Topic: Third party, know your limits!

[KDR_11k]

Just a comparison:
The Kore Gang, 49.99€
Super Mario Galaxy, 43.90€ (fairly high price, often seen for 39.99€)


Courage or idiocy?

[TJ Spyke]

At the very least it is gutsy considering it's from an unknown developer and unknown publisher, and the boxart makes it look like just another crappy movie licensed game.

[SixthAngel]

I think this was a cancelled Xbox game that was picked up for the Wii 5 years later.  Maybe they are trying to pay for some project that was too expensive from the get go?

[KDR_11k]

Kore Gang has always been questionable in terms of whether it will sell, they should at least recognize that and look at Nintendo's pricing.

Well, at least it's not 60€ (standard pricing last gen and some publishers apparently haven't noticed that it changed).

[Mop it up]

No wonder gaming has never been as popular in Europe. It's so expensive!

[Chozo Ghost]

No wonder gaming has never been as popular in Europe. It's so expensive!

Europe needs to create its own video games and then have them be cheap in Europe, but then the rest of the world would have to pay exorbitant prices for them. That would be payback.

[TJ Spyke]

Games are pretty much more expensive everywhere compared to the US. For example, most Wii games in Japan tend to be about ¥4,800 (about USD$56), RPGs can be around $80.

I think I remember reading that the percentage of people in the UK who play games is about the same as the US. It's just that the US has about 3.5X as many people as the UK.

[Chozo Ghost]

Part of the problem with games in Europe is that there are so many countries and languages involved. The cost of getting games into every European country and then translating it for each language may help explain why the games cost so much.

[KDR_11k]

That's a fixed cost, not a unit cost. The current price is based on the start of last gen, the Euro was fairly weak back then (0.80 USD) so they set prices at 60€ to have the equivalent of 50$. The Euro shot up over the following decade, going as high as 1.50$ and the prices were never adjusted. The HD consoles threw another 10€ on there for a total price of 70€ while the Wii seems to have lowered prices to 40-50€ (mostly, some third parties still go for 60). DS games are 40€ (which is pretty much the same as Game Boy games used to cost in the local currency), PC games are 40-50€ (except for Activision games).

[NWR_insanolord]

Taking macroeconomics this term and learning the ins and outs of inflation and currency exchange rates has made the fairly constant price of games over time seem pretty odd. It also makes me not feel so bad about the $60 price tag on 360 and PS3 games.

[TJ Spyke]

I can't imagine being a gamer in Europe. It's already hard enough getting games on a tight budget here, they are even more so there. I think this is why a lot of UK gamers I know import all of their games from North America since even with shipping fees it is still cheaper than buying the PAL versions.

[UncleBob]

Damn UK people got Another Code 2 and are getting the second Hotel Dusk.

And the Professor Layton Movie.

I hate you guys.

[Mop it up]

And they got Mario Kart Wii first! No wonder they're so good at the game, they've gotten more practice!

[KDR_11k]

Damn UK people got Another Code 2 and are getting the second Hotel Dusk.

And the Professor Layton Movie.

I hate you guys.

Trade you that for Excite Bots, Cave Story, Contra 4, Drill Dozer, Starfy, timely releases, no 50Hz slowdown and 40% cheaper DS games?

[Chozo Ghost]

Couldn't it be possible for someone in Europe to get a NA DS unit and then import the NA games for cheaper than it would be to just buy the local versions?

[Mop it up]

You don't even need a North American DS, as the DS is region-free. So you can play DS games from any region on any DS. The only exception would be DSiWare, which has a different shop for each region.

[UncleBob]

Damn UK people got Another Code 2 and are getting the second Hotel Dusk.

And the Professor Layton Movie.

I hate you guys.

Trade you that for Excite Bots, Cave Story, Contra 4, Drill Dozer, Starfy, timely releases, no 50Hz slowdown and 40% cheaper DS games?

Starfy wasn't worth it, but as for Excite Bots or Drill Dozer - perhaps we can work out a trade when Hotel Dusk 2 or the Professor Layton DVD comes out.

[Caliban]

Trade you that for Excite Bots, Cave Story, Contra 4, Drill Dozer, Starfy, timely releases, no 50Hz slowdown and 40% cheaper DS games?

Cave Story? It's just a WiiWare release. That's just preposterous that Europeans can't get it.

There's no region lock-up for GBA or DS, so can't you import Drill Dozer and Contra 4?

Any kind of videogame should be cheaper in Europe. Even when I was living there I never understood why they should be more expensive. Specially with the Euro having more value than USD.

[TJ Spyke]

WiiWare is really no different than retail, the publisher still has to pay fees like getting the game rated in each regon. That is why PopCap Games have said their DSiWare games will not be coming out in Australia.

Blame the European governments for crap like VAT taxes for causing them to be so expensive (that is not the only reason, but it's one). Also, currency conversion rates have little if any effect on game prices since they tend to fluctuate so much.

[Chozo Ghost]

Someone should create an organization called "Games without Frontiers" and that organization's goal would be to help get games into countries where they are either not available at all, or are very expensive.

[TJ Spyke]

I think that is why some gamers were sad or disappointed when Ignition Entertainment (or UTV Ignition Entertainment now) announced that they were becoming a publisher of digital games only now, they had localized several niche games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade.