Government launches inquiry into the price of software, games

by Ben Salter Featured 36 Comments 47 Votes 2765 Views 30/04/2012 Back to News

The federal government has launched an inquiry into the inflated prices of technology software, including video games, in Australia.

Major hardware and software manufacturers, including the likes of Apple and Microsoft, will be asked to defend their pricing structures and explain why Australians pay more for games, music, movies and software compared to our overseas counterparts, reports The Age.

Minister for Communications, Stephen Conroy, has signed off on the inquiry, along with other MPs who hope publicly asking the question will result in reduced prices.

Sydney MP Ed Husic says this is the first time software publishers have been asked to explain their prices.

"People here scratch their heads trying to work out why they get fleeced on software downloads," Mr Husic said. "When the Productivity Commission asked IT companies why they charge so much for downloads, even they found the answers were not persuasive."

"Small to medium-sized businesses might pay over $10,000 more on software compared to overseas counterparts," he added.

The debate over inflated software prices surfaced again last week when Adobe announced Australians would pay $1400 more than North Americans for its complete software suite.

Likewise, Australians are often forced to pay extra for new release video games, just for living in Australia. While Americans expect to pay around USD $60, Australians are asked for up to AUD $120 for the same game.

Even digital versions tend to cost more. Last year, Batman: Arkham City was accidentally available to pre-order on Steam in Australia at the American price of USD $39.99. It was quickly changed to USD $99.95 ahead of release for no apparent reason.

A Productivity Commission report released last year found little reason as to why Australians pay significantly more for software compared to overseas markets.

"In most cases are not persuasive, especially in the case of downloaded music, software and videos where the costs of delivery … are practically zero and uniform around the world," said the report.

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Government launches inquiry into the price of software, games Comments

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Kudos: 352,732

Guyver

+10

Ben you really need some new stock photos :P

30/04/2012

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 281,247

Gryllis

Guyver said: Ben you really need some new stock photos

Never

Government launches inquiry into the price of software, games

30/04/2012

The member formerly formerly known as ICC_06, formerly known as Ben.

Kudos: 186,102

Heller

That's nice of them, but I doubt anything is going to come of it.

30/04/2012

Melbourne, Victoria

Kudos: 71,313

Silence

I don't really care about the physical side, they can make up whatever bollocks they want regarding importing and such. But it is ridiculous for stuff distributed digitally.

30/04/2012

I'm from the Internet. Nothing I say is original.

Kudos: 70,163

Kerosanak

Husic! That's my local MP [monkey]

30/04/2012

I'm still kind of a big deal in the Capital Wasteland.

Kudos: 297,579

Tano

GRAW 2 is like $25 on Xbox Live.

Ridiculous.

30/04/2012

"Niko! Cousin!"

Kudos: 27,730

stublu

They always seem to use the 'taxes' excuse. That makes no sense. The country's we are comparing prices with all have taxes too.

30/04/2012

Perth

Kudos: 2,853

yuh25

About time [Rage]

30/04/2012

Wagga Wagga

Kudos: 14,833

whaling

What a nice thing for them to do ^_^

30/04/2012

On a vessel.

Kudos: 359

zzhn

They can launch all the inquiries they want but we have a snowballs chance in hell of them doing anything about it :P

30/04/2012

Adelaide,South Australia

Kudos: 40,728

Desi

It would be nice if the prices were levelled out. In the meantime I shall continue abusing VPNs to buy my games at foreign prices.

30/04/2012

And I love starting sentences with conjunctions! >=D

Kudos: 545

Draxonic

About fracking time!

I've been saying that this needs action for over a decade.

30/04/2012

Gosford, NSW

Kudos: 5,140

Tascore

us vs aus psn is a complete scam... 59 bucks for new games on us psn, same game is 109 on aus psn... wtf

30/04/2012

psn = Tascore

Kudos: 21,063

Pact

Heller said: That's nice of them, but I doubt anything is going to come of it.

zzhn said: They can launch all the inquiries they want but we have a snowballs chance in hell of them doing anything about it

Pretty much my opinion, Ill continue to import, buy from www.MyGames.com.au and Steam plus Use a VPN like Desi said.

30/04/2012

The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, To fight the horde, sing and cry: Valhalla, I am coming!

