http://www.steamprices.com/eu/topripoffs

A lot of titles cost over 50% more in the EU compared to the US.

Australia is even worse!

Meh, don't buy from Steam then. It's called consumer choice. There are plenty of other places where consumers can buy their games.

As for me, I just wait until the games on Steam go on sale to get them unless it's that rare instance where I feel compelled to get a game on release.

Goes both ways, so not ideal to look at just one side of the coin. A couple of titles I had been interested in are 50% to 100% cheaper for European customers.

And I've seen a few European flight simulator addon developers price their products by simply swapping a Dollar sign for the Euro sign. Sticker shock of a $55 Euro addon aircraft doesn't settle in until the shopping cart does the conversion to $80 to $90+ USD.

Cripes! We are used to paying over the odds on hardware etc in 'Rip off Britain' lol, but I did not realise the disparity in software prices, its frikkin huge! Even worse for the Eurozone and Aussies like you say. What possible justification for this can there be in a download/digital medium even accounting for VAT differences? Call the cyber cops! Officer, arrest that...err, 'internet p*ss taking entity'....

Bollocks. Like Panzer says however, you can always go elsewhere. Doesn't make it right, though.

EDI: Just saw adlabs comment that the converse can be true....but its still well dodgy.

And how do we know these pricing disparities are coming from Steam? Perhaps it's the game publishers themselves or the commerce laws from different countries that are the main causes?

This is possible of course Panzer, maybe its a combination of these factors. do you know of any country or Eurozone specific 'commerce laws' that could be applicable and explain the difference? Not familiar with the law at all in this area. I find it highly unlikely in explaining the entire disparity on its own, but maybe its possible. In any event I'm sure steam is getting a nice slice of the pie. Like yourself however, I only really buy things on sale.....and to be fair I've had a few good bargains.

If you want cheap games buy them @ gamersgate.com. I buy all my stuff there. They've got crazy sales all the time.

That is what I'm betting.

Considering the disparity in consumer transaction laws (sales taxes, VAT taxes, tariffs, regulations, etc.) I'm surprised it's not worse.

Some places are cheaper to do busIness in than others.

Could be taxation issues. Could be extra cost of processing credit card transactions from certain countries over others...I know that credit card processing companies really piss off the majority of small retailers at least several times a year.

Then again, it also could be the marketing department is sitting around on it's lazy butt and just picking a number that sounds nice "hmm...something with a 99 in it? Yea!" and then tacking on whatever currency symbol! Probably not, but it does make you wonder.

Years ago, maybe around 2002? I ordered a racing sim called "Swedish Touring Car Championship", I think it was made by DICE maybe? Anyway, it wasn't being imported to north america, and I'd loved the demo so I really wanted to buy the full game for the extra tracks. I finally found an online retailer in England who sold it, but they said "uh, we only ship in Europe", and I told them it wasn't available here and I was willing to pay the extra for shipping, so they thankfully processed it. Anyway, at that time a typical PC racing game cost about $45-55 Canadian. My cost for STCC when it arrived in the mail? About $120 Canadian!!! Costly, and I started to doubt whether it was worth the price...but upon doing my first race in it, I was pleased and felt it was still worth that price. Drove that sim for 4 years.

Perhaps prices are normal everywhere else but we're just getting a hell of a discount in the US?
Yea Steam!

One thing that is beyond any dispute is that compared to other forms of entertainment like movies, concerts, sporting events, etc., the cost of pc games over the past 20 years has been incredibly well below any inflation level.

The publisher mostly choose the prices on Steam.
The same publishers that make sure prices everywhere else are pretty high as well.

The good thing is/are the sales on Steam, you usually don't find such sales in electronic stores where games usually cost roughly the same and new PS3 games for example are often 70�...
Concerning the latter, I often order from the UK, as they're usually 20-50� cheaper there...

I usually think about what a game is worth to me and then wait until I can get it for that price, not really problematic.
Part of the problem may be people who just accept these prices and buy anyway, the whole consumer choice narrative seems more like a US thing to me, in Europe they may find more people willing to pay the higher price and see no reason to reduce it. Just a guess though.

+1

Why does Apple sell iPad 2's for $500 USD? Because they can.

Yes Steam is weird.

I now buy more games.

But I now never rarely buy games on release. Shogun 2, a game I would have usually preordered, because of my vast catolog of buying "more games", has not QUITE hit the price point for me at $29.99. I'm hungry for it, but I'll wait til a nice sale. There is no way I won't own it, but I can wait to play it. Steam taught me that. Before, if you don't pick it up in the first 6 months, it my disappear from shelves. Now that's never a problem, it just gets more affordable. I THINK the gaming industry has more of my money, but I can't tell for sure...

FYI, Shogun 2 has now been reduced to 29.99 on Steam.

You want to get something on Steam for US prices...no problem.

We do this for a friend of ours who lives in the Netherlands.

We buy the game on Steam at US Price and then gift the game to him.He then sends me the cost of the game through Paypal.

There paid US prices for the game you wanted.Just make sure it is someone you really trust and your good to go.

If you think Steam is bad, try buying anything from Adobe...

Or $25 for Shogun + 2 of the DLC here: http://www.getgamesgo.com/category/total-war

FWIW, if you order from there you can just take your key and activate/download through steam, since the game uses steam wherever you purchase it, digital or DVD.