Comparing US and SA game prices

Local gamers are quick to complain about the price of games and gaming hardware in South Africa.
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Compare the prices of local gaming hardware to the us and you'll see we don't just get ripped off we sometimes end up paying 50-75% more.
 
PC games in SA are almost always cheaper, by a decent margin, than EU and US prices, not quite sure why but PC gamers in SA get it good. :) At least on the software front. As Joker said, hardware is another story.
 
Just a quick one. When the AMD 7970 launched, they cost $549 in the states, so that's roughly R4120, when they launched here they sold for R7500 which is roughly $1000. That's just one of many examples.
 
Here's the thing.

In the UK/US - an hourly's wage can buy you a music CD, 2 hours wages a DVD, and a days wage a PC/Console game, this being their minimum wages.

In SA - a minimum hourly's wage can just buy you a loaf of bread.

See where the problem is?
 
Exactly Kuga. Even if it is found that games on average retail for similar pricing, the cost of living difference between the US and SA always makes games way expensive here.
 
I think you meant the buying power not cost of living. Costing of living is lower in SA than the USA or UK but our buying power is lower.
 
If I can compare it to aus, it definitely more expensive in SA. A ps3 title will cost 100aus dollar, which equates to 800rand odd, but when you actually earn in aus dollars its a 100 dollars. My brother there says it's like it would be if you were earning in rands and buying a game for 100 rand.
 
My brother there says it's like it would be if you were earning in rands and buying a game for 100 rand.
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I very much doubt Aus' buying power is 8x of SA, in fact you always hear complaints from people in Aus and NZ about how stupidly expensive their games are.
 
You guys also have to take into consideration the shipping and importing costs of SA's borders, that is why they are a touch more expensive. I can tell you now that if you import a game from EB then you will pretty much pay a little less than the retailers because they also have to put their markups on the games etc... So there are various points you have to look at when it comes to talking about game prices being compared, especially when they are being imported... ;)
 
It is much more expensive in SA because if we compare the average yearly household income of SA to the US we get the following:
Average yearly household income for US is around $50 000 (R384 688)
For SA its around R120 000 ($15 597)
Thats shocking and having to pay similar prices to US is insane.
 
Dazzla said:
It is much more expensive in SA because if we compare the average yearly household income of SA to the US we get the following:
Average yearly household income for US is around $50 000 (R384 688)
For SA its around R120 000 ($15 597)
Thats shocking and having to pay similar prices to US is insane.
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So you want to price goods according to the buying capacity of the population in the geographic location? What did you smoke today?
 
Verrayne said:
So you want to price goods according to the buying capacity of the population in the geographic location? What did you smoke today?
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Prices of goods are not going to change according to geographic location ever but just saying its more expensive for us to afford paying such prices since we earn alot less.
 
Dazzla said:
Prices of goods are not going to change according to geographic location ever but just saying its more expensive for us to afford paying such prices since we earn alot less.
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The cost of making the product didn't change. So why should the company take a loss just because our small market can't "afford it" according to you? If you earn so much less you should re-evaluate your hobby.

And our earnings is as skewed as can be. You should take into account the Purchasing power parity. You should also re-investigate your household income stat.
 
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Verrayne said:
The cost of making the product didn't change. So why should the company take a loss just because our small market can't "afford it" according to you? If you earn so much less you should re-evaluate your hobby.

And our earnings is as skewed as can be. You should take into account the Purchasing power parity. You should also re-investigate your household income stat.
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I did not say any of that. Games are expensive to purchase compared to what average people earn. It is an expensive hobby. If my stat is incorrect, what do you think the average household earns and with that in mind do you think games are an expensive purchase for the average household?
 
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Dazzla said:
I did not say any of that. Games are expensive to purchase compared to what average people earn. It is an expensive hobby. If my stat is incorrect, what do you think the average household earns and with that in mind do you think games are an expensive purchase for the average household?
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The price of a game has nothing to do with what people earn, perhaps it should. If a game is produced in the US, they will price in USD, the fact that our currency is weaker is not their problem.
 
Fivel said:
The price of a game has nothing to do with what people earn, perhaps it should. If a game is produced in the US, they will price in USD, the fact that our currency is weaker is not their problem.
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Yes it does not. It does however make it more expensive for us to purchase and our weaker currency is a contributing factor.
Maybe it was once cheaper to purchase games from the US and was because our currency was stronger back then.
 
Well you look at value for money games are pretty damn good. You go out for the night and you're not going to spend less than R300, yet one game can last you a few weeks, if it's multi-player maybe a few months.
 
I sometimes import PS3 games from the UK because they can be significantly cheaper compared to SA. For instance Binary Domain is roughly R340 in the UK while here it's R499.
 
Well in my personal experience games are still one of the cheapest forms of entertainment in the world. Unless you are a vegetable, then your entertainment is free.

In the US a movie ticket is $15 at a good theater, it will last one and a half hours.

A game $50. lasts up to when you get sick of it.

If you compare the US's movie to game price ratio and compare ours then our games are more expensive, and the America's movies are much more expensive. since you can get a Ster-Kinekor ticket for $3. Also I still have the receipt for some of my old games I bought Mortal Kombat Trilogy in a tiny Top CD in Menlyn over 10 years ago. The game cost R299, factoring in all the inflation and one of the most contributing factors the oil price. Pc games should now retail for about R490-R550.

Hell I remember paying R700 for Final Fantasy X in 2001. Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 launched at R500!

There was also this post Totalbiscuit did some weeks ago. A Super Mario game in the early 90's retailed for $75, most games have become cheaper as the time has passed.

In essence we still get it cheap.
 
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