The Witcher 2 - Imminent Price Rise for Australia

I noticed the price for The Witcher 2 had suddenly increased on Steam and then found a post on Qt3 pointing to GOG's Facebook page - apparently the Australian price for The Witcher 2 is rising "due to licensing" reasons. Looks like 15 hours to go to get in on GOGs preorder offer for Aussies before the hike:

To all Australian gamers! You have 17 hours to preorder The Witcher 2 on GOG.com for the original price of $42.27 AUD! On Friday, May 6 at 1500 GMT, due to licensing reasons we're going to adjust the price for Australian market and charge $62.99 AUD for the preorder and $69.99 AUD for the full price. The preorder on GOG.com isn't forcing you to pay for the game instantly.
To preorder go to http://www.gog.com/tw2

More information.

And as a reminder, preordering on GoG has no obligations on the customer's part. You just log in and press preorder, and that's it. You lock the lower price in, but you're not actually obliged to buy anything at any time. So get in there and do it.

Anyone any idea what they mean with the "licensing reasons" ?

20+ AUD difference? Are they mad?
Whatever "licensing reasons" is, it's not cheap. Luckily I live in Europe.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Anyone any idea what they mean with the "licensing reasons" ?

Publisher will sell product at the higher price and contract specifies that the product may not be sold with a lower price for a period of X weeks.

At least that's what I'm guessing.

Originally Posted by Roi Danton
Publisher will sell product at the higher price and contract specifies that the product may not be sold with a lower price for a period of X weeks.

At least that's what I'm guessing.

That's pretty much it. Brick and Mortar stores will be selling it for $70. Selling a physical game for $50 as a new AAA title hasn't happened here for well over a decade.

Exchange rates are also badly abused when factoring a final cost price.

the reason is that they are punishing australia for having to make a censored version perhaps and the cost that it entails.

Quick get to the Batphone to call Dhruin and Corwin!

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Anyone any idea what they mean with the "licensing reasons" ?

I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that one section of the game was banned in Australia becasue of a sex scene.

What has happened to you Aussies? You used to have been a land "where women glow and men plunder"! Are you getting wimpy on us?

Nothing to do with censorship. Local retails games are typically $79.95 - $89.95 and the publishers put pressure back on the license holder not to undercut them digitally.

Wouldn't it be price fixing?

Yes, but while illegal, it's done where there's little chance of people actually doing anything about it!!

Errrr… come again Corvin? If Dhruin is right, it sure looks like a clear case of price fixing with Aussie gamers being screwed by a cartel. Are you telling me that nobody in Oz cares enough about it to blow a whistle?

its just like aussie rules football, they make up their own rules

to be serious and fair though most games aren't made anywhere even close to australia and i'm not sure if that means that most publishers probably don't see it as a lucrative market which means not much competition and hence higher prices.

i would think though that its the console market that is driving this equation though. i imagine most pc gamers in australia would gladly sacrifice the insane prices for much cheaper digital ones. so even if those die-hard box only pc gamers relinquished they would still be at the mercy of the huge console market who i imagine still makes most sales through boxed copies.

Originally Posted by zahratustra
Errrr… come again Corvin? If Dhruin is right, it sure looks like a clear case of price fixing with Aussie gamers being screwed by a cartel. Are you telling me that nobody in Oz cares enough about it to blow a whistle?

It has nothing to do with price fixing. Every (brick and mortar) store can sell the game at every price they want.

The reason GOG has to rise the price is because Namco (aka the publisher) got an exclusive right to distribute the game in various countries/regions. Included in this deal is most likely a paragraph that says that the game may not be distributed by any other publisher and that the publisher fixes the price for every region however they like (this can be clearly seen at any digital distribution website, games are mostly 50$ and 50€ without any regard to the actual exchange rate). Now since GoG is a digital distribution website they have to offer the game at the price the publisher says. It's actually nothing new.

Also, who is going to pay for a court case over a $20 price rise? Legal stuff is expensive and most people figure it's not worth the hassle. This is a small country in terms of population; about 22 million I believe!!

Since I'm not aware of an Australian-based digital vendor, I can't see how local retail price maintenance laws would apply to GOG (Polish, I presume), Valve (US), GamersGate (Swedish) etc.

Those austrians is like all asians, all commies I say.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Since I'm not aware of an Australian-based digital vendor, I can't see how local retail price maintenance laws would apply to GOG (Polish, I presume), Valve (US), GamersGate (Swedish) etc.

That is actually quite an interesting point you rise. I would imagine that you have to follow the laws of the country you officially offer stuff.

Note the word officially there. Amazon for example has a German store so if they want to sell stuff here they have to follow the local rules. Now if I order in some obscure US shop and manage to convince them to ship to Germany they aren't obligated to follow the local laws since I buy in the US.

Which brings me to another question: Do I pay German sales tax (or you your local equivalent outside the US) on my steam purchases. I really have no bloody idea. I should investigate. *hurries of to the interwebz*