Revisiting the topic of Call of Duty 4, Activision and Steam, we've just received a message from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, on the topic of the recent price hike.

Now, a quick recap - overnight, the digitally distributed price for a game of Modern Warfare was raised a whopping 75%, to US$88.50, which worked out in many cases to be more than the same game cost in Australian brick-and-mortar retail shops. What was going on? Is there anything we can do about it?

...looks like, for the moment, the answer to that is a fairly resounding no. Sorry.


Here's the information direct from Melanie at the ACCC Infocentre (with our bolding), in response to a message sent from a community member:

The role of the ACCC is to ensure compliance with the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA), which is designed to encourage fair trading and discourage anti-competitive conduct through a specific set of competition and consumer protection rules. It is only when there is a contravention of the TPA that there may be a role for the ACCC.

The ACCC is not a price setting body for goods and services at either the retail or wholesale levels and has only a limited role in the area of price regulation overall. It does not have a direct role in regulating or setting prices except in the case of products or services that are declared under Part VIIA of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (TPA)*. The ACCC can examine the prices of selected goods and services in the Australian economy, if the Government has declared them.

The ACCC's task is to promote competitive pricing wherever possible and to restrain price rises in markets where competition is less than effective. It has three pricing functions.

· To vet the proposed price rises of any business organisations that the Government has determined should be placed under prices surveillance.

· To hold inquiries into pricing practices and related matters that the Government has determined should be the subjects of an inquiry.

· To monitor the prices, costs and profits of an industry or business. The Government determines which industries or businesses are monitored and how often the Commission should submit a report to both the Government and the monitored organisations.

The Federal Government has not determined that the services referred to in your complaint should be subject to this legislation. If Steam independently chooses to change their prices they are free to do so without raising concerns under the TPA. At this stage the ACCC will record your information and monitor this issue in case of any TPA issues which may arise.

Thank you for contacting the ACCC. I hope this information is of some assistance.

* Part VIIA of the TPA preserves the existing prices surveillance powers and replaces the Prices Surveillance Act 1983 which was repealed by the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Act 2003.

Sorry to say that in this particular instance, there ain't much that the government can do. Nothing's breaching the Trade Practices Act, the prices are set by the publisher, and the publisher's decided that we should pay more for a download than we do for a physical copy. I'm sure many gamers won't stand for that - and I'm also sure that the only thing they can really do is vote with their wallets.

We'll keep an eye on this and let you know if anything changes. In the meantime, if you're after more information, you can contact the ACCC Infocentre on 1300 302 502.
Thanks to thetron for his help on this issue.