I recently spent two weeks in Ireland and the UK. I noticed that everything was priced in pounds and euros about the same as it would be in dollars back home. For example a fast food combo was about 6 euros, and it would be $6 back home. A steak dinner was about 20 euros, and it would be $20 back home.

In other words the numbers were consistent, even if the exchange rate was almost $2 for ever single euro.

So when I see complaints about $60 games in America being 60 euros in Europe it kind of baffles me, honestly. The numbers matched up on everything when I was in Europe, from cab rides to hotels to candy bars. Why would video games be any different? Should I have expected a steak dinner in Dublin to cost 10 euros, the equivalent of $18, which is what it would be here?

Honest question, not an attack or statement. I'm genuinely curious.

Interesting observation. I was under the impression from seeing all the posts about game prices that games were an exception.

Part of the reason why we accept the price of a dinner but not games is likely that games have become global and part of the "one world" that is the internet. If one could download steak dinners from a US store, I'd bet people would complain about the European price of those as well.

I'd say, it has to do with costs. Dinner costs you more, but the salary of the cook is also higher. When it comes to digital games, you charge ones more than other simply because you think you can, and this bothers people.

Regionally priced steaks??
Damn, what is the world coming to.

J/K aside, from my travels in the US I found that most of these things you mentioned are cheaper there than in Europe.
Also a steak or a cab ride is going to cost less or more depending on where you are in the world. It's something that is affected by the countries economy. A digitally downloaded game from an online store, less so right?

Here in Iceland a new AAA game from the store will cost about $130. Hence why no one buys games in stores here.

There is even talk here that services like Steam should be banned in Iceland because Icelandic stores are loosing business because of it.

Not saying I don't see your point, however it's not really "more" if the social/economic equivalent of $60 is 60 euros. Right? That's how it seems to me.

And I pay much more than Russia, because of economic difference. When I lived in Georgia everything on Steam was half price or less.

I call it the Europe Tax. In Romania it's even worse sometimes... and average wage is about 500 Usd/month...

The price of physical videogames sometimes annoys me, but that is usually because as mentioned we don't have the figures to take into account what people are paid when it comes to the workplace or in tax elsewhere in order to get a outlook on who is truly being ripped off.

It has always been this way in the UK - if the PS4 was $400 US at launch, the UK was likely also £400, despite $400 equaling around £240. A massive difference.

If we import a game to the UK (a physical dvd in a small bubble wrap packet) and that game was worth over £15, after it arrives we need to pay £8 for handling costs plus import VAT or it doesn't get handed over.
I am probably not 100 percent on this but I have imported many times - eg a £40 game on the UK amazon is $40 on US amazon. That equals £24 after currency conversion, so I pay £24 on amazon usa. The seller offered free international delivery.

So upon the item entering the UK I am charged £8 in handling and £8 import VAT (20 percent of original items worth), so it comes to.. that's right.. around £40 in total. So you can't really beat the system unless you're item is worth less, and even then, you don't save very much very often. On the plus side, sometimes dvds can get through without royal mail bothering to open your item for 5 seconds and charge that pointless £8 handling fee. I think express (faster delivery options) are most likely to get past

Everything seems cheaper elsewhere outside of the UK, steak dinners included lol

People don't like having to pay more money for something simply because they use euros instead of dollars. And that is the case with video games... How would you feel if you went to a restaurant in Europe and they charged you 30 euro instead of 20 euro for a dinner just because you are an American? Not because the meal you ordered was made with higher quality ingredients or required the cook to spend more time making it. No, you were charged an extra 10 euro simply for being an American. Same shit.

I think that's a very glass-half-empty way of looking at it. Like I said above, in Russia, Georgia and other countries the prices are MUCH lower than in the US. I don't see anyone in the US demanding Russian pricing. We realize the two economies are very different and you can't charge US prices in Russia for entertainment.

