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I am super excited for this, but a little disappointed that Blizzard apparently doesn't understand exchange rates. The Australian dollar is currently worth (ma

by thetron 15y ago

I am super excited for this, but a little disappointed that Blizzard apparently doesn't understand exchange rates. The Australian dollar is currently worth (marginally) more than the US Dollar, and yet the game costs an extra $20 here. I don't understand how this is justifiable.

budley 15y ago
No, they understand perfectly.
- hackermom 15y ago
  +1.
  - ceejayoz 15y ago
    There's a button for doing that.
    - hackermom 15y ago
      I used that one too, even before writing the comment! Can I get back on the lawn now?
cburgas 15y ago
The prices in general are quite strange. amazon.de has it for 55€ and .co.uk wants just 33 pounds. While Blizzard itself charges full retail prices...
- uriloran 15y ago
  It's the same with other games and especialy dvd/Blurays. Even with extra shipping cost you normaly have to pay less than on amazon.de. Never quite understood why, but I order a lot over uk since I know that.
- karolist 15y ago
  Any idea what makes up collectors edition to have it double the price? http://www.game.co.uk/en/diablo-iii-collectors-edition-167121?pageSize=20&searchTerm=diablo http://www.game.co.uk/en/diablo-iii-collectors-edition-16712...
simonsarris 15y ago
I'm not sure if you're having a rhetorical meow or just want to know what's going on here, so I'll offer an explanation. It's not about exchange rates and never ever will be. It's about purchasing power. It's just normal market segmentation, like how textbooks are cheaper in India/China than in the U.S. Whats the average purchasing power of an Australain versus an American? The Australian dollar is worth more than the US Dollar, and what's Australia's minimum wage? What's America's? They're about $15 and $7 respectively. If anything, Blizzard could probably stand to charge Australians even more. But I'm sure they've done the math on this, and there might be other factors, but I'd gander that in terms of purchasing power the costs of the game to an American and Australian are probably pretty similar. Now if you were making money in the U.S. and had to spend it in Australia, then you'd be very right to meow about exchange rates, since they don't take into account purchasing power, but very very few people who buy the Australian game are going to be in that position.
- joliveira 15y ago
  In Europe there are huge discrepancies in purchasing power between countries even inside the Euro zone but, at least when buying online directly from Blizzard, the price is the same wether you live in Greece/Portugal or France/Germany. Having the same price for every country inside the UE and not using the actual conversion rate hurts even more the people in countries where average wage is bellow US wages. It wouldn't hurt them that much having different prices for different countries inside the UE, just make it so you need a credit card from the country to pay the price corresponding to that country. (at least there is amazon.co.uk and I am a little happier)
- archangel_one 15y ago
  I am not sure I believe that Australians have a higher purchasing power than Americans. Certainly for an example I'm more familiar with, the game costs NZ$109.99 in New Zealand, which is US$90 at the moment. I can assure you that the purchasing power of an average NZer is less than that of an average American, so goodness knows why it has to be so much more expensive. This is fairly standard on a lot of things - books, DVDs etc - and I can only presume it's simply because they know they can get away with it because people have gotten used to games costing about $100 without worrying about what that means in the publisher's native currency.
arjunnarayan 15y ago
The first lesson of economics is that sale prices have nothing to do with _cost_ and everything to do with willingness to pay. Price discrimination is possible in only certain limited market segments; national borders happen to be one convenient such segmentation.
guard-of-terra 15y ago
I'm a little confused on how it is sold. Is it the box with air in it, only? Which is ridiculous for a game which is only playable with a net connection. And the battle.net site suggests you can buy a digital copy. If so, why can'y you buy the digital copy? What prevents you from?
- thetron 15y ago
  I was referring to the digital copy - it's $20 more in Australia than it is in the US.
  - guard-of-terra 15y ago
    Why can't you buy US digital copy? Digits are pretty same I bet.
vsl 15y ago
Different taxes and laws. In EU, Apple hardware or games are often priced at the same amount as in the US, but in Euros, not $. No wonder: the price includes value-added tax (20% or so, depending on the country) and the seller has to account for significantly stricter consumer protection laws. For example, the standard warranty period is one year in the US; in my country, the law requires two years; that's got to affect the price.

