Games in America vs. Games in Ireland

Retr0gamer

Well we all know about the annoyances of big RPG games and quirky jap games not coming to europe but Iwant to talk about the shops and prices. I'm in NY at the moment and as well as seeing the sites I'm picking up some games that I would probably have to order over the net. The prices here are great for games. New console games retail at about 50 dollars. However after about 4 to 6 months the new games always drop in price to 30 dollars. In Ireland old games sit on the shelves with ridiculous prices and don't go down until there is a budget release. I've picked up Suikoden 3 and Xenosaga for 30 dollars, relatively new games. The biggest disgrace of all is the GBA games. In Ireland they sell for almost the price of a full price console game. In NY you can pick up Advance wars 2 and the new pokemon games for 30 dollars. These games are very new and I think AW2 was only released this Friday. All new GBA games are 30 dollars. The disgrace continues.

Placebo

damn right, we have to pay 60 euro for a new game, gba games are 50 or something so many ppl in ireland play games, still....

Wolf

No dout someone from one of the big cmpanies can tell us why this is justifiable...... but athe end of the day if we keep on paying the prices then they will hold the prices.

ondafly

head over to compUSA or Radio Shack (not sure which) on fifth avenue - games, altough 2nd hand, were for about 10 to 15 dollars. I was in heaven over there ! Also Virgin on Timesquare had a basket, games were 10 dollars each 3 weeks ago

Shinji

Prices for new games in Ireland aren't that far ahead of the UK and the rest of Europe, and are broadly in line with prices in the USA.

The GBA thing is odd - Nintendo USA don't charge any less for their games than Nintendo Europe do, and I can only assume that this difference in prices is down to bulk discounting by big chains like supermarkets etc., which carry GBA games but generally not much stock of "real" console games.

As for second hand games and older games... That's down to Ireland not having any good game retailers. Old games lose value pretty quickly in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, if you know where to shop.

Bottom line is, any price discrepancy you find isn't the fault of game publishers or developers. If you want to blame someone for it, blame the retailers who take advantage of the currency difference between the UK and Ireland and impose massive margins on high value items like videogames - and if you want to make THEM hurt, then bring your business to online game stores instead. Amazon, Play and Gameplay/EGShop all ship to Ireland, and even with shipping costs will often be cheaper than Irish retailers by the sounds of it.

Deadwing

Going to L.A in...AN HOUR!! WOO HOO!!!
Ill be able to buy all the cool game related merchandise that forbidden planet cant get! Sweeet!

Matt Simis

Sales tax varies from State to State in the US as well, from as little as 0% (most states are under 10% afaik). In Ireland you are always paying 21%. Take that away and the prices are much closer together.

Also, PC Games in Ireland and the US are priced almost identically.



Matt

Hobbes

I think I know where he's coming from.

My local EB in the US would sell the games at the full whack for a couple of months then if they still had the boxes they would sell them at discount. You could also buy used games for a fraction of the cost as well.

The point was the games were being sold. A good example, a friend of mine picked up Neocron for $19 when it sold for only $40 a few months ago (game has actually gotten better then worse).

Likewise you would see games 4 years old selling for $9 where as in Ireland they would have the same price as brand new games just out (If anything the prices go up).

Likewise with the GBA stuff, it's a hell of a lot cheaper in the US. AW2 is out? Sweet

Lemming

Originally posted by Shinji

As for second hand games and older games... That's down to Ireland not having any good game retailers. Old games lose value pretty quickly in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, if you know where to shop.

On that note, if anybody finds themselves in Glasgow, take a trip to "Union St." and check out a shop (well there's two of them on the same st.) called "Game Force"

They do focus on 2nd hand & trades, but do new games/hardware including imports. The shop(s) is always busy.

Stormfox1020

I jus moved to ireland from New Hampshire, where there is no sales tax! I had Every console due to they are so cheap, $150 for gamecube with game brand new, Xbox $200 which i got halo with and a PS2 for $200 with Vicecity. Then Brand new games for 50 or decent ones for $30 such as unreal tornament. Now i move to ireland and i find i can bearly buy anything. A PS2 price over here is outta this world like 270 jesus christ, new games at 65 or even 70 and memory cards being the worst fo 50. It actually works out cheaper by 5-10 euro if you buy ur stuff from the UK. The only well priced stuff is the PC games.

monument

Originally posted by Deadwing
Going to L.A in...AN HOUR!! WOO HOO!!!
Ill be able to buy all the cool game related merchandise that forbidden planet cant get! Sweeet!

Hope you have a nice nine hour or so flight

Matt Simis

Originally posted by Stormfox1020
snip The only well priced stuff is the PC games.

Yep, even GAME are selling some new games like Chaser for only €44.



Matt

Retr0gamer

Went a bit over board with the games today. looks like i'll be going home with 14 games on a variety of consoles

Praetorian

Went a bit over board with the games today. looks like i'll be going home with 14 games on a variety of consoles

Yea its true. Retrogamer is crazy! He's actually coming home with at least 15 games. He forgot to mention the warcraft 3 expansion

He has spent allot of his money on some really bad games. Pokemon for crying out loud! At least the games are far cheaper over here. What the hell is Sillhouette Mirage?

de5p0i1er

Were getting screwed in a big way and some of us already know it, we don't have much choice in the matter though as all we can do is wait until the market improves (like that'll happen any time soon). :mad:

KdjaCL

As Shinji said www.play.com with free delivery is unbeatable.
Gameplay are cheaper but charge delivery so play works out best.

Everyone knows at least one person with a credit card so they can be got.

Also play do that price changing if a game is old it drops in price.

kdjac