UK Game Prices - Are we being ripped off?

[bingo83]

Right, this is nothing new, but its a pretty horrendous example:

Top Spin 2 (X360) - cheapest online price I could find:

UK - £39.99 shipped
Canada (US version) - £25 shipped

Worse is the high street retail price - £50

Why does it cost less for me to get a single copy shipped from Canada than from an online retailer over here. It can't be tax either - add 17.5% onto the £25 and that is still £30...

I guess this also brings up the point of region locking - clearly this is a block to free trade.

On another note, the supposed reason for the new higher price points on 360 titles was due to increased development costs...Top Spin 2 is a port of a previous gen title...

What do you think on this issue?

[WACCOE]

I think the prices we have to pay in the shops are an absolute joke! 50pound for a game is absolutely horrific.

I find myself having to buy all my games on eBay nowadays becasue I just can't afford those prices. An absolute scandal.

I wouldn't mind paying 40 for them, like on Play.com it's just a pain having to wait, I can be home and back to Gamestation in 15 minutes but I can't afford to pay that price for them.

:(

[JJBDude]

Yeah we have it bad here in the UK. However I am not too fussed too be honest, I have ripped Microsoft and Sony out off lots of money for buying chipped games for £2.50 a piece. Bout time I start paying some real money for games lol.

[Raisedbyflames]

good thing is that you get high trade in prices 20- 30 pound

any chance thier will be second hand tomb raiders going by next weekend????

[Killer 57]

You can't really say Top Spin 2 is a port since the game is not on Xbox or PS2, it just doesnt have Next Gen Graphics. I can't really comment on the UK pricing since I live in the US. But as far as the increase in the price for games, the price for games has not gone up in price for a long time while Development cost has. A game like Advent Rising had to sell at least 400,000 copy's in order for the Development team to start making a profit. While a Game like Condemned which didnt sell up to expectations was able to make alot more money do to the extra $10.

[Raisedbyflames]

condemned was good i think the fact their was a limit audiance stopped it doing better, they should start selling the launch titles for cheaper now it will boost the sales.

[JJBDude]

any chance thier will be second hand tomb raiders going by next weekend????

Probably will be on ebay. The game has little playback value (I assume due to the fact of no online gaming) and therefore when people have got the 1000 gamerscore they will probably sell the game. :)

[WACCOE]

Yeah, i'll be looking to pick up Tomb Raider off eBay in a couple of weeks, should be able to get it for 30. Get rid of Fight Night i'd imagine. :unsure:

[bingo83]

The shame with titles like Condemned is that if it was released at a lower price point more people might have actually gave it a go. £50 is hardly the price bracket for impulse buying when it comes to games.

The game has found an audience, unfortunately it is in the Pre-owned market where the publisher and developer dont get a slice of the money.

[Blaze Lord]

That does sound pretty bad. Is UK particularly expensive, even for Europe? Killer, have a look at the exchange rate. Our $60, even, is nowhere near their £50. I think that exchanges to.. $87. There's no way shipping a single game across the ocean on the huuuuuge cargo ships or the huge cargo planes (just one 'u' there) costs $27. Now, I'm sure costs of living in general are higher there, as well as wages, but still. That's nuts man.

[Killer 57]

wow $87 is alot, but the $ is worth less then the £, when I donated to 360Monster for example, I put in £10, I had to pay $18.

[bingo83]

There is no reason for games to be shipped to the UK or Europe. We have hundreds of dvd pressing plants scattered throughout Europe so that is not the cause for the increase.

[NokkonWud]

I don't mind, I remember N64 games being upto £70 (as was Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES) and £250 for games on the NeoGeo.

As a games designer I personally don't have an issue with it, I work hard for my money (part-time - full-time University) and make around £95 a week. I've spent £250 over the last 5 weeks on games and don't regret it.

[UpTheDuff]

I paid £100 for two games and I felt completely robbed, and people honestly wonder why piracy is this big?

No way should a game cost £50, even £40 is too much, if they want to stop piracy they need to lower the prices, because if the 360 was modded I know there would be no way in hell I would've spent £100 on two games. £180 on 4 games (2 from play) is ludicrous.

Although you get the jumpty who goes out, spends £50 on the game to get the achievements and throws it to one side, so as long as everyone buys games at £50 they will carry on selling them, I really wish everyone would boycott the games so they would have to put it down, because right now it's too much.

[Blaze Lord]

wow $87 is alot, but the $ is worth less then the £, when I donated to 360Monster for example, I put in £10, I had to pay $18.

Exactly. That's why.

There is no reason for games to be shipped to the UK or Europe. We have hundreds of dvd pressing plants scattered throughout Europe so that is not the cause for the increase.

I know, but I was thinking a worse-case-scenario for justifying the expense involving nepotism with disc-pressers and publishers. BTW, guys, is Tomb Raider any cheaper over there, since Eidos is UK?

