Mafia 2 2K publisher trying to rip off Aussies

Mafia 2 preorder was on Steam yesterday for $50USD, in which I thought great. So today went to buy this, and the developers have risen the price to $80USD. Obviously they don't want to sell their own game. What a joke. How can this happen? Once again game companies think Australians will pay stupid dollars.
Just upset that they think they can pull of these stunts. Oh well, I'll just continue playing Alien Swarm, which Valve kindly released as free.

Aren't all games more expensive in Australia?If so,I can't see what the problem is.

Aren't all games more expensive in Australia?If so,I can't see what the problem is.

call_of_duty_10

The problem is going from $50 to $80 for a preorder. This happened with Bioshock 2, Bad Company 2, and Borderlands as well.

[QUOTE="call_of_duty_10"]

Aren't all games more expensive in Australia?If so,I can't see what the problem is.

DigiTM73

The problem is going from $50 to $80 for a preorder. This happened with Bioshock 2, Bad Company 2, and Borderlands as well.

Indeed it did, Borderlands still stands at about 80USD too. But neither way, Time to go hop in my teleporter and go to England and buy it for 52 Dollars.

Don't aussies pay 100$ for their games? I don't know why, but that is the standard there I think.

Publishers are pricing the games, not developers.

Here's something to read about the formation of Australian game prices:

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/05/monday-musings-the-price-is-right/

e: and here's another one:

http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives//009738.html

They are propably pricing Steam games accordingly to maintain a fair competition with Australian retailers. Retailer get's to keep he's/her job with consumers expense. Atleast, that's the way i see it...

Prices on Steam is a joke. It's hardly surprising.BDK-Soft

Mafia 2 preorder was on Steam yesterday for $50USD, in which I thought great. So today went to buy this, and the developers have risen the price to $80USD. Obviously they don't want to sell their own game. What a joke. How can this happen? Once again game companies think Australians will pay stupid dollars.
Just upset that they think they can pull of these stunts. Oh well, I'll just continue playing Alien Swarm, which Valve kindly released as free.

DigiTM73

[QUOTE="DigiTM73"]

Mafia 2 preorder was on Steam yesterday for $50USD, in which I thought great. So today went to buy this, and the developers have risen the price to $80USD. Obviously they don't want to sell their own game. What a joke. How can this happen? Once again game companies think Australians will pay stupid dollars.
Just upset that they think they can pull of these stunts. Oh well, I'll just continue playing Alien Swarm, which Valve kindly released as free.

DragonfireXZ95

[QUOTE="call_of_duty_10"]

Aren't all games more expensive in Australia?If so,I can't see what the problem is.

DigiTM73

The problem is going from $50 to $80 for a preorder. This happened with Bioshock 2, Bad Company 2, and Borderlands as well.

Prices on Steam is a joke. It's hardly surprising.BDK-Soft

[QUOTE="BDK-Soft"]Prices on Steam is a joke. It's hardly surprising.PredatorRules

Wish I did do it yesterday now. I realise now that it isn't the devs, but the publishers.
Considering new releases such as Fallout New Vegas holds a great price of $50. 2K have really shown that they only care about $$$. It's weird in that EA is slowly becoming better, but 2k is just becoming worse.

Any idea how to edit the title of the post? Now I know more and realise it's the publisher fault, I'd rather change the headline.

I prepurchased it yesterday because I knew it was only a matter of time before 2k Australia dialed the main office. The add popped up on my screen today saying prepurchase for $80... not gonna lie, it felt good.

Anyways if you see a game by THQ, 2k, EA or Activision for the US price and you want it, buy it ASAP. I have done this with Borderlands, DoW2:CR, BC2 and now Mafia 2.

developers don't set prices unless they are indie devs, at that point they usually set a price in 1 price and let something like paypal convert it.

Wish I did do it yesterday now. I realise now that it isn't the devs, but the publishers.
Considering new releases such as Fallout New Vegas holds a great price of $50. 2K have really shown that they only care about $$$. It's weird in that EA is slowly becoming better, but 2k is just becoming worse.

Any idea how to edit the title of the post? Now I know more and realise it's the publisher fault, I'd rather change the headline.

DigiTM73

I wow, I was totally going to preorder it for $50, but now I don't think I'll bother with the game at all.

And to answer the questions of the people in this thread - yes, Australia's prices are normally more expensive (usually somewhere between $70-90 USD for new big-name PC games), but we can usually buy games on Steam for US prices. Only a few companies on Steam deliberately raise the price to match Australian retailers (even though we can generally buy them cheaper in stores), and the simple solution is to not buy their games.

Buy it somewhere else than steam? The prices are way way too high except if you live in the US and in some cases Britain.

Buy it somewhere else than steam? The prices are way way too high except if you live in the US and in some cases Britain.

ventnor

[QUOTE="ventnor"]

Buy it somewhere else than steam? The prices are way way too high except if you live in the US and in some cases Britain.

Same_Jeans_On