Very interesting read, fanaxadu.

I think there's a very big, and important reason that developers and publishers are pushing for their content to goto Steam, and why Stardock games have been so succuessful.

The retail model, for video games, proves that it's not a very good one, at many times. The only real *issue* though is that if games were distributable online for a huge bit of it: where would you buy the systems? I tend to think the reason that retailers get a good deal on the games, is because the systems themselves (even profitable ones like the Wii), typically make the store that sells them, VERY little money. Hopefully we can find a good way to work things out.

But I would agree, a Nintendo, Sony, and MS store with 100% products would be neat. Would love to get my hands on more obscure content if possible.

except that, of course, wholesale prices will be different in the US.

You think car manufacturers from germany just raise prices for their cars in USD cause the exchange rate changed? 

Visit Berlin. As far as I remember, there is a Sony store there....

What would be interesting to know is the added cost that a retailer calculates for their ops cost on top of the product price from wholesale. 

Here in Norway we pay approx 70 euro for our games and I know that large parts of it is taxes and fees (roughly 60% according to Spillforeningen's numbers).

That's what I mean though, that I think the difference lies in the fact that people are usually talking about an American retail model.

Europeon retail costs may already have been "in their favor" in the first place. Hence the seeming difference. Then again that may be due to it being Wii games. Wii first party games no less. Wii might just make retilers more profit per.

Even before the currency shift i bet europeon retailers were paying a more or less currency rate wise... and then the turn around on what it's sold for causes the difference. 

Lets see if i've got this right too....

every game brought in would be charged the Aquisition VAT opon entering the county and the output VAT between store and consumer.

The buisness to buisness VAT may or may not be collected depending on if they publisher was in the same country as the aquirer.

So was this publisher also in germany fax?

Either way, pre-vat that'd mean the publisher would be actually clearing 24 euros post VAT for aquisition fee.

So 24 euros slit between the publisher and developer. Yeah i'd agree with your less then 10 euros idea based on this... by a lot when you consider wholesale purchases.

What is scary however is this is Nintendo's publisher... a guy who doesn't incure most of the prices your average publisher does as Nintendo pays for it's own advertising.  If this were a 3rd party game the publisher would probably take a bigger piece of the cake. 

Any way your friend can inqure about the price of a 360 or PS3 game?

 There is a 50% VAT on electronics?  Isn't the VAT uniformly applied along the distribution line however? 

nono, he means 50% margin for retailers... 

VAT is usually charged through to the consumer...meaning any kind of VAT can be reimbursed (as far as I know)

However, the 30 Euros was without VAT. How it is handled for imports I do not know. 

So you pay the VAT and then reclaim it whenever tax time is? I could of swore the VAT gets charged down the distribution line as that was one of it's big advantages over a sales tax. It's harder to completely avoid.

It it was 30 without the VAT that means it was a distributor within germany.  Since from country to country the VAT has to be charged and reclaimed.

So if i'm right about the import VAT it should be right.