XPac cost? $$$

Selous

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how much do you think it will cost?

my guess is $50 AU or so of steam (damn the publisher aussi tax :mad: )
steam preorder discounts perhaps?

will they box it up and distribute in bricks and morter? of go for digital distribution only?
 
30 US. My guess is 20 or 25 EU. 50 AU sounds likely given how things cost more there, but I wouldn't know.
 
Yeah, $US30, so given the roughly 1:1 exchange rate at the moment, probably ~$AU50? Shipping costs for downloads are pretty high, after all.
 
Well, it's not real shipping costs on steam. However, I suspect it has something to do with maintaining good relations with the brick and mortar stores that would otherwise have to charge more.
 
I really hope it won't be more than 25€. 1:1 $ to € exchange rate drives me insane. 30€ might be too much for an expansion pack.
 
Does Australia have VAT? Because that's why Paradox made Crusader Kings II 40 dollars and 40 euros, no VAT in the United States.

No taxes; just market factors. Publishers have found the higher price point to be acceptable in the market and so take as much advantage of it as possible.
 
For Steamworks games, the ways around the "Australia Tax" are any of:
1) Get it from another digital store that sells Steamworks games without discriminatory pricing (e.g. GreenManGaming),
2) Get a North American friend to buy and gift the game to you (from the Steam store),
3) Import the boxed game from another part of the world (typically the UK). e.g. ozgameshop.com
 
Yeah; when I visited England I hated the needing a full pound there to get the purchasing power of a dollar. Particularly because at the time, $2 US was worth 1 pound.

My chorus though made out like bandits when we were told what we should price our CDs at.
 
For Steamworks games, the ways around the "Australia Tax" are any of:
1) Get it from another digital store that sells Steamworks games without discriminatory pricing (e.g. GreenManGaming),
2) Get a North American friend to buy and gift the game to you (from the Steam store),
3) Import the boxed game from another part of the world (typically the UK). e.g. ozgameshop.com

Unfortunately when importing games you can wait up to 3 weeks to recieve things, but at least it is cheaper.

Thanks for the info about GreenManGaming.

You also may be able to use a VPN (and changing your country in your profile settings) of some description to trick steam into think you're in, say, the US - although I don't think they'd take kindly to it if they found out what you'd done.
 
Unfortunately when importing games you can wait up to 3 weeks to recieve things, but at least it is cheaper.

Thanks for the info about GreenManGaming.

You also may be able to use a VPN (and changing your country in your profile settings) of some description to trick steam into think you're in, say, the US - although I don't think they'd take kindly to it if they found out what you'd done.

Valve/Steam prohibits the use of VPNs for making purchases and doing so would put you at risk of having your account suspended, possibly permanently, if Valve finds out. As far as I'm aware it would constitute fraud as the customer would need to falsify his address.

Considering there are legitimate alternatives it would make no sense to take such a risk.
 
Valve/Steam prohibits the use of VPNs for making purchases and doing so would put you at risk of having your account suspended, possibly permanently, if Valve finds out. As far as I'm aware it would constitute fraud as the customer would need to falsify his address.

Considering there are legitimate alternatives it would make no sense to take such a risk.


this is why i wouldnt use a VPN for steam, i have a lot of games on steam and it would be devistating to have my account banned, now netflix, im looking at that!!
and sorry to start this rant again, :deadhorse: there is no need, the publishers have us over a barrel and there is not much we can do, legally

from the gamespot.com writeup
This expansion is targeted for a late spring release this year in stores or through Steam for $29.99.

looks like everyone is on the money for price, or they are just doing what we all did automatically, can you say pricefix much? oh well that is just the industry
but i hope that it does come out in bricks and morter, i am going to get this one from overseas, i think i can wait a couple of weeks for an Xpac (as opposed to when the game came out ;) )
 
Well, it's not real shipping costs on steam. However, I suspect it has something to do with maintaining good relations with the brick and mortar stores that would otherwise have to charge more.
Nah, I think the word you're looking for is "greed." Everyone charges the same price for online versions because they can and they're greedy bastards.

edit: Sorry, didn't mean to revive an old thread. I didn't notice it was a few days old. ;D
 
A few days isn't bad. Leaving aside the fact that capitalism charges what people will pay so I'm not entirely sure "greed" is an appropriate term, I don't think my argument is entirely unreasonable as a motivating factor. Unless places that would have similar shipping costs, like New Zealand, are cheaper, shipping costs may have originally been a factor. Yes, online sites don't have to worry about the shipping costs, but that would be a huge advantage over the brick and mortar stores. Those stores would likely not bother wasting shelf space for a game that'll cost $20 more to sell than online. If they don't sell it, it'll cut out the audience that wouldn't order online or might by it as an impulse buy, hurting overall sales.

In other words, there are valid reasons aside from price gouging to charge more.

ETA: An interesting, but ultimately inconclusive attempt at an answer to the question
 
Shipping costs can't be all that important if the cheapest place to import the games from (to Australia) is usually the UK or Europe, which is pretty much the other side of the world. It'd be a few dollars per unit max. Certainly not in the range of $30+ dollars which is typical of the price increases.
 
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