I honestly think the only thing that will change the "Australia tax" is the death of brick and mortar game stores. They're the reason online distributors raise their prices - to ensure those who do still have to worry about shipping, etc. are not at a competitive disadvantage. Although my understanding is there are some other reasons (such as government regulation) that affect the price as well. If my memory is correct, it's extremely complicated.
Nah. That's not the reason. It's just greed. End of story. A monopoly situation and freedom to exploit it. There's no reason that a bricks and mortar shop in Oz cannot compete with 50 US. Seriously.
The only thing that causes prices to drop is competition -and there isn't any in Oz. In my country, an EU country where we don't use Euros. But Steam makes me pay the 50 Euro price. I can buy a boxed copy 30 percent cheaper than that from a bricks and mortar shop. It actually comes to about 45 US.
The reason? The competition here is piracy. The word that shall not be named. The country I live in has A LOT of it. Rampant. And the game publisher here, a Polish company which I believe is also connected to GoG and the Witcher, but don't quote me on that, knows that they won't sell a single copy unless they sell at a cheaper price than Steam sets. Hence, I can buy it for 45 dollars.
The maths is simple. An EU company is able to produce boxed copies and distribute them across the Eastern EU countries and make a profit at a price LESS than the US Steam price. Of course- it's not allowed to distribute to countries West of the old Berlin Wall. That's sewn up by the games publishers and the price is fixed there at a higher price.
It makes me pretty angry.
Anyhow, there is some small good news in this for citizens of the EU - there is actually potential for competition. There are a bucket load of internet shops in my country, CZ, where you can order the game and they post it to you. As far as I understand EU law, I don't think they can region lock a game bought in one country in the Eu from another country in the EU. But don't quote me on that.
This is a list of them and the price that they offer the game at:
http://hry-pro-pc.heureka.cz/civilization-beyond-earth/
Of that list I can recommend JRC and Game Express as being reliable. I've no idea if they will send a game to Germany, France or whereever, but if you send an email to their contact email address, and ask in English, someone might answer...and who knows, you might not have to deal with the price fixing monopoly.
OF course, a game bought here won't work n OZ----which just seriously sucks and my heart bleeds for you guys.
