The cost of the game

elexes

i looked at buying the game purely because i wanted to see if it was true that i could buy the game for less from play.com then i could if i downloaded the game directly from blizzard.

to my amazement it was true there was a €10 difference in the price tag.

dose anyone know why this is happening ?

how much would a 6-8gig upload cost a company like blizz

Kiith

You could buy it from Play, but you'd need to wait for your CD key to be sent to you before you could do anything with the downloaded game. Digital download offers a good few benefits, but when buying direct from the company (Activision, Steam etc...) they generally are more expensive then from shops.

L

Yeah mate, the digital download is like 20 quid more than buying it in HMV for example.

Various theories as to why but the most common one is 'Blizz want people to buy it from shops'

Nody

L wrote: »

Various theories as to why but the most common one is 'Blizz want people to buy it from shops'

No, the reality is Blizz wants the floor space in the shops (which is why you often see goodies in MMOs etc. with physical copies to ensure floor space for their games; if not the shops will refuse to take them in in the first place) for it to ensure more free advertisement and hype.

L

Nody wrote: »

No, the reality is Blizz wants the floor space in the shops (which is why you often see goodies in MMOs etc. with physical copies to ensure floor space for their games; if not the shops will refuse to take them in in the first place) for it to ensure more free advertisement and hype.

...that's what I just said.

It's not in Blizz interest to have people buy the game digitally rather than in the shop - at least until well after release date.

B0X

But then why is the price in the US shops the same as their online price? Surely the shop space argument would apply to them too.

Overheal

B0X wrote: »

But then why is the price in the US shops the same as their online price? Surely the shop space argument would apply to them too.

Does it have to do with European server availability? I dunno. Companies have been playing around with Euromerican pricing for years now.

Jonny7

If anyone fancies digital copies only, then the cd-key can be bought online from trusted sites and the game can be downloaded from the blizzard site

Overheal

I assume though Blizzard will have a system in place to differentiate a US Key and an EU key.

Nody

Overheal wrote: »

I assume though Blizzard will have a system in place to differentiate a US Key and an EU key.

US, EU and Asia/Pac. all have different keys coded to allow you to play on the appropiate BNet servers accordingly.

degrassinoel

still well pished off at blizzard for the 60 euro digital download, the game itself is great.. but 60quid?
i seen some people arguing their points on the blizzard forums about price and replayability.. me hole to that, once i finish single player i'm done for at least 6 months.
dont get me wrong, i do like the game. But I definetly wont ever be buying anything from them digitally again. sneaky bastards

Overheal

i seen some people arguing their points on the blizzard forums about price and replayability.. me hole to that, once i finish single player i'm done for at least 6 months.

That you don't want to play the multiplayer - something that spent years in development being tweaked and balanced and improved upon - is entirely your own perogative. The cost of that development is still included in the game.

koHd

So how much is this in HMV?

Contemplating wether to get it today in HMV with strat guide, or just order it on Amazon with hardback strat guide...which I will get next Wednesday or Thursday at a total cost of E58.50 for both the game and hardback strat guide.

Also, how much is the strat guide in HMV/Game etc?

Kiith

Its €40 in HMV. No idea for the strategy guide, though i'd say €20.

L

HMV is 40 for the game

koHd

Cheers lads.

Anybody seen hardback strat guide in Dublin?

Gunmonkey

The online price is probably one of 2 things:

A) the sheer ignorance of publishers that $1 =/= €1, no matter how much they try to price it so (see Steam + PSN on this too).

probably some form of anti-monopoly clause or such buried deep in digital media sales law that restricts Blizzard from selling the game online so cheap that any store/ distributor couldnt make a decent profit of the sale, see the same thing with other digital download and the "Games on Demand" on XBL selling at €30 RRP for games I can find new for €10 in stores. Or I could just be mental