Kudos: 10,518

LMA0

I must be the only one here who doesn't care. :S

30/04/2012

Outer West Sydney aka The Ghetto

Kudos: 992

CybaCowboy

Silence said: I don't really care about the physical side, they can make up whatever bollocks they want regarding importing and such. But it is ridiculous for stuff distributed digitally.

Yeah, but there are limitations on physical media too - just look how much extra Adobe is charging Australians:
www.cnet.com.au/...

stublu said: They always seem to use the 'taxes' excuse. That makes no sense. The country's we are comparing prices with all have taxes too.

Well check out Adobe's response as to why we're paying so much more at the link I posted above - they stop just short of saying "Australians will pay what we charge them"!

zzhn said: They can launch all the inquiries they want but we have a snowballs chance in hell of them doing anything about it

I couldn't have put it better myself!

LMA0 said: I must be the only one here who doesn't care.

I sorta agree - I'm thirty years old and for thirty years, we've been paying double, triple and in some cases even quadruple what the rest of the world pays for pretty much everything money can buy...

And more times than I can count, someone has claimed that they're going to "fix it".

Thirty years later, I'm still waiting and I ain't holding my breath, so meh... That's all I've got to say.

Pact said:
Heller said: That's nice of them, but I doubt anything is going to come of it.

zzhn said: They can launch all the inquiries they want but we have a snowballs chance in hell of them doing anything about it

Pretty much my opinion, Ill continue to import, buy from www.MyGames.com.au...

Are the games on this site PAL, and are they new?

The only thing that's really stopped me thus far is the fact that one does not get Australian Club Nintendo points, but I was thinking about it the other day and this is actually a rather pointless argument because 99% of the games I buy are for Sony products...

They've just gotta boost the range to compete with mainstream retailers and MMGN will move up the list to my "preferred retailer"! ;)

30/04/2012

Gunn, Northern Territory.

Kudos: 49,906

SevenII

I don't expect much to come of it, straight away at least. It does show progress though.

30/04/2012

Far side of the world... (Sydney)

Kudos: 206,555

M@ndyz

It's a small step.. But I have already taught my son the importance of waiting 2 weeks for a game in the mail.. $26 UK, $40 here for a certain game he wants..

30/04/2012

Add me on steam........... bootie [mmgn] Or raptr.......... bootie101 Or wiiu. Also bootie101

Kudos: 73,646

winga26

Heller said: That's nice of them, but I doubt anything is going to come of it.

Sadly this was what I was thinking after reading the article but hopefully we're wrong.

30/04/2012

GET YOUR BLOOD PUMPING - GO SWANS!

Kudos: 24,453

Makra

There's a sneaky sorry hidden in there for some strange reason [MOG]

30/04/2012

ㅈㅈ

Kudos: 96,230

Skarteh

I've always assumed the Steam price raping was in order to not shoot their retail sales in the foot.

30/04/2012

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

Kudos: 14,239

abujaffer

Makra said: There's a sneaky sorry hidden in there for some strange reason

Who knows, maybe Ben's apologizing for something in some incredibly indirect way? [MOG]

01/05/2012

3D world... where everything, even flat stuff, are in 3D.

Kudos: 10,254

punk

shame it took digital downloads to get a knee jerk reaction... In saying that better now then never since I just found the pricing on digital content ridiculous.

I just got back from the states and as always I went rampant regarding buying stuff. Since its not always a few dollars cheaper, its hundreds of dollars cheaper esp with how our dollar is shaping up over there.

01/05/2012

Kudos: 28,423

chucky110

Cant say i have ever or will ever buy an adobe product

01/05/2012

Melbourne Australia so deal with it

Kudos: 281,247

Gryllis

abujaffer said:
Makra said: There's a sneaky sorry hidden in there for some strange reason

Who knows, maybe Ben's apologizing for something in some incredibly indirect way?

Nobody got my Mr Husic likes Music rhyme :'@

01/05/2012

The member formerly formerly known as ICC_06, formerly known as Ben.