After vising the UK and Ireland I'm starting to think it's the same sort of thing, with their prices being naturally higher due to their economy.

The rebuttals in this thread seem to be "yeah but digital goods should be different." I don't think that's strictly true, since we're talking about prices that make sense for the region, not necessarily prices that are as low as possible everywhere. Again, no one demands Russian prices in the US.

I could see that as a point, except (as we saw here during the regional price comparisons) they don't really do that. You've got Germany, Spain and Hungary (where the cost of living is quite different) paying 60€ while Norway pays 60$.

When you sell to the world as a whole, like you do on the internet, I think setting up a single price based on what the product costed is fair. You can pay it? Cool. You can't? Tough. It costs what it costs. Well, that's where the sales and the different price points a product can go through come in.

Companies trying to maximize profits by selling at higher prices where they can get away with it and lower prices where they can't to sell in bulk is something natural I guess. Companies like maximizing profits. However, as a customer (and an internet-based worker) I like the price of things being based on the costs of making it and not some random area they came up with.

A couple of interesting articles exploring regional pricing differences from an Australian perspective:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-australian-game-prices-will-not-drop/1100-6401518/

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/11/why-do-videogames-cost-so-much/

Regardless of the reasons stated by all parties involved, this comment in particular jumped out to me in the GameSpot article:

"People complain so much [about game prices in Australia] but they still go out and buy the games. It's a lot of noise but very little action. If consumers got fed up with paying so much for games in this country, they'd stop buying them altogether, both at retail and digitally. But that hasn't happened on a mass scale yet."

I haven't bought a full price retail game in Australia since the 90s. Then again I haven't eaten a steak dinner since 1983 so perhaps am an oddity when it comes to my consumer habits :P

What you are saying is, people with more money should pay more, right? Well I don't think $60 becoming 60€ makes sense because it's not like the average person in countries that use euros make more money than the average person in the USA. And even if the average person in euro countries does make more than the average person in the USA, it's still charging people more money for no good reason. So it's just greed.

Don't forget the psychology of the prices as well. Having a round price of ~€5 or ~€10 means that you know you give one paper bill and don't expect change in return. This was seen in the first months of Euro currency in Greece, mostly with the tips we left.
€1 was equal to ~340 drachmas, with the coins of the drachmas being 20, 50 and 100 (the larger ones), while paper bills start at 100, 200 and 500. The idea of tipping 20 drachmas was seen as been a cheapskate, so the usual was 50 or 100 (or "keep the change"). Once euro currency started circulating, force of habit meant that the usual tip became €0.50 or €1, effectively triple what it was, simply because people left the highest coin denomination they got as change.

Is your point that:

a) Europeans on the whole are that much wealthier than Americans, ie. on the average they make 60€ in the same time as Americans make $60.

or

b) Europeans should already be accustomed to having to pay more for their goods (even if they don't make any more money), so they shouldn't mind if they get charged more for digital items too (that don't get affected by e.g. additional salary costs in some European countries). Ie., Europeans should be contented paying higher margins than US folks for digital items?

I think it is a poor argument to suggest that Europeans should be happy with the situation "just because", unless you can point out the real reasons for higher costs (like higher taxes on digital goods, higher employment costs, higher costs to get the goods to your country etc.). If the reason for the higher EU price is e.g. extra taxes when selling digital items in the EU zone, then fine.

Anyway, I personally believe in the stores and publishers finding the equilibrium. I don't demand all the same prices worldwide, but I may still choose not to buy something because I disagree with the high(er) price. And the prices on digital goods fluctuate so much anyway, I admit I don't care much if I pay 1€ or $1 for one discounted game. It is peanuts either way.

Now that I remember, more than the €=$ conversion, I'm miffed by many good gaming deals or even freebies being restricted only to US. At some point it seemed US gamers were flooded by freebies or ultra-cheap gaming deals (from EA Origin, Amazon etc.), while EU gamers got nothing similar. Why not?