[padds78]

I think the prices suck in the uk (N) . I paid £50 for fight night a it only lasted over a week. I really want to get tomb raider but i dont know if can pay £50 again for a game that in a week is only worth £25 :'( I might just wait and let someone else take the loss then get it off ebay :)

[UpTheDuff]

I think the prices suck in the uk (N) . I paid £50 for fight night a it only lasted over a week. I really want to get tomb raider but i dont know if can pay £50 again for a game that in a week is only worth £25 :'( I might just wait and let someone else take the loss then get it off ebay :)

Yeah, this is why I am so relucant to buy a game because I got FNR3 for £50 and it got boring after a week, it was the same with GRAW, the game just never stuck on me, so I spent £100 on games I played for about 2-3 weeks :)

I might try and swap them in one day.

[padds78]

Im the same as you duff with both of those games. They just didnt do it for me. It was fun while it lasted but the fun didnt last. Ive had more fun with Crystal Quest :)

[Blaze Lord]

Personally, I'm loving GRAW, but I've only had it for a day. But why don't you guys rent games? Isn't there a Blockbuster equivalent across the pond?

[JJBDude]

As far as I am aware there is no shops in the UK that let you rent yet. If there was I would have rented games such as King Kong and FIFA Road To The World Cup for easy gamerscore lol.

[Blaze Lord]

You have movie rental places? And they don't do games? That sucks, man.

[bingo83]

We have Online Rental companies that do 360 games. I am a member of ScreenSelect and for £10 per month can rent out 1 title at a time and keep it for as long as you want.

[Benj]

You have movie rental places? And they don't do games? That sucks, man.
We have Blockbuster here but they're not stocking 360 games until "the available range of games is extensive enough".

[UpTheDuff]

I don't know if my local video shop rents 360 games, I ain't used one for years and don't plan on doing so anytime soon :)

Renting wouldn't help that much, when I first got GRAW I was very excited, you only rent a game for something gay like 2-3 days so I would still be enjoying it by that time, so I would go out and buy it for £50, and a week later be bored :)

I would like the game if it was more tactical, online it's pretty much run around shooting, not an ounce of tactical gameplay involved, plus it's too easy to kill as you see a big red shape (what is it? :)) over the enemy so I can pop them off through bushes and everything.

[padds78]

Well ive just been to asda and they are selling 360 games cheaper than any where else ive seen on the high street
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion £44
The outfit £39
Top spin 2 £39
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend £39
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter £39
I went to buy tomb raider but they had sold out till monday :'( .

[Uriel Septim]

If games were like elder scrolls oblivion then they would be worth 50 pounds any day but overall 50 pounds is way to much, games should go down to 30 pounds.

[bingo83]

It seems that most people are defo getting their monies worth with Oblivion, its the £50 for shoddy PC ports like Quake 4 which get my goat.

[Blaze Lord]

BTW, The Outfit is both more tactical and more arcade-y than GRAW. If you haven't gotten the demo already, Duff, I would give it a shot.

[Mez]

Condemned is £30 on play.com for anyone interested.

The price fixing is ridiculous, i'm sure I heard the 17.5% was on top of the 40% tax from something else. I may be misquoting, i'll clear it up with my dad in the morning, he knows the ins and outs of all that kind of thing.

Then again, we get far better bargains when games start to go cheap. Games never seem to really get cheap in the states, most i've ever seen an old game (by old, I mean 6 months) for was $30 in best buy.

[Blaze Lord]

Then again, we get far better bargains when games start to go cheap. Games never seem to really get cheap in the states, most i've ever seen an old game (by old, I mean 6 months) for was $30 in best buy.

That's interesting. I wonder what kind of things go on to create that extreme of a shift in supply and demand.

[Dcontrol]

I agree that we are being ripped off I mean £50 a game most of the time is ridiculous yet people still pay it and will continue to do so. Usually I order my games from www.play.com because I usually save £10 of the recommended retail price and get it for £40 which still isn't cheap. £20 to £30 a game would be most peoples ideal price and publishers would more than likely shift more copies but not make as much profit to a certain extent. The extortionate price of games is why piracy is so big worldwide.

[UpTheDuff]

Plus games are released in the US a few weeks before the UK so that is another reason why people would rather download the game, it's common sense really, £50 is pure robbery so they should put it down to £30 which even for me isn't that much.

Ah well f**k them, if they want to increase piracy they are going the right way about it.

[Mez]

That's interesting. I wonder what kind of things go on to create that extreme of a shift in supply and demand.

It's the same with DVD's. When they're first released, they're cheaper in the states, but they tend to maintain their $20 price tag, some times even go up in price, whereas a lot of places do sales like 3 DVD's for £20 ($35) or DVD's at between £2 ($3.50) and £6 ($10.50) on online sites (all tax included).

