54,55€ = 75,44$ for us here in Europe. Standard Edition. Cool right?

75,44$ for 5days headstart buying off of the official store.

34,99$ for 3days headstart from g2a.

Almost DOUBLE the price!!!

No I am not here to make advertisment, I am just showing you how insane the differences are.

What are you gonna do who have not bought the game yet but are about to do so?

You're lucky, if you purchase it in pounds sterling it works out even more expensive from the official store. (￡69.99 for the Imperial pre order)

Yeah, I'm in USA and considered pre-ordering the physical imperial edition on a UK site because they were sold out here at the time. It was an extra $50. That is just crazy.

Expect a lot of incoming replies about how you're too poor to play video games, how companies have a right to charge whatever they want, and how criticizing anything, ever, is a pointless exercise. (In other words: people doing what people do, which is supporting the status quo, because humans are inherently conservative and we are driven to defend what we know rather than question it.)

I am about to write a ticket to Bethesda what is keeping them to not lowering the price yet. I see no point why I should pay almost Double the prize for two lousy days early access while the experience will remain the same.

You'll get some standard rehearsed response similar to the one I got, no doubt. (just keep it polite, though I am sure you would be doing so anyway!)

I am pondering on if guys who think this is outrageous have ever bought any other game or bought anything in their entire life that is shipped from another country.

Currency differs all over the world, except for in EU where some countries have the same currency. Also different taxes etc.

Do you react this way for every other game?
Call me a moron but this is how it has always been.

I don't understand. If like you said, the experience remains the same, what's stopping you from buying the game where it's cheapest? Do you really care so much about these two more days? They're nothing in the long run unless you're hardcoe as [censored] and need to be the first to do everything (you probably won't be anyway).

116 dollars 90 cents compared to 80 dollars - that''s the UK price first, and the US price. The EU charges VAT on online services (I forget the amount but it is not more than 20 percent) so 80 plus 16 is 96. That is one heck of a margin left for currency fluctuation, I make it 20 dollars and 90 cents, or just over 25% of the original US purchase price. And by the way I have bought overseas software since the first Everquest expansion was released back in the days of having to import a physical copy.

VAT in europe can reach up to a quarter of the products price.

In portugal its 24% of most products and rarely 13% on some of the rest, thats right, 1/4 of the price is taxes alone...

I still found an online standard edition for 35€ out of which 1€ or so went to charity, best deal I found. Losing 2 days early access, worth it.

I automatically went for the more expensive official version from their own shop because I want to support the game, and I want their subscription model to be a success - I was just highlighting a difference in price points for the different territories though.

I'm talking about the UK.

Just think about the aussie and the british and you will found it your price is 'acceptable'.

I remember steam used to charge USD for me in UK and i was literally buying games 'half price' compare to the retail price. I have also bought game online and international shipping too. The cost that they charged you compare to international shipping (not express) is well over the top.

Y, im just saying EUROPE as a whole has far more taxes to deal with it.

How gamers are so impatient and addicted to this form of entertainment that they can't wait for release day, can't wait for the price to drop, can't wait to quit out of boredom and purchase the next overpriced game.

Making the prices up but they are around this sort of difference

I can but game xyz for ￡35 at my local Tesco/Asda Supermarket

I can buy the same game for ￡49 from Game retail store

Or I can download the digital one on my PS3/4 for ￡59

I suspect Zenimax is charging what they consider to be the recommended retail price for their product, and if other retail stores want to sell it for less, that is their choice (and I prefer it when this happens rather when a company fixes a price so where ever yo buy it, its exactly the same)

I have seen very very very few digital products that sell for the US price in the UK (just using the current exchange rate), normally when you can do this, they are simply a small US organisation willing to sell a few people in the UK, rather than a company actively marketing a product on the UK.

I used to play on the US Lotro servers when the EU servers were still running and everything I bought on those servers was the US price. Then they merged the EU operations and I could no longer buy for the US price, and the price went up a fair bit because of this.

Always happens, companies make a product and make up prices so that they get their money back and make a good profit.

They don't make up a price for one country then use exchange rates to work out the others, they make up a price for each region based on what they think the market is prepared to pay.

When it comes to actual products as opposed to digital products, more things come into play for example under the sale of goods act in the UK, my expensive synthesizer has a 2 year warranty with the manufacture, but I could claim up to 5 years using the act. Whereas I've read about people in the US buying with as little as 6 months warranty and no consumer law like the EU has to protect them. I'm pretty sure they raise the EU price accordingly due to the extra support they are obliged to give.

Not saying I think it's right mind you, I think I should be able to order anything anywhere in the world and pay in the local currency at the local price and then pay the appropriate import tax my country charges,.

I'm simply saying how it is and Zenimax are acting no different from anyone else.saying

I was reading a post on another forum where someone ordered about ￡90 worth of clothes from the US , by the time import duties, tax, handling charges were added, the price almost doubled. .

There are ways to get the Imperial Edition for 64$ / 47€ - just look it up the internet. Easy.

But still, the official shop prices should be avoided at all cost, if Bethesda does not consider lowering them accordingly to what is offered elsewhere, legally.

If you are not from the US do this:

1. Get a proxy, google chrome has one in its app store hola better internet is the name.

2. Set it to US.

3. Websites will now think you are from there and will let you pay the US price not the UK or EU one... you can get the game for 40ish $ not for 50Eur.

I am not sure why ZENIMAX wants you to pay 55Eur(75$) vs 45$ but i did the extra work to get the game cheaper simply because i if i had gotten it for 55Eur i would have had that feeling... like a picture of a Zenimax employee laughing his ass off thinking europeans are idiots or something...

I also found game cards for less that their 12.99Eur/month(17.82$) sub and i`ll get that too for the same reason.

WHAT ? 40$ ?? we are getting totally ripped-off in europe , 60€ for the standard edition thats about 82$ ? that's more than double the price??!

But I guess it is because the average wage in Europe (western& northern Europe) is higher than US' but still , it's not human lol and UK prob. pays even more than us .

UK time cards(￡6.99/€9 well I think they cost this 'much' ) are alot cheaper tough...

A while ago, a guy I knew drove a German import and he used to complain that not only the price of parts were inflated but the labor charged by the mechanic was also inflated.

Perhaps in addition to the VAT, the game support expenses are higher in Europe compared to the U.S. and Bethesda is building that into the price of the game. What are the costs to run the servers compared to the U.S. and the support costs compared to the U.S.?

The U.S. is ruthless about labor cost and as a result has a relatively low minimum wage compared to other countries. While customer support often doesn't usually get paid the minimum wage, the minimum wage is the bar that pegs the wage rate for many service sector jobs, including customer support related jobs.

In Finland if you are unlucky and did not order this retail box in good time for 99 euros, now you will pay 147€ for this box.
Usa gets always the cheapest bargains...
This is Imperial edition prices...

If that was the case I would expect to see it reflected in the subscription charges, but using the same conversion rate I used earlier in the thread the UK subscription charge is less than 2 cents more expensive than the US subscription charge.

think of it from a pvp sense of view this is an american game made by american developers and if you want to join our american game then you gotta pay our price

Think of the subscription as covering the variable costs.

The fixed costs are upfront costs. The servers would have to be purchased/rented and set up and the support staff would have to be hired before players began playing the game and at minimum thirty days before actually paying their first month of subscription.

And your explanation for the difference between the UK and EU? (Of which we are a part, albeit with our own currency)