The most lowest prices in PS stores around the World - is really worth it ?

[Vynzen]

Hello, everyone,

 

For several months I started a little bit to sell all retail (or at least most games) and have to seriously running and thought to focus on digitally downloadable content because of the many benefits that has...

So in this line of thought last week was doing quite a survey of prices in the shops almost Worldwide.

I will share some impressions, I hope more people from different countries to participate in the discussion.

1st want to say that I'm from Eastern Europe where the most common incomes are low to medium. For my region no official PS store, we use the largest European (UK or Germany).

So I personally have the 3 acc at the time - my local + UK and US. My first digital title I bought recently from local 'cause of big discounts

2nd on the other hand my local store is poor, limited and often with high or very high prices. To my regret...

The US is more than outrageous - World rich and varied base, with many discounts on other services, etc. I'd like browse and shop there. And maybe kept cheapest and secure prices.

UK for me personally is damn expensive, but there are quite content and fitting trim.

I noticed an interesting lower prices in other stores Worldwide, of which I have not shopped in person. Indonesia, Hong Kong, Russia, Turkey, UAE, even countries like Romania ...

 

I thought if there search engine  to  ''dig 'n compare'' in all stores earning results poles of lower / higher prices, etc. I found only 2 search engines:

- http://psn4.com/

- http://www.psncompare.com/

 

The first was very simple, but very accurate. While looking at about 7-8 stores Worldwide (probably offer the cheapest possible prices), it turns out that everything coincides literally. This search engine not ''lie'' at all, and each result is accompanied by a price calculated in dollars, image title and a direct link to the particular store. Conveniently definitely, but not enough. At the time I could not find contact details of the author of the site to ask him whether it intends to continue to develop this search engine, such as to include more countries in it?

The second one was difficult to understand, and there things are very chaotic. Prices vary dramatically from sometimes very specific store. Overall, I do not think that is adequate at all with what is happening in the market at the time.

After large-scale review and drawing up a list of games that I want to buy time comes to look for prepaid PSN card for respective countries. But I ''hit a stone'' when I saw ''salty'' prices... 

For example: I liked 5-6 titles in the Russian store worth about 25 Euros or the equivalent in dollars (in my shop they are double or triple this  value), I found the most advantageous prepaid PSN card for Russian currency, but it was that it is twice as big than it will pay for the games (almost 50 euros). In this case the games do not come cheap at all ... Much the same applies to stores in Indonesia, Hong Kong and etc - all places where many titles go ''profitable'' (but always seemed like more expensive).

 

Over my head already come many q's, hoping in this topic so I can answer, and anyone who does not know of course, namely:

 

- How come these huge price differences? From my shop to Indonesian differences start from 10-20 euros sometimes reaching up to 50 !!! The ''temptation'' is great, but do not know ''what pleasure what price is real'' ?

- Are there games that are locked according to region? I.e. if I make a Hong Kong acc and shopping through it, but lives in Germany, would you have a problem with running this Hong Kong games ? Or should I just stick to European acc / stores? Rather, I would like to know if there is Lock on can be rather continental basis (Asia, Africa, Europe, America, etc. ?)

- In a significant part of titles not mentioned the presence of English audio and subtitles. Not write on the page and in the description too. If I buy/download game and it proved with English audio and Russian subtitles...  Is there any way this can be understood before I buy the product ?

- How many acc allowed by Sony to make a man of 1 console and should it be limited according to country / region / continent ?

- Can a owner receive a punishment as if there / login using 10 different countries and continents ? Is there any worries for sanctions?

- What are most suitable / safe and to guarantee or confirm / delivery / maintenance sites for the sale of prepaid cards for different countries? Such that they work fine with PayPal, for example ?

- And which sites Worldwide (secure ones) offer / sort / sell  profitably / down / cheap digital titles for PS3 / PS4 ? Where can I monitor the latest information ?

 

That's it for now what I remember, I hope I'm not boring with my questions... I'll read all the answers with interest.

 

PS.. Apologies for the NOT most precise writing, punctuation and grammatical English, but so are my knowledge. I hope at least some of understood !

[patrickogorman19]

Wouldn't be surprised If Australia was the most expensive.

[AffectatiousDonk]

Australia is very expensive most of the time, ironically though still cheaper often than the two major games retailers here

Edited February 15, 2016 by cjshaitan

[Kubanga]

Canada is really expensive.

[superJCwarrior]

I find Canada to be cheap, for sales at least. They usually get the same discounts as the US but since I'm from the UK, the exchange rate is really good, £1=$2.

I bought Sniper Elite 3 Ultimate Edition and Knack for a little under £10 the other day.

[Kubanga]

It may be cheap for sales but regular pricing is god awful.

[superJCwarrior]

It may be cheap for sales but regular pricing is god awful.

I think the same can to be said for every region on regular prices, best to wait for sales or buy physical copies.

[TheYuriG]

Buy in Brazil, our currency is like shit now so you can buy everything for around half of the US price. Seriously, make the conversion.

There is no punishment as long as you don't buy vita games.

[DaivRules]

 

- How come these huge price differences? From my shop to Indonesian differences start from 10-20 euros sometimes reaching up to 50 !!! The ''temptation'' is great, but do not know ''what pleasure what price is real'' ?

 

PS.. Apologies for the NOT most precise writing, punctuation and grammatical English, but so are my knowledge. I hope at least some of understood !

 

 

The huge difference in prices stems from many things but goes back further than any official documentation I'm sure.

 

The idea is this: If someone creates content, it's their right to get the most amount of money for it. People who don't want to pay, don't have to, they just don't get access to it. Now, setting a price that may be "reasonable" in one country/region, may be completely out of reach for another country/region. In order to make some money and be capitalistic, it was decided to limit distribution to the poorer regions at a lower price, with the expectation that the content would stay in that region. This has never actually worked physically as intended as it undermines the concept of "the market." Enter digital media. By region locking content, it can be sold at whatever price is "reasonable" to that particular region. The content will not be re-sold because it's digital and locked to an account. The percentage of people who purchased region-free DVD players or, to stay relevant to this topic, have created multiple region accounts on PSN is likely .001% of the total PSN population. Because of accounting practices, content distributors can justify each regions sales/income relative to that region.

 

This also helps stagger releases. Typically a country like Russia will get movies first because studios KNOW that movies will be pirated and sold for roughly $1 a piece the second they hit the Russian market. Saturating that market first gains them the most profit they can get, then they distribute into less risky regions will less pirating. 

 

This happens with practically every kind of good you can think of. Food, medicine, entertainment, everything is priced subjectively to it's region. There are few exceptions, usually limited to luxury items.

 

TL;DR: If PSN content were forced to be one currency, Sony would likely price it in Yen and shit would be super-expensive all over the world and would change prices daily, if not weekly based on the current exchange rates. 

[Jacob_Neal01]

The UK isn't too bad for general prices, but I find we rarely get sales. Maybe just whenever I look. In store though, brand new games go for around £40-£60 depending on the game. I like to buy pre-owned as I have no money

I find eBay is very useful if you don't mind a) Second hand games and waiting for delivery