So, Obviously for Blizzard a Dollar is as much as Euro? Total Ripoff!!

[flexy]

About 2 hours ago i bought the digital version on battle.net which correctly charged me $59.99.

One of the main things i am looking forward with DIII is playing with wife/friends.

So..a little later, wife logged in HER battle.net account and bought the game for her, since she started complaining that i am pre-loading and she is not.

Not sure, her battle.net account is set to "Europe" or something, i didn't keep too much attention, i just saw the "59.99" number and we wanted to get the game for her quickly. (Which we paid via Paypal as i did with my copy).

Low and behold, for THIS purchase they then charged € (EURO) 59.99 which is about $80.

I think i have a reason to be pissed since i consider $80 for a game fricking outrageous - together with their assumption that a dollar seems to be worth the same as an Euro ie. $59.99 = €59.99

How the **** do they charge more to people in EU and less for those in the US..it's the same digital downlod, the same exact game. We both got it from battle.net.


This thread has veered a little OT for PC Gaming wouldn't you say?
Anandtech Moderator
Oakenfold

 

[Tweak155]

Because people will pay it? Also I think these D3 threads are going to start getting locked. I'd move to the stickied thread.

 

[kami]

It probably has something to do with them not wanting to undercut their own retail sales in the EU. It's the same deal on steam and other services...usually outside of north America people pay more. You should see Australia. I think games are equivalent to around usd $90 there.

 

[randomrogue]

Welcome to the Euro.

 

[Stuka87]

Its to stop gray market sales most likely. Typical problems with games these days. Buy in one region, sell in another for profit.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Don't worry, the Euro is coming down to the Dollar's level more and more.

 

[miri]

..

 

[Barfo]

Europe is more cultured so they have to pay more. Fat Americans need as much money as possible for McDonald's and Walmart so they pay less for gamez.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Its to stop gray market sales most likely. Typical problems with games these days. Buy in one region, sell in another for profit.

How exactly does charging 1 group more (in terms of flat value) eliminate the gray market as opposed to actually create/foster its growth?

That aside there's probably a lot of legal issues and possible extra taxes for shipping the games to other continents, same reason why the free giveaways on AT are only available to people residing in NA.

Pretty sure the EU consumer also used to get hit by the same pricing system for computer parts, specifically video cards when Euro ~ $2 USD so they had to pay twice as much essentially for the same stuff we had. That and they got it way way later.

 

[Stuka87]

Pretty sure the EU consumer also used to get hit by the same pricing system for computer parts, specifically video cards when Euro ~ $2 USD so they had to pay twice as much essentially for the same stuff we had. That and they got it way way later.

Currently its 1 US dollar to 0.7797 euros.

So its not that much of a difference. But europe does get slammed on video card prices. Especially nVidia cards, which cost way more than AMD cards for some reason.

 

[Harabec]

I put off buying this game because of that. Local stores (here in Israel) have it at 300NIS, which is about $80. Way too much for a game IMO, especially considering blizzard is going to make a fortune off the RMAH - seems like extra greediness.
Been waiting for D3 for years, guess I'll wait some more. WoT is just fine for now.

 

[tokie]

Only turds get caught by these shenanigans. I have multiple debit/credit cards because of multiple residences and buy digital copies in the currency which is cheapest (usually Canada).

People can also use Entropay and VPNs if they want but they are dumb.

 

[walkur]

I don't know why anyone would buy this game online...
Here (Netherlands) the game is €45 when you buy a boxed copy in the shops, online it's €60 as stated by the OP... well i guess it keeps the shopowners happy...

Does anyone know if the digital copy comes with guest passes? If not it would be an even bigger ripoff

 

[Mem]

I have to disagree about pricing with regards to what members are saying,the average price of standard edition retail in UK is about £35 inc VAT(Value added tax at 20%) which works out as $56 US dollars,don't know why its so high at 59.99 Euros but seems wrong to me,for the record £35.00 =43.7849 Euros


I only paid £26 myself for retail version : ).


I'll say digital downloads always seem to be a rip off whatever country you are in ,always priced higher then retail versions.

I just checked digital download price for online for UK at D3 website ,which is £44.99 GBP = $72.3173 USD

 

[Newbian]

Because people will pay it?

/Thread

 

[Lonyo]

About 2 hours ago i bought the digital version on battle.net which correctly charged me $59.99.

One of the main things i am looking forward with DIII is playing with wife/friends.

So..a little later, wife logged in HER battle.net account and bought the game for her, since she started complaining that i am pre-loading and she is not.

Not sure, her battle.net account is set to "Europe" or something, i didn't keep too much attention, i just saw the "59.99" number and we wanted to get the game for her quickly. (Which we paid via Paypal as i did with my copy).

Low and behold, for THIS purchase they then charged € (EURO) 59.99 which is about $80.