Kudos: 1,167

Jakerz

An interesting inquiry, I assume it'll go something like this;

Aus- How do you justify the overpricing of your video games in our country?
US - *sighs* Because you live so far away!
Aus - But you're games are manufactured in china, geographically closer to us than you.
US - But you use PAL *whines*
Aus - China uses PAL, and Europe does also.
US - *urgh...* But your population is so small...
Aus - Canada seems to be doing well with cheap games ;]
US - *throws tantrum*
Aus - Okay, okay! you can keep the current pricing!
US - WIN.

The sad sad, overdramatic reality, but that's how most government inquiries end up, lots of cash spent but nothing done :'(

01/05/2012

Sydney, New South Wales

Kudos: 24,453

Makra

Ben said:
abujaffer said:
Makra said: There's a sneaky sorry hidden in there for some strange reason

Who knows, maybe Ben's apologizing for something in some incredibly indirect way?

Nobody got my Mr Husic likes Music rhyme

Ohh lol :P

01/05/2012

ㅈㅈ

Kudos: 545

Draxonic

Jakerz said: An interesting inquiry, I assume it'll go something like this;
Aus- How do you justify the overpricing of your video games in our country?
US - *sighs* Because you live so far away!
Aus - But you're games are manufactured in china, geographically closer to us than you.
US - But you use PAL *whines*
Aus - China uses PAL, and Europe does also.
US - *urgh...* But your population is so small...
Aus - Canada seems to be doing well with cheap games ;]
US - *throws tantrum*
Aus - Okay, okay! you can keep the current pricing!
US - WIN.

I think you just summed up the entire process quite nicely. [Facepalm]

01/05/2012

Gosford, NSW

Kudos: 14,239

abujaffer

Ben said:
abujaffer said:
Makra said: There's a sneaky sorry hidden in there for some strange reason

Who knows, maybe Ben's apologizing for something in some incredibly indirect way?

Nobody got my Mr Husic likes Music rhyme

"Nobody" is a bit strong... I think it's more everyone else got it except for me and @Makra. [Facepalm]

02/05/2012

3D world... where everything, even flat stuff, are in 3D.

Kudos: 2,310

barters81

The only thing that can change this is real competition in the sector. If a publisher/distributor decided to sell the software at a reasonable price they would probably cause competition to reduce prices overall.

Unfortunately software is one of those things......only adobe make photoshop etc. So they can sell it for whatever they like. Especially if we keep buying it at the inflated price.

02/05/2012

Springfield

Kudos: 3,925

Ledski

LMA0 said: I must be the only one here who doesn't care.

I just buy stuff overseas, I can wait for it to be shipped.

02/05/2012

Geelong, Victoria

Kudos: 540

PS3sR2Dear

So how much is this enquiry going to cost ?
Whose getting paid to do the sums ?

I welcome this enquiry anyways, we've been ripped off on games and everything else for way too long, atleast those of us who keep paying the stupid prices and not buying OS (the Smart Ones).

02/05/2012

Australia - In my TARDIS.

Kudos: 996

downsinner

Its not just software, hardware and games, I'm in the UK at the moment and EVERYTHING is cheaper here, so much so Its insane! Most things are up to half price, food, booze, musical instruments, clothes the list could go on for ever. brand new games are half the price over here, I'm never going to want to spend money in Oz again!.... the average wage is a little lower but still.... I hope this inquiry does some good but it probably won't.

13/05/2012

W.A.

Kudos: 10,518

LMA0

Ledski said:
LMA0 said: I must be the only one here who doesn't care.

I just buy stuff overseas, I can wait for it to be shipped.

Patience always gets rewarded :D

13/05/2012

Outer West Sydney aka The Ghetto

Kudos: 88,147

Pilkingbod

We have health care, they have cheap games.\

Swings and roundabouts!

13/05/2012

Melting pot of friendship

Kudos: 31,125

IAMColonel

downsinner said: Its not just software, hardware and games, I'm in the UK at the moment and EVERYTHING is cheaper here, so much so Its insane! Most things are up to half price, food, booze, musical instruments, clothes the list could go on for ever. brand new games are half the price over here, I'm never going to want to spend money in Oz again!.... the average wage is a little lower but still.... I hope this inquiry does some good but it probably won't.

Saw an article about my job in the UK a while back, the average hourly wage for an adult full time staff member is nearly half what a 15 year old gets here, for the same job. Go figure?

13/05/2012

Melbourne