[AK.]

to answer the thread question yes we are alot

[UpTheDuff]

I am gonna start using ebay, £30 for a game is great, only problem is I can't set the god damn thing up so I will have to use my dads.

[Blaze Lord]

It's the same with DVD's. When they're first released, they're cheaper in the states, but they tend to maintain their $20 price tag, some times even go up in price, whereas a lot of places do sales like 3 DVD's for £20 ($35) or DVD's at between £2 ($3.50) and £6 ($10.50) on online sites (all tax included).

I don't think I've ever seen a price of a DVD go up. And a lot of retail stores around here do do those bundles for older or less successful DVDs.

[WACCOE]

Well ive just been to asda and they are selling 360 games cheaper than any where else ive seen on the high street
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion £44
The outfit £39
Top spin 2 £39
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend £39
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter £39
I went to buy tomb raider but they had sold out till monday :'( .
Might have to pop down to Asda later then. (Y)

I used to always buy new releases from Asda, sold them miles cheaper there than anywhere else. :cool:

[Mez]

I don't think I've ever seen a price of a DVD go up. And a lot of retail stores around here do do those bundles for older or less successful DVDs.

The Virgin in downtown disney in Orlando will sell new releases for between $20 and $25, 6 months later, 90% of the DVD's will be "selling" for $30.

[II AWESOME II]

I don't mind, I remember N64 games being upto £70 (as was Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo on SNES) and £250 for games on the NeoGeo.

As a games designer I personally don't have an issue with it, I work hard for my money (part-time - full-time University) and make around £95 a week. I've spent £250 over the last 5 weeks on games and don't regret it.

Games cost £250 a piece jesus that is what i call a dear game.

[bloodynife]

We are definately being ripped off right now. Especially when you look at sites like http://www.lik-sang.com selling 360 games for what works out at 25 quid. I'm all for paying 50 quid for games like Oblivion, but Tomb Raider? Yes, it's a good game. But, i'm not paying 10/20 quid more for a game that's the same bar a slight graphical improvement to the last gen consoles.

[Kubrick]

We are definately being ripped off right now. Especially when you look at sites like http://www.lik-sang.com selling 360 games for what works out at 25 quid. I'm all for paying 50 quid for games like Oblivion, but Tomb Raider? Yes, it's a good game. But, i'm not paying 10/20 quid more for a game that's the same bar a slight graphical improvement to the last gen consoles.
Yes, that's one reason why I won't buy Kameo: ten hours of gameplay does not qualify spending seventy euro. Although I've an easier method of playing games without paying a single cent: buy game and keep it if it's worth it; if it's not, bring it back and get your money back.

[backin-strachan]

HELLO PEOPLE

Start renting games. £3 for 2 days at Blockbuster for 1 game. Tell them to GTF
I am going to start renting them of this website my uncle told me about.
http:www.gamesfrenzy.co.uk
2 games(Any 360 including new releases) for £15 for 1 Month
Sounds great to me and will start my account soon.

[phatmuther]

im with screenselect.co.uk, and from them its the same as gamefrenzy but its cheaper at £12.50 and they do dvds (apparently every dvd in the uk, found everyone ive searched for so far)

[bingo83]

I use screen select. They have a good selection of games (360 / Xbox / PS2) as well as all the latest movies. Not bad for a £10.

Website is HERE (http://www.screenselect.co.uk)

[smileemptysoul]

games are way to over priced. in everycountry. a football is worth 100x more fun and a hospital trip and u can get a good one for 15 bucks. a game u play it a couple times u leave it there and its 50 bucks and no glory

[BluMind]

When i had the N64, i bought Goldeneye when it was first released through a catalogue, which was Littlewoods i think. It cost my mum £100 quid!, but needless to say..i didn't get bored with it for a long long time.

I recommend that if you're planning on moving, set up an account with Blockbuster..rent out a couple of games..then rent out 10 or whatever the limit is, and then when you move house, there's no way they can track you as it's not involved with the government.

Oh and has anyone got a clue how to chip xbox 360's?..that would be pretty nice.

[Raisedbyflames]

the pc version of tomb raider is going for 18 pound new, and the 360 one you wont get less than 40 new.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009RWHPA/qid=1145577868/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_11_2/202-4101607-3022240

[ian]

hi.
i get all my games from tesco extra.
all games £39.99.
cheers ian.

[Raisedbyflames]

asda games go for 40 on 360 cos i know this becasue i got my last two games from their

[bingo83]

Some of the latest releases in Asda have snuck up to £45.

[Raisedbyflames]

http://www.play.com/Games/Xbox360/HP/3-/866302/Full_Auto/Product.html, full auto for 30 pound this week only

[Outlaw]

You can't really say Top Spin 2 is a port since the game is not on Xbox or PS2.

Its a port from virtua tennis on the dreamcast as everything about the game is the same even the training. :)