I think i have a reason to be pissed since i consider $80 for a game fricking outrageous - together with their assumption that a dollar seems to be worth the same as an Euro ie. $59.99 = €59.99

How the **** do they charge more to people in EU and less for those in the US..it's the same digital downlod, the same exact game. We both got it from battle.net.

$60 + 20% tax = $72.
€60 = $77

So while it's more expensive, it's not that much more expensive.
BTW, I got my pre order in back in August on Amazon.co.uk and it cost me £19.14, which works out to be $30.75/€23.93
Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

 

[Leymenaide]

The difference is VAT or valueadded tax. Can be 17%.

 

[gothamhunter]

$60 + 20% tax = $72.
€60 = $77

So while it's more expensive, it's not that much more expensive.
BTW, I got my pre order in back in August on Amazon.co.uk and it cost me £19.14, which works out to be $30.75/€23.93
Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

Where the Hell do you live that has 20% tax?

Plus, buying it online doesn't require it to be taxed and most people don't claim it.

 

[pontifex]

I don't know why anyone would buy this game online...
Here (Netherlands) the game is €45 when you buy a boxed copy in the shops, online it's €60 as stated by the OP... well i guess it keeps the shopowners happy...

Does anyone know if the digital copy comes with guest passes? If not it would be an even bigger ripoff

how does a guest pass add value to you for the game? do you use up all your guest passes then play the real game or something?

 

[darkewaffle]

Where the Hell do you live that has 20% tax?

Plus, buying it online doesn't require it to be taxed and most people don't claim it.

The VAT.

 

[Davegod]

Where the Hell do you live that has 20% tax?

Plus, buying it online doesn't require it to be taxed and most people don't claim it.

VAT is 20% in UK and typical throughout Europe - I'd guess Blizzard EU and their servers would be based in Germany and that would be the tax point for a download so the VAT rate would be 19%.

Throughout the EU businesses collect the tax, it's mandatory and consumer prices are always inclusive of VAT.

 

[flexy]

You are talking about VAT etc...but for a game (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD!) i never pay VAT, and afaik at the battle.net site there was also no VAT mentioned.

In fact, i buy all my games from CD key stores at US prices at the normal USD price. I could have gotten the 2nd copy (key) at 1000 places for $59.99. Blizzard just got me since my wife's account has her European address in it and then they automatically switched the paypal etc. to Euro..

The only reason i did not catch this was that i was distracted because i didn't know whether i can tie the same paypal email to TWO battle.net accounts (me & wife's)...so i was wondering whether the purchase will work...and in all that "excitement" i simply didn't see the €. Otherwise i could have bought from gamersloot or 100 other sites for the normal price. Seriously, there is not any "logical" reason for this and i think Blizz knows very well it's deceptive what they do.

 

[Rhezuss]

I don't see the problem...
The account was set to Europe, so Blizz charge you 59.99 euros. You should have checked before clicking the purchase button, no?

BTW, i'm not dissing you, just saying don't blame anyone else for you moment of distraction, which I certainly understand since we're talking about D3

Maybe contact them for a refund of the difference?

 

[pontifex]

You are talking about VAT etc...but for a game (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD!) i never pay VAT, and afaik at the battle.net site there was also no VAT mentioned.

In fact, i buy all my games from CD key stores at US prices at the normal USD price. I could have gotten the 2nd copy (key) at 1000 places for $59.99. Blizzard just got me since my wife's account has her European address in it and then they automatically switched the paypal etc. to Euro..

The only reason i did not catch this was that i was distracted because i didn't know whether i can tie the same paypal email to TWO battle.net accounts (me & wife's)...so i was wondering whether the purchase will work...and in all that "excitement" i simply didn't see the €. Otherwise i could have bought from gamersloot or 100 other sites for the normal price. Seriously, there is not any "logical" reason for this and i think Blizz knows very well it's deceptive what they do.

blizzard is deceptive because you can't be bothered to change the address to the correct one?

i fail to see how Blizzard is being deceptive or it's Blizzard's fault in any way...

 

[Mem]

You are talking about VAT etc...but for a game (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD!) i never pay VAT, and afaik at the battle.net site there was also no VAT mentioned.

In fact, i buy all my games from CD key stores at US prices at the normal USD price. I could have gotten the 2nd copy (key) at 1000 places for $59.99. Blizzard just got me since my wife's account has her European address in it and then they automatically switched the paypal etc. to Euro..

The only reason i did not catch this was that i was distracted because i didn't know whether i can tie the same paypal email to TWO battle.net accounts (me & wife's)...so i was wondering whether the purchase will work...and in all that "excitement" i simply didn't see the €. Otherwise i could have bought from gamersloot or 100 other sites for the normal price. Seriously, there is not any "logical" reason for this and i think Blizz knows very well it's deceptive what they do.

As I said its always cheaper to buy retail copy online,only reason to go digital download is to save space on box copy retail version,I never do because I like to have a game box added to my collection and digital downloads are overpriced compared to retail.


My retail copy arrived today and installed fine .