Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - £34.73

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - £34.73 delivered

Apply code "HWalk" to get £3 off.

£3 off £35 at Zavvi

Updated post on this can be found here.

Fallout 3, GOTY Edition, PC - £17.48

Fallout 3, GOTY Edition, PC - £17.48 delivered

This includes all 5 pieces of DLC, which cost roughly £30 seperately. I can vouch for at least 3 of the 5 being great (Operation Anchorage is only OK, and I've not played Mothership Zeta).

Maths with THQ

Red Faction Guerilla is this week's weekend special on Steam. This game normally costs £34.99/€49.99/$39.99 on steam, but the weekend special has brought the price of Red Faction Guerilla down by 25%. It is now £26.24/€37.49/$29.99. The UK and EU price of the game is still higher when it is on weekend special than the standard USA price.

To add insult to injury, Saints Row 2, a game by not only the same publisher, but the same developer, is priced much more sensibly at £14.99/€19.99/$29.99.

This table shows the prices for the two THQ/Volition games on Steam in the three regions and three currencies:



The astronomical inconsistency in international pricing between these two games is certainly frustrating. You have to assume that THQ have chosen this pricing strategy simply because it will make them more money. It is essentially price discrimination, the equivalent of looking at customers walk into a shop, and gauging how much to charge them based on how rich they appear.

I don't know exactly what we should be doing here. How steam used to work, where everyone paid in dollars exchanged into their currency at the exchange rate when the transaction occurs seems like it might be better for most people outside of the USA, although as SR2 proves this is not always the case.

How steam currently works is that the publisher sets a specific price for each region. These prices are generally roughly comparable to each other based on exchange rates at the time, however, if the publisher wants to charge more in one region, they are completely allowed to do so.

Were it up to me, I would still allow this practise, however, I would also regulate it a bit more. I would say some kind of rule where no game was allowed to be sold for (say) 10% +/- the price of the same game in another region, and could be reviewed monthly with regard to currency fluctuations. This would give publishers a margin for error, but prevent them gouging different regions just because they can.

Perhaps the whole thing is academic anyway, since RFG is far cheaper to get at retail:
Red Faction: Guerilla, PC - £17.99 delivered