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Game prices around the world Popular
   January 19th, 2012 clock image 10:45 am

 

I’ve posted a few of these over the years and after some recent discussions it felt like it was time to once again do a comparison of videogame prices around the world.

Generally we feel ripped off in sunny South Africa but that isn’t always the case and some other countries actually pay quite a bit more than us for the exact same product so let’s take a quick look at some new and relatively old titles and what people pay in the main countries of the world.

 

USA

UK

Oz

Japan

Germany

South Africa

Mass Effect 3

R478

R478

R894

R641

R707

R500

Soul Calibur V

R478

R492

R811

R695

R666

R500

BF3

R398

R492

R529

R445

R538

R556

MW3

R398

R529

R811

R663

R492

R648

FIFA 11

R239

R221

R480

R602

R338

R372

Total

R2190 (incl 10% tax)

R2212

R3525

R3046

R2741

R2576

All prices have been converted to South African Rands at a current exchange rate of R7.96 to the USD, R12.36 to the GBP, R8.28 to the AUD, R0.10 to the JPY and finally R10.24 to the EUR

The highest prices are in Red and don’t forget the American prices are excluding their awful tax system.

I’ve used the Xbox 360 price on all titles (if possible) and the following online retailers

  • USA = Gamestop
  • UK = Play
  • Oz = EB Games
  • Japan = Rakuten
  • Germany = Amazon Germany
  • South Africa = kalahari.com

 So as we can see the Australians are still being ripped off in massive fashion, especially on new titles. I mean R400 more for Mass Effect 3… that hurts. We’re only the most expensive on one title and surprisingly that’s an EA title which is disappointing.

The Modern Warfare 3 premium outside of America is a joke and while I think the game is fantastic it doesn’t deserve a premium.

So there you have it, if you want the cheapest games you need to move to the States or the UK but we fared really well coming in 3rd. If you live in Australia then I feel for you… but hey, at least you have giant bouncing rodents to keep you occupied while we play Mass Effect 3 and Soul Calibur V.

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  • http://gevaaalik.com/ Stix

    Yeah we win. I was in Belgium now and our prices are cheaper. But you will still have trouble Amazon.co.uk on price. I bought loads of games trough them while I was there. Especially on games that are a few months old.

    • Brady miaau

      Yes. I bought several games from them and had them to delivered to my house in South Africa until about October last year. Games that are a few months were massively cheaper. They will not ship to SA anymore, it seems only books and then only certain books.

      I bought the new Raymond Feist book for R 150, including shipping.

  • Jack

    I feel a lot better now, thank you kind sir.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Finn/100000243855805 Joe Finn

    Not to mention the fact that on average people in general earn up to 3 times as much in Aus as oppose to SA. Research done by myself when i was there in September.

    • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

      You’re research is horribly flawed.. I lived there for 2 1/2 years :) It all depends on the industry you work in

      • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

        lol, I think Joe Finn is in for a rude awakening, when he emigrates to Australia and is forced to live in a poor suburb in Brisbane. Ouch!  It’s easy to compare salaries and say, well a teacher in the UK can get R20 000 per month as opposed to one in ZAR who gets R6000. However, in the UK, rent and taxes will eat up more than a half of that, and then you need to make sure you can afford food and other expenses (which isn’t pegged to rand, but to pounds, so you’ll easily pay R30 for a loaf of bread).  It’s the same for Australia or really any developed country in the west or east.

        There are benefits to living in the UK and Europe, and I always say, do it at least once in your life, but don’t be mistaken, it’s expensive, and you’re going to eat noodles for much of your stay there. Unless, you’re a CEO… or a career criminal :P

      • Vince Cheese

        No it doesn’t. On average the Australians earn more as does every other country on this list. So even if you are in the same industry you are going to earn more. Maybe not 3 times, but these are the facts. 

