Wait, does this affect the Humble Bundles as well?The more money you pay, the more the Government gets?
Quote from Clin: November 21, 2015, 11:51:40 amIf you don't like people having the ability to complain about tax move to N KoreaIt doesn't make sense to complain about tax. It's the governments source of income. Same as every other country.Complaining about how that money is spent is a different matter.
If you don't like people having the ability to complain about tax move to N Korea
My theory for digital goods, is that NZ law should be changed so that any digital good (game, tv show, whatever), should be made available by the supplier/copyright owner at the cheapest price anywhere in the world, or it becomes legal to copy it because they are illegally price gouging. Would also apply if they decline to make it available in NZ. It would kill regional pricing dead. To take an example from SteamPrices, currently Silent Hill Homecoming is USD$39.99 (NZD$61.11), GBP£17.99 (NZD$41.81), or EUR€19.99 (NZD$32.54). It's also not currently available on steam in NZ. Under my proposal, it would be legal to pirate it because it's not offered here, but even if it was offered here they would have to price it at the lowest global price(NZD$32.54) or again it would be legal to copy it.It's the logical extension of our pro consumer laws into the global digital marketplace, they can provide the goods at a reasonable price, without price gouging, or they can have their content pirated.I don't really see why we shouldn't extend the pricing requirements to physical goods, I they sell it anywhere in the world at Cost X, the price in NZ should only ever be Cost X + shipping to NZ.
It's the logical extension of our pro consumer laws into the global digital marketplace, they can provide the goods at a reasonable price, without price gouging, or they can have their content pirated.
Quote from Lias: November 23, 2015, 02:39:02 pmIt's the logical extension of our pro consumer laws into the global digital marketplace, they can provide the goods at a reasonable price, without price gouging, or they can have their content pirated.Despite the obvious flaws in your proposal. I'd like to see other markets in NZ be held responsible for blatant price gouging long before videos games/software were looked at.
I don't even know what you're saying right now.Stop smoking meth before breakfast.
That's anti-competitive to the extreme. Anyone who couldn't compete on the price would go out of business (because they are "illegally price gouging", leaving one vendor holding a monopoly, who could then charge what ever they want.Most stupid idea ever.
It's not meant to stop a monopoly, it's meant to ensure that kiwis never pay a cent more than anyone else in the world for a product. If the entire planet is begin squeezed by a monopoly, then so be it, but I doubt that situation would ever happen, someone would innovate around it.
^You're in my cool book.If you don't understand the way goods are priced here you need to look up both "economies of scale" and "distance to market". Both of which pose difficulties to New Zealand businesses.If you try to price gouge anything, anything the next guy in line will take your market share. People are too savvy now, and they're price checking globally, just like us when we buy games.
I'm totally with him on the digital side. It blows my mind that physical media is cheaper than digital in NZ, but unless I'm mistaken he's brought physical consumer goods into his argument and it's simply not the same thing.Example lazy quote: "I don't really see why we shouldn't extend the pricing requirements to physical goods, I they sell it anywhere in the world at Cost X, the price in NZ should only ever be Cost X + shipping to NZ."
The point of regional pricing is because in some regions, people are willing and able to pay more then people in other regions, due to things like average wealth. i.e in NZ, we are generally more wealthy then people in Kyrgyzstan. So you can't charge people in Kyrgyzstan the same price that you would charge people in NZ for a game (i.e $80), because no one in Kyrgyzstan would be able to buy it.Vice versa, if you changed people in NZ for games at the price you charge a Kyrgyz (let say $20), then you no going to make as much money.There will be a sweet spot for every region where a distributor will get the best return for a particular price. It's fully within their right to set that price, they are a business, not a charity. They're there to make a profit.You are not entitled to their product for a certain price, digital media is not a life necessity, it's entertainment. You don't need it, you just want it.It might not be fair, deal with it. There are ways to work around it.Haveing legalisation like Lias suggested which sets the price on digital media is extremely anti-competitive, and a restriction of freedom on how business are allowed to operate. It would also be terrible for our economy.
If the game developers make enough profit off a $20 sale in Poverty-stan for it to be viable to sell at $20 (for a given number of units), then they can make the same profit by selling it in NZ at $20.
