Parliamentary Inquiry on IT and Game Pricing Now Taking Your Submissions

[News Portal]

The parliamentary inquiry to determine why exactly Australians pay through the nose for games and IT products, and what can be done to stop it, is now asking taking submissions. If you'd like to be a part of helping to bring about a more equitable system, you can find all the details for how to submit your opinion over here.

Source: Kotaku AU

Read full article by GON News

[akira675]

Basically my submission...

US
AU

'nuff said.

[iambeanie]

Basically my submission...

US
AU

'nuff said.

Oh my gosh! I get my windows products free under MSDNA so i've seen the price difference on them but... holy ****, i thought games were bad.

At the news post: I'm a little bit stunned to be honest, the fact that this issue is actually being tackled in some manner is such good news to these aussie ears! I understand alot of the arguments about our economy being much better than other countries as well as the average wage being higher but when the difference in price on an electronic good is a simple region check the line gets a bit blurry.

[SuBw00FeR]

Pfft,

US Priced GTX690

AU Priced GTX690

[a3gis]

At the news post: I'm a little bit stunned to be honest, the fact that this issue is actually being tackled in some manner is such good news to these aussie ears! I understand alot of the arguments about our economy being much better than other countries as well as the average wage being higher but when the difference in price on an electronic good is a simple region check the line gets a bit blurry.

those arguments tend to ignore the average cost of living though, focusing only on the average wage. living in Darwin, these **** should be paying me to play their games ;P

[Otto-matic]

Don't forget http://www.steamprices.com/au/topripoffs

[a3gis]

Basically my submission...

US
AU

'nuff said.

Adobe's products, bought as digital downloads through their online store all have a roughly 40% markup in the Australian store. Which is nice when you're trying to buy Coldfusion Enterprise edition and get slugged an extra $3k because GREEDY ****.

[Trixxter]

Pfft,

US Priced GTX690

AU Priced GTX690

Beat me to it. $500 markup difference, it's disgusting. :\

[BeeJNutter]

3dsmax, autocad and the Adobe CS suite are all between 1500 - 2000 (40% - 50%) ish more in Aus even via digital download. Though I doubt that that's the worst of the retarded markups out there. Hopefully this inquiry achieves something.

[^42alpha^]

3dsmax, autocad and the Adobe CS suite are all between 1500 - 2000 (40% - 50%) ish more in Aus even via digital download. Though I doubt that that's the worst of the retarded markups out there. Hopefully this inquiry achieves something.

After many long meetings and lunches, they will probably come to the conclusion that "Yes, Australians ARE paying to much for IT and Gaming." and that will be about it. Maybe recommend another review/commitee to appraise the situation in the future,.bla..bla.

[Otto-matic]

I believe it was noted on Hack today that the answer "Because we can" might come up. The chair of the committee they were interviewing didn't really have an answer for what they'll do if that's what the companies say.

[a3gis]

I believe it was noted on Hack today that the answer "Because we can" might come up. The chair of the committee they were interviewing didn't really have an answer for what they'll do if that's what the companies say.

start an advertising campaign telling people about the wonders of Bali and the seedier sides of the 'Net.

[Bane Williams]

I believe it was noted on Hack today that the answer "Because we can" might come up. The chair of the committee they were interviewing didn't really have an answer for what they'll do if that's what the companies say.

start an advertising campaign telling people about the wonders of Bali and the seedier sides of the 'Net.

My submission is complete, sending it in now. I also did a retail store comparison between EB and GameStop.

Also Bali? I'm missing a reference here.

[InAUGral]

I will make a good argument to have prices lowered that involves how some games cost double the US price when our AUD is strong and postage per boxed copy of a game cannot exceed $5 per item (prob far less if its sent in bulk).

Anyway on the topic of software I was looking up Sony Vegas Studio a year ago and was shocked to see how much more the aussie version was (for a digital download as well) it cost double the price (about 90 pounds I believe for the AU version) and I was amazed when I checked ozgameshop.com and they had a BOXED COPY OF THE SAME SOFTWARE FOR 30AUD. That is retardedly insane that a digital download that provides only a download and licence key can charge so much more and the same thing costed twice the price for Aussies is absurd.

[Stoibs]

Well just spent the better part of a few hours carefully wording my 660 word letter. I'm sure http://www.steamprices.com/au/topripoffs will be mentioned and linked to them many times, also being a government body I'm sure they will be pleased to hear how much money Isn't being injected back into the Australian economy, since the majority of people realize it's so much cheaper to shop overseas/online.