        All these countries are rich countries North of the Brant line, which on average earn more than countries south of the Brandt line. Before you talk crap at least do some basic research.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North%E2%80%93South_divide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage 

        • Vince Cheese

          Here is some more links: 

          http://www.payscale.com/research/ZA/Country=South_Africa/Salary 
          http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Country=Australia/Salary 

          Convert that to rands buddy. And see the vast difference!
           Australian Dollar   0.11973  8.35216

        • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

          I lived in Australia and earned the exact same as I do working in South Africa. Sorry Wikipedia didn’t tell you that :) If you are a builder you will earn more than 3 times your salary in Australia, as you would as a painter, renderer, electrification etc. However as a professional your salary will likely not change much. Maybe next time you should live in a country before professing to be an expert on it.

          • Vince Cheese

            Maybe you should check up the payscale I posted up there. So you are claiming that all these facts were just pulled out of their asses. And that the Brandt line doesn’t exist? Cost of living and all that have to be factored in, but fact is Australians earn more.

             And I am not disputing the fact that you might have earned the same as you do here. But really are you now speaking for the whole Australian’s earnings on your personal experience?

            I never said I was an expert, but at least I don’t base my comments on my personal experience. 

          • Anon A Mouse

            Vince I did what you asked and went to payscale. Using the median salary for my job, I will earn about one game more in Australia than here. And I am earning about the median salary in SA before you ask. That said, I’ve never lived in Oz and therefore will not be able to comment on living expenses and tax (however I know those aussies feels that they are taxed to death). Since Gavin lived there a while, I’ll rather take his word for it, than a site that only have about 500 people reporting on it.

          • Vince Cheese

            Look I am not basing my facts on just some site. That is just some links I provided by doing a quick search. Australia is a Core Country in the world economics. They are classified as a rich country and on average they earn more than us. These are facts, go do some research on it. I never disputed that cost of living is high. I just stated they earn more. Full Stop. Which they do.

            I am also not disputing that there is jobs available there that pays the same as we do I am just saying that on average they earn more than we do. Gavin flat out says that is wrong, because of personal experience. Without having any facts to back it up what so ever.

            I am also not sure you converted it correctly.

          • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

            True these currency conversions can be tricky… with an Australian education.. Okay fine that was trolling. Like I said earlier, a lot of professions in Australia earn more than here and skew the results. Any professional position will earn around about the same here simply due to the fact that educated professional can leave and therefore need to be paid equally (ish) to stay.

          • Anon A Mouse

            I’m in finance so I’m pretty sure I know how to do basic conversions, even without the need for a calculator. But what Gavin is saying makes sense with regards to the topic, maybe an alternative way to look at the figures is to convert all the prices to US$. That way we can use the USA as the base price and see how much of a premium each country is paying with regards to that specific game. Without converting to the cent Australians are paying almost double in US$ for the same game than their US counterparts, whereas  South Africans are paying almost no premium for the same game.

          • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

            You are missing the point by quite some margin but the underlying fact is it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference if Australians earned 100x more than anyone else. The game is made in the US and they aren’t getting any more or any less of a game so there is no logical reason for the price premium. And my knowledge isn’t based on personal experience alone. Research before leaving and while I was there played a large part. But good luck, let me know how it feels on the other side if you make it

          • Anon A Mouse

            Gavin, I do agree that the price difference is wide if you compare the $60 to the AU$108, and I do agree that there is a premium being paid, but don’t you think it also have to do with the fact that import taxes and shipping also plays a part?

            I understand completely the logic behind the article. Compared against other countries, we aren’t as badly ripped off as we feel we are (I still feel that no game should be more than R300. lol) but it’s a very complicated matter that I feel is being over simplified.

          • Vince Cheese

            Ohhhhhh sorry I didn’t know you did your research! Sorry my bad…

            I will just go tear up all my text books. They are clearly wrong.
            And no I didn’t miss the point about the games. I appreciate the effort, and I wasn’t replying to you when I talked about the converting. I replied to Anon.All I was saying is that Australians earn more than we do. And you saying that there is no reason why Australians should be paying more, is just laughable.

          • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

            Okay so school us here. Why should Australians pay such a high premium?

          • Vince Cheese

            Cause they AUSTRALIANS! Hello!

  • Nicholas Rowan

    Assuming the Australians can actually get the game and it hasn’t been banned. **snicker**

    • Anonymous

      Hahaha, so it’s not so bad. They have less AAA titles to spend their cash on.

  • Anonymous

    Our game prices have been good for the last year or two and I have had no need to import games. I hope it stays this way. 

    Go get the price of those games at normal retailers like CNA and IC and see how we fare then.

  • czarina

    I do not think this comparison is correct. Maybe on new releases (I haven’t researched this myself). But in my experience with PS3 games, the UK was WAY cheaper than SA when it came to games that were released more than, say, 3 months prior. You can get good PS3 games off of Amazon.co.uk from between 5 – 20 GBP (that is roughly  R60 to R250) for games that still cost R399+ in SA. Needless to say, we came back with about 20 PS3 games. :D

  • Theuberutang

    Damn, pretty hectic prices there.
    I believe this one is a tad cheaper?
    http://www.kalahari.com/games/Mass-Effect-3/372/42531874.aspx 

    • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

      A scary comparison is if you check our PC game prices against the Australian PC game prices. Their PC game’s are the same price as their console games for some reason.

  • Anon A Mouse

    Although I do appreciate the theory behind this, the problem is that no other country is paid in Rand and then have to convert it to dollar or pound, so if I get paid in dollars and a game costs $60 then if fork out the $60 and go and play the game. That only means that $60 is gone from my available spending money. I think a better comparison will be to compare prices to the average available spending money that a country’s gamers have. I’m pretty sure R500 hurts far more than an Aussie having to pay AU$108.

    • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

      In my personal experience $108 is way more painful than R500. There is no perfect way to do this but a cross section like this goes some way to proving that we aren’t being ripped off. In fact we are cheaper than a lot of places. Our local guys are therefore doing a good job…

    • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

      I was about to write this very reply (although with a twist). Give this Mouse a bells.

      While a direct comparison is interesting (and we should pat ourselves on the back, since our prices are not that atrocious); it doesn’t take into account the huge differences in salaries, spending potential and living costs. On the other hand, post-tax, the Aussies, Euros and Japanese might actually be worse off then us in South Africa, and they might feel the prices more than an average middle-class South African.  But, we’ll only know once we run the numbers.

      By the way, all my aussie friends complain about the cost of games in Australia, and while I can get away with buying a few titles a month, the same can’t be said for them. On the other hand, my salary is peanuts compared to one of mates, so I wonder why he’s complaining. Damn Aussies…

      • Brady miaau

        There used to be a thing called the Big Mac index, where they would attempt to work that out (roughly) by comparing the price a Big Mac in various countries. This was used as some sort of measure but was not perfect by any means.

        And by the way, my wife is a teacher and earns more the R 6 000. The government package, including benefits (medical aid, pension) is over  R15 000. 

        • Theuberutang

          Well, my wife is a pvt school teacher. After tax she brings home 10k.
          Her best friend is a Gov school teacher in UK.
          He earns comparably speaking the same… but they have 2 houses (1 here , 1 there), they go on cruise holidays all the time, can buy luxury goods for way below the price we spend on stuff here. 

          So Maybe some things are cheaper here than there (they where on holiday here recently and stated that SA is very expensive place to live vs UK) but they also have a larger buying power population, cheap access to EU for holidays etc. Things we do not have. :(

          Back to topic, it seems that SA is on a great footing when it comes to game prices, especially if you consider how small that market here actually is in compassion.

          • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

            Germanwings (my favourite low cost airline) and distance, my good man! It’s inexpensive to take a trip to Italy from the UK, or to go on a yearly ski trip. 

        • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

          As with most things in life, location…location… location….

