Well, I was comparing them based on the prices in my country, in which the increases in the value of the dollars versus pound against the local currency is similar, if not in favor of pounds. I didn't know the exchange rate between the US dollar and the pound was so different compared to what I see. Though that seems strange and wrong to me but I am not really well-informed about monetary stuff. Thanks.

Though my approach seems to be wrong, my point still stands. Game prices are off as The Fury proves right below. The explanation for that doesn't matter because I was replying to the guy who were saying that game prices are much lower than the US.

UK is pretty much the cheapest place in Europe and also one of the cheapest on this planet for console gamers and you say it's expensive haha.

USA is simply the cheapest place of all for this.

Here's a question to you then, in the UK main retail price for computer games has been £40 for years, back in the 90s it was £50 with cartidges, but this isn't RRP, the RRP is £10-15 more. A RRP of £55 game is 69Euros (Destiny RRP is £55 and RRP in europe is 70 Euros).

Comparitively they are the same based on RRP but our retails are odd it seems, they compete a lot in prices of media, games especially. An RRP will instantly get lowered by £10 even in high steet stores, supermarkets able to lower it more even, this is because us as customers hate to buy games over a certain price it seems, £50 being a limit unless it's a special edition or someting. So why doesn't mainland Europe do this? Why do the retailers stick to the high prices?

You're quite right to point out that games aren't cheaper in Europe, I'm just trying to dispell the notion that the videogame industry is persecuting European customers somehow. Currency is just the start.

In addition to currency conversion (which tends to get padded a bit in case of fluctuation and can trail the currency markets by months and maybe longer) and taxation and tariffs, there are increased localization costs relative to the size of the market (markets plural, really), more stringent consumer protection laws to comply with, and I suspect higher retail costs due to higher wages and rent. That stuff all gets priced in.

Video games are hardly the only product that sees higher prices in Europe. You want the latest Galaxy Note 10.1? £450, about 50% higher than a straight exchange US price. iPod Touch starts at £160, 35% over US  $200 price.You want a new Golf GTI? MSRP starts at $25k USD or £26k GBP.

These companies don't see the word "sucker" whenever a European shows up. They simply deal with different regulatory frameworks, cost structures, customer expectations and market realities than they deal with in the United States.

America is the most lucky. In Canada most things are little bit more expensive than the States.