PC Game Prices - India Vs US

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ganesh_2218

ganesh_2218

Forerunner
Original Pc Games in India are very cheap than USA. Why? . In USA a Pc game is sold for 35(1600) to 49 USD( 2250) but it India 700 or less than 1k.

One of the best price we know is Rs.499/- for GTA 4 which is an very large game and priced very less. I also bought an copy for me. Why is this price difference and do Game distributors buy rights from game developers and sell here for less price and sell it in local packaged boxes.
 
Piracy is the key word here
They want to bring down the prices to make it attractive for people here to purchase it rather than get it from other means

and remember all these games can only be sold in India

we pay more for the hardware, they pay more for the software, evens out
 
Additionally, the packages that you get here are wayy more barebones.. a simple cardboard box with a paper envelope for the DVD inside it.
Not to mention cheap replication setups as was witnessed in the fiasco that was The Orange Box.
 
It's also to adjust for purchasing parity.

A starting engineer in the US gets around 60K usd (~27,00,000 INR) while it's ~3,00,000 in India. I think the PPP is 1:10. So someone spending $50 for a product feels a similar pinch as spending rs 500 here.

It's a good move by the gaming folks to get the prices on parity. would love to see the h/w folks learn a bit too.
 
They just dump badly manufactured DVDs in INDIA. Which works for me as i download the game anyways. Just need the key :D

OH YEAH ! Then there is always STEAM Sales !
 
stalker said:
Additionally, the packages that you get here are wayy more barebones.. a simple cardboard box with a paper envelope for the DVD inside it.
Not to mention cheap replication setups as was witnessed in the fiasco that was The Orange Box.
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I think the Orange Box fiaso was a one off cause I haven't heard anyone complaining about the quality of the media of other games. Though you are spot on about the cheaper packaging of games sold here in general but I guess you get what you pay for. The production company needs to make money afterall.
 
If the below was the case...we would get atleast some (any) hardware cheaper in india compared to US... leave cheaper, we don't even get the hardwares as the same rate in US.
I am trying to get a game controller which comes for 130$ in US but comes for 11k in India:@
s_anuj said:
It's also to adjust for purchasing parity.

A starting engineer in the US gets around 60K usd (~27,00,000 INR) while it's ~3,00,000 in India. I think the PPP is 1:10. So someone spending $50 for a product feels a similar pinch as spending rs 500 here.
Click to expand...
 
+1 to what Spectre said.

Piracy is the reason.

This seems to be an effort from the publishers to actually face up against Piracy instead of just whining about it and then pricing the games exorbitantly or worse, not releasing at all.

Really, just complaining about Piracy and giving up on PC gaming is not going solve anything.
 
+110 to spectre :p

Piracy is a big reason behind this...

and also, currency matters too buddy... People here in India dont game much as compared to the Americans or Europeans.. soo.. to get sales here...prices are like these...
 
yes i also got myself the orangebox and gta iv ... prices like made it very attractive for people to buy ... quantity mattered :)
 
But why don't they do the same for consoles?

Game developing for Xbox 360 is similar to that for Windows, though not PS3 but still the price difference is considerable.
 
What I think is that indian "importers" like Milestone might be getting a digital copy of the game with which they can manufacture DVDs and print manuals & boxes here in India itself, which should bring the prices down.
 
s_anuj said:
It's also to adjust for purchasing parity.

A starting engineer in the US gets around 60K usd (~27,00,000 INR) while it's ~3,00,000 in India. I think the PPP is 1:10. So someone spending $50 for a product feels a similar pinch as spending rs 500 here.

It's a good move by the gaming folks to get the prices on parity. would love to see the h/w folks learn a bit too.
Click to expand...

Bro. You joking. :P

S/W development is one time cost. Then all comes down to just a DVD and license generation. hardly 50rs for a dual layer DVD. So the more they sell the better volume the better returns. So if GTA-IV is priced at 499 and they sell some 10000 copies they earn 50lakhs rs~

This is a clever strategy than fixing price at 2500rs and hardly selling 100 copies.

But H/W. Mate each product cost them money yaar. They are not against selling a 100$ mobo for 4700rs. But then there are these stupid import duties :(

So what do you mean by saying H/W folks should learn? By selling a $100 processor for 500rs :rofl:

You can say that console game developers could learn from it. But AFAIK most of times companies sell consoles with bare minimum margins or even losses but they gain profit by getting royalty for the game titles for their particular console.

In console scenario games are developed for particular H/W and so they are dependent on the console manufacturer. But that is not the case in PC gaming
 
^ not kidding :)

not saying that PPP is the only variable but then the variable cost of h/w manufacturing isn't what the selling price is. There is a lot of R&D cost amortized.

I'm not sure about the development costs now (as i'm not in the VLSI industry anymore) but a 90nm ASIC/SoC would cost ~$50M in development costs itself in 2006. (just like sw development). This cost is normally recovered in the beginning for successful products & then it's helping the bottomline. I would like to see Intel's margins on each processor sold :)

So there is some room for adjustment of prices on the hw side as well (Probably not lower than US prices but atleast on par)
 
s_anuj said:
^ not kidding :)

not saying that PPP is the only variable but then the variable cost of h/w manufacturing isn't what the selling price is. There is a lot of R&D cost amortized.

I'm not sure about the development costs now (as i'm not in the VLSI industry anymore) but a 90nm ASIC/SoC would cost ~$50M in development costs itself in 2006. (just like sw development). This cost is normally recovered in the beginning for successful products & then it's helping the bottomline. I would like to see Intel's margins on each processor sold :)

So there is some room for adjustment of prices on the hw side as well (Probably not lower than US prices but atleast on par)
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Yup R&D in case if H/W involves huge costs. Intel earns lots of profit. I agree.

But that is case with all electronic goods. They are priced the same in all countries. Whether you earn or not. They have R&D costs, manufacturing, shipping, dealership, after sales service, local warranty issues(RMA), import duties etc.. etc...

So its not just computer H/W alone. The main reason for difference in computer H/W prices is import duty :@

But for games(not other S/w's) it is like create a good game. Test it properly to check for any bugs. Burn it to DVD's, create serial nos. and make sure you have good network. If the game is good then it will sell and the comp would make profit.

But i guess i am derailing the topic of discussion. So will end my post here. :D
 
^^ Its import duty coupled with low volumes of many items.

Our market is not yet ready for few things.

The low volumes is what triggers bigger margins as India is yet to grasp concept of direct selling model and volume selling model.

Now look at the models of chains like Big Bazaar, they have adopted this model and are doing well. But the difference is they are into fast moving daily needed item business along with other stuff.

Now come to hardware.

The manufacturing cost is fixed. That cant go lower irrespective of target market.

Then there is profit to parent company, shipping, logistics and distribution.

Come to software. Sure it costs millions of $$$ to make a video game, but cost of distribution and replication of media is peanuts.

SO once they make a game, its important for them to make sure they earn money.

In developed countries they can sell at decent price and make money.

But they know it wont sell at equivalent currency conversion price here.

So its only logical for them to get whatever they can. They dont have to invest big in making legit copies available. Media gets replicated, packaged and distributed locally after licensing agreement is reached with game distributor here.

SO instead of earning nothing, they ear a lot in big volumes.

This is the reason for fantastic pricing of PC games here.

Console business is plagued by royalties.
 
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