          It depends where you teach, which schools etc., my point wasn’t that south African teachers ONLY earn R6000 but rather that even though it seems that you can earn more in the UK, living expenses need to be factored in. 

  • http://twitter.com/doobiaus Craig D

    But no-one buys Retail in Oz :p

    At least not from EB they’re only for 2nd hand games. IF you buy retail, you buy at JBHiFi:
    http://www.jbhifi.com.au/games/

    But with free delivery, and no customs or GST on orders under $1000 no one even bothers, even the major retailers are selling their games out of HK.
    http://www.harveynormandirectimport.com/ 
    And Lazy you got screwed in Aus, sorry. Kak job and the wrong visa. If anyone wants to compare look at Seek.com.au. @Brady, burgernomics works if you use it as a measure against earnings. I agree with it in that at the end of the day I’m about twice as well off here as I was in SA.

    • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

      So are you earning twice what you earned in SA? What I also left out of the article is that the second hand copy of MW3 from EB Games was more than the new… strange country that one.

      • http://twitter.com/doobiaus Craig D

        Technically, I’m earning 3 times what I would be earning in SA. 

        Yeah, there’s tons of opportunity costs here. you have to be on the ball: a 600ml coke will be $3.5 in the fridge, but a 1.25L is $1.99 on the shelf. You have to shop around, you can’t assume anything. 

        • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

          Dude, Kangaroo meat pales in comparison to springbok. You know it, and I know it
          .

        • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

          Wow congrats on that, you must have landed a great job (or were being paid shockingly this side). I was offered the right visa before I left but for me personally South Africa offers a better future. This article wasn’t picking on Australia and the comment section just ran away with that angle :) , I like some Australians… very few but some.

          • Anon A Mouse

            Great topic for a FFD that.

        • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

          Craig, you’re the exception to the norm. It’s like if I landed that great CEO position, move to the Riviera, and then post “Hey guys, France is dirt cheap, just bought another house in Toulouse”

          You are the 1%.

  • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

    Dude, Kangaroo meat pales in comparison to springbok. You know it, and I know it. 

    • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

      I got caught in a herd (?) of kangaroos when I just arrived in Oz so to get my revenge I picked up some Kangaroo steaks from the shops.. it’s disgusting. I tried it twice more in different ways to see and every time it was horrible. Do Not Recommend

      • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

        Amen brother, although emus taste ok.

        And before I get the usual, “Oh James but you’re a vegetarian… blah blah” Before I went veggie, I sampled every type of meat that you can possibly eat in whatever foreign country I found myself in.

        • http://twitter.com/Valshen Garth Holden

          You a veg? Oh no!

          • http://twitter.com/JimLenoir James Lenoir

            SHUT YO’ MOUTH! Nah, I’m just kidding. I’m South African, damnit. We eat meat.

        • Theuberutang

          And I liked you.. Veggie… No dude No. (says the guy who has not had red meat in 3 weeks…)

        • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

          Unfortunately being a vegetarian excludes you from food conversation in totality ;)

  • Magius

    I was in the UK in July of last year and certainly SA’s cost of living has increased substantially.  What I found that, if for instance, you went out for a meal the cost was comparable.  What wasn’t though was the value for money.  Meals there tended to be smaller and of a poorer quality.  

    Regarding games, what I did find was that the range and prices of second hand games were greater and lower.  Also games reduced in price far quicker than in SA.  

    • Anon A Mouse

      That’s just economy of scale playing a role there. More people buying, therefore more people selling as well. They have to adjust prices quicker to stay relevant. The SA market is so much smaller therefore it takes more time. Besides South Africans like to moan a lot without doing anything so stores get away with keeping prices inflated for longer. ;-)

    • http://www.lazygamer.net Gavin Mannion

      I have to agree, I was in the UK at the same time last year and did some shopping at Tesco’s and was surprised at the low cost of groceries and eating out wasn’t so bad either. I’m not sure eating out was cheaper than here but the curry was easily 10x better 

  • nick jackson

    noob tou lol

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