by thetron 15y ago

budley 15y ago

No, they understand perfectly.

hackermom 15y ago
+1.
- ceejayoz 15y ago
  There's a button for doing that.
  - hackermom 15y ago
    I used that one too, even before writing the comment! Can I get back on the lawn now?

cburgas 15y ago

The prices in general are quite strange. amazon.de has it for 55€ and .co.uk wants just 33 pounds. While Blizzard itself charges full retail prices...

uriloran 15y ago
It's the same with other games and especialy dvd/Blurays. Even with extra shipping cost you normaly have to pay less than on amazon.de. Never quite understood why, but I order a lot over uk since I know that.
karolist 15y ago
Any idea what makes up collectors edition to have it double the price? http://www.game.co.uk/en/diablo-iii-collectors-edition-167121?pageSize=20&searchTerm=diablo http://www.game.co.uk/en/diablo-iii-collectors-edition-16712...

simonsarris 15y ago

I'm not sure if you're having a rhetorical meow or just want to know what's going on here, so I'll offer an explanation. It's not about exchange rates and never ever will be. It's about purchasing power. It's just normal market segmentation, like how textbooks are cheaper in India/China than in the U.S. Whats the average purchasing power of an Australain versus an American? The Australian dollar is worth more than the US Dollar, and what's Australia's minimum wage? What's America's? They're about $15 and $7 respectively. If anything, Blizzard could probably stand to charge Australians even more. But I'm sure they've done the math on this, and there might be other factors, but I'd gander that in terms of purchasing power the costs of the game to an American and Australian are probably pretty similar. Now if you were making money in the U.S. and had to spend it in Australia, then you'd be very right to meow about exchange rates, since they don't take into account purchasing power, but very very few people who buy the Australian game are going to be in that position.

joliveira 15y ago
In Europe there are huge discrepancies in purchasing power between countries even inside the Euro zone but, at least when buying online directly from Blizzard, the price is the same wether you live in Greece/Portugal or France/Germany. Having the same price for every country inside the UE and not using the actual conversion rate hurts even more the people in countries where average wage is bellow US wages. It wouldn't hurt them that much having different prices for different countries inside the UE, just make it so you need a credit card from the country to pay the price corresponding to that country. (at least there is amazon.co.uk and I am a little happier)
archangel_one 15y ago
I am not sure I believe that Australians have a higher purchasing power than Americans. Certainly for an example I'm more familiar with, the game costs NZ$109.99 in New Zealand, which is US$90 at the moment. I can assure you that the purchasing power of an average NZer is less than that of an average American, so goodness knows why it has to be so much more expensive. This is fairly standard on a lot of things - books, DVDs etc - and I can only presume it's simply because they know they can get away with it because people have gotten used to games costing about $100 without worrying about what that means in the publisher's native currency.

arjunnarayan 15y ago

The first lesson of economics is that sale prices have nothing to do with _cost_ and everything to do with willingness to pay. Price discrimination is possible in only certain limited market segments; national borders happen to be one convenient such segmentation.

guard-of-terra 15y ago

I'm a little confused on how it is sold. Is it the box with air in it, only? Which is ridiculous for a game which is only playable with a net connection. And the battle.net site suggests you can buy a digital copy. If so, why can'y you buy the digital copy? What prevents you from?

thetron 15y ago
I was referring to the digital copy - it's $20 more in Australia than it is in the US.
- guard-of-terra 15y ago
  Why can't you buy US digital copy? Digits are pretty same I bet.

vsl 15y ago

Different taxes and laws. In EU, Apple hardware or games are often priced at the same amount as in the US, but in Euros, not $. No wonder: the price includes value-added tax (20% or so, depending on the country) and the seller has to account for significantly stricter consumer protection laws. For example, the standard warranty period is one year in the US; in my country, the law requires two years; that's got to affect the price.