why are Australian Wii games so much more expensive than every where else?

I was looking at ebgames.com a few minutes ago. Mario Galaxy - $50. Know how much that is in Australian dollars? About $54. ebgames.com.au lists the game for $94. Where does this extra $40 come from?

Please, I really want to know, because this kind of thing makes me the angry. Nintendo did say that their console's games would be the cheapest, yet PS3 games cost about the same amount to buy here as their Wii counterparts. It all seems very anticompetitive.

i'd living in America is the best since the games cose between 29.99-50.00(depends on how good they are). You don't want to live were I come from since my cousin said the games console are thousands of dollars and the cartriges are almost around 200-350

It's because we're a significantly smaller market.

It's because we're a significantly smaller market.

Erebyssial

But seriously, thats not a very convincing argument. I'm an Engineer, I know how much it costs to manufacture a DVD and a jewel case. Including ESRB or whatever our governing censory board is called, it can't possibly amount to a $40 dollar price discrepency.

It's because we're a significantly smaller market.

Erebyssial

But seriously, thats not a very convincing argument. I'm an Engineer, I know how much it costs to manufacture a DVD and a jewel case. $3, tops, which would normally have to be factored into a US release anyway (remember, these things aren't shipped from country to country, they are pressed on location). That really only leaves the ESRB or whatever our governing censory board is called, it can't possibly amount to a $40 dollar price discrepency.

The only way that the "smaller market" argument can be justified is if Nintendo is required to return equal sales from every region in which it releases a title, which would never be possible at these prices anyway as the higher cost per unit would restrict sales quantities as they are essentially luxury items, not necessities, and they aren't the sole player in a relatively evenly priced console competition.

do wat i do when i have to less money:

Save a little bit of money every now and then.

I save my money for games and anything that i want(my parents have no clue when they see me with alot of cash, i say i got it from my friend at school. Phone my buddy and tell he/she that my parents may call your phone so tell them that you gave me that money. I'm happy that my friend is 30 years old and she lives with no one but her husband so she won't get into trouble.

[QUOTE="Erebyssial"]

It's because we're a significantly smaller market.

revelation_now

But seriously, thats not a very convincing argument. I'm an Engineer, I know how much it costs to manufacture a DVD and a jewel case. Including ESRB or whatever our governing censory board is called, it can't possibly amount to a $40 dollar price discrepency.

US population: 300 million

Australia population: 20 million

To gain profits in smaller markets requires higher prices. It may not seem fair but it's just how things go unforunately.

potentially, but that argument still seems to follow the idea that the number of units sold is linear. Its not, its proportional to cost. Additionally, traditionally smaller markets have weaker economies than their stronger counterparts, but in this situation its not the case.

Furthermore, the practice might be illegal under australian law. The FCC, a number of years ago, ruled that DVD region encoding was an uncompetitive practice as it allowed prices to be fixed in various regions and prevented a person in one country from taking advantage of the economic discounts of another country from using said medium with their equipment. The DVD producers argued that region encoding was necessary for piracy restriction, but ultimately lost because they were fixing prices against consumer interest.

potentially, but that argument still seems to follow the idea that the number of units sold is linear. Its not, its proportional to cost. Additionally, traditionally smaller markets have weaker economies than their stronger counterparts, but in this situation its not the case since production costs the same amount in both countries, and licences can be paid almost dollar for dollar.

Furthermore, the practice might be illegal under australian law. The FCC, a number of years ago, ruled that DVD region encoding was an uncompetitive practice as it allowed prices to be fixed in various regions and prevented a person in one country from taking advantage of the economic discounts of another country from using said medium with their equipment. The DVD producers argued that region encoding was necessary for piracy restriction, but ultimately lost because they were fixing prices against consumer interest.

If the size of markets mattered, then why does it cost the same for a copy of Vista in Australia as it does in the US?