Ubisoft on Game Prices for Australians

[News Portal]

Ed Fong is the Managing Director of Ubisoft Australia, and he's one of the few industry figures willing to speak out about Australian prices. At yesterday's GameTech conference, he spoke quite plainly about the 'grey importing' situation. "If the consumer has a choice to buy overseas for half the price, they will vote with their wallets — and local businesses, including publishers, distributors and retailers will be forced to re-evaluate," he said.

"We’ve already readjusted our recommended retail price recently for Ghost Recon. We’ve also just announced our pricing for Assassin’s Creed III, and we really want to put a message ot there. Whether the consumers will think that’s good enough, or not good enough, time will tell."

Source: Kotaku AU

Read full article by GON News

[DarKnode]

Orly. So what are the prices for those games? Now I have to go and hunt for them?

[coatsy22]

Ubisoft are one of the worst offenders for price jacking I thought?


edit: yep, dont have to go very far down the ubisoft steam page to find Anno 2070 for $80, and most of the list is comparably overinflated

[nefarious]

True,
however Tom Clanceys Ghost Recon is now 49.99 USD on steam. was looking the other day and I recall it being more expensive (perhaps im wrong). That game WOULD have been $89.99 USD on steam a few weeks ago.

Edit:
About time IMHO. They really had to Either bring the prices down to reality of what we can obtain via grey import (and at the same time drop the price they wholesale to EB etc), or we will grey import and bypass your restrictions anyway. In the mean time, we get the game, the company gets a smaller cut (as we buy the "cheaper" RU version), and EB and other physical stores still miss out.

good to see publishers are starting to get in touch with reality. Now if only Itunes, and EA + Activision joined the party

[James Pinnell]

Ubisoft are one of the worst offenders for price jacking I thought?


edit: yep, dont have to go very far down the ubisoft steam page to find Anno 2070 for $80, and most of the list is comparably overinflated

For old games, they would have publishing agreements with retailers.

If they have properly changed their pricing on new games, then you'll see that from now on.

[Fireslide]

Yep, if they are making this statement they will start pricing all new titles appropriately. Older titles probably have contracts they have to be priced at, and will take some lawyer time to sort it out.

[Lord_Apophis]

This is probably a roll-on effect with the whole ACCC ordeal.

If Ubisoft or any other company could... They would be more than happy to charge us twice that of the US.

[tranquil]

This is great news

however Tom Clanceys Ghost Recon is now 49.99 USD on steam. was looking the other day and I recall it being more expensive (perhaps im wrong). That game WOULD have been $89.99 USD on steam a few weeks ago.

It was $50 from day one on Steam. I remember buying it straight away because i thought they would raise the price shortly after.

[DodgyGeezer]

49.95 on Steam or $37.99 from Ozgameshop.com

Now let me thing which one I prefer...

[s1elite]

49.95 on Steam or $37.99 from Ozgameshop.com

Now let me thing which one I prefer...

Depends if you want the game now, or in 1-2 weeks.

[RSOblivion]

I bet a key site will offer it cheaper still while maintaining instant (plus download time of course).

Thing is while they are making a song and dance over the whole Aussie price-jacking rip-off, they should look into every aussie market to see just how much the aussie dollar isn't worth compared to other currencies. Over here it's one of the highest cost of living per person in any westernised country. While the exchange rate is close to parity with the USD, the actual buying power of 1 USD vs 1 AUD is at a total disparity. 1 AUD buys about 20% by comparison due to price of fuel/food/power/rent/etc...

So while it's easy to spot the price jacking for games, it's every facet of life here that we are getting jacked for, then we get taxed on it too...

[Capt.no0b]

I don't mind places that just sell a key. I've got 500GB of bandwidth a month to chew through

[Unworthy King]

I don't mind places that just sell a key. I've got 500GB of bandwidth a month to chew through

Yeah that area is a bit grey; too grey for my liking.

[nefarious]

Bought like 5 keys through CJ's cdkeys. Have all worked first time.
Personally dont have a problem with them as long as they are EU\international versions. buying from "dodgy cdkeys.com" well...asking for trouble

For me, I am a bit more trusting of CJ's as they have won some actual legit awards (Winner of LLoyds TSB Enterprise Awards - Best Startup 2012 (East) for example, so they actually...exist, which are published in other areas (ie not their website).

But to each their own.

[DarkMellie]

That's great for PC games and I always like getting new titles on preorder for $50, but it doesn't address console titles... $100 as an entry price level is disgraceful.