Bargain Hunter: Need To Catch Up On Mafia?

17 responses to “Bargain Hunter: Need To Catch Up On Mafia?”

1. 

   Blake

   August 11, 2010 at 1:09 pm

   Have they returned the price to it’s original value?

   It was released at $59.95 US initially with the first Mafia as a bonus. Within 24 hour it jumped to $89.99 US.

   The original price was enticing, the current price is laughable given that there is no valid reason for it to be so high. If you spoof regions you can get it at much cheaper prices, given there’s no shipping charges to be calculated into the sums, it’s clearly just money grabbing.

   Reply
   1. 

      David Wildgoose

      August 11, 2010 at 1:17 pm

      The Steam price in Australia is US$79.99. The RRP in Australia is AU$99.95. So it’s slightly cheaper (ten bucks or so) on Steam.

      Reply
      1. 

         Riavan

         August 11, 2010 at 1:46 pm

         Except everyone sells for 79.95 instore instead of a 99.95. So it’s not really cheaper and a waste of bandwidth.

         Reply
         1. 

            David Wildgoose

            August 11, 2010 at 2:02 pm

            2K doesn’t control what price retailers actually sell it for. However, 2K can’t say to Steam, “You guys sell it for AU$60, but EB, JB, GAME, etc, you have an RRP of $99.95.” Steam is another retailer and 2K have to play fair across the board.

            This is why you should always shop around.

            Reply
            1. 

               Andrew Burdusel

               August 11, 2010 at 2:31 pm

               Do you know the price that retailers buy these games at? I assume at wholesale prices it would be about 40 – 50 a copy right?

            2. 

               David Wildgoose

               August 11, 2010 at 2:43 pm

               It’s more than that.

            3. 

               Aaron Meacham

               August 11, 2010 at 4:43 pm

               way more than that. for example the price that retailers bought starcraft 2 for was around $69. which means that when Dick Smith and Harvey Norman sold it for $68, they were selling it at a loss.

            4. 

               alinos

               August 11, 2010 at 3:46 pm

               but dave 2k are telling steam what to set the prices as they have no obligation to match the store prices with digital distro.
               most likely they’re pockering the extra

               and the real sign that 2k screws over aussies is that there is normally a 5 dollar markup on dlc something rarely sold in stores until 6 months after release on line

               2k is also the one of a few studios that regularly had this sort of pricing discrimination

               theres also the fact that a digital copy has no box or book

               if they must charge us more 60-70 is much more reasonable than there 79-89

            5. 

               Bob

               August 11, 2010 at 6:31 pm

               Do you think that raising the price like this on steam, might be somewhat questionable.

               Why do we have a $99.95 price tag on our games, shipping costs, exchange rate (back when our dollar was 55cents, I guess everyone forgot to lower the prices when the dollar went up) and staff in the store.

               Now when you buy a game from steam, you can download it from America if you want, you are paying in US dollars, so why should publishers raise the price, because they can? its simply exploiting the fact that we are from Australia, but in reality an American customer can buy the same game, from the same server with the same currency and pay $20-30 less.

               Now I do love steam and there are lots of good deals on there, and not everyone raises the price so much, but you do get cases like Modern Warfare 2 was $90 USD, a $40 hike. I ended up buying it from my local shop which came with a box and a CD, although it was the exact steam version!

               I just can’t help but feel they are shooting themselves in the foot, I was considering getting mafia 2 for the $60 price, but at $80US I’m unsure about it, they could have been happy with selling more units (still at full US price, so they aren’t really losing money) instead try to suck as much money out of us, just because they can.

               Anyway it would be nice to get peoples opinions on this.

   2. 

      visor45

      August 11, 2010 at 3:53 pm

      I came across this site the other day,

      http://www.game-lane.com.au/blog/entry/14-hot-pre-order-for-august-2010-mafia-2-collectors-edition-madden-nfl-11-kane-lynch-2-limited-edition.html

      Mafia II (2) (PC) AU$59.95 (RRP: AU$ 99.95) You Save: 41% FREE SHIPPING

      Mafia II (2) Collector’s Edition (PC) AU84.95 (RRP: AU$ 119.95) You Save: 30% FREE SHIPPING

      Reply
2. 

   Chuloopa

   August 11, 2010 at 1:15 pm

   There TOTALLY needs to be a gangland convention…

   DONCON!

   “Hi, i’m Al Capone and i’ll be seeing YOUS at DONCON 2010 in San Fransisco”

   Reply
   1. 

      MILDLY IRATE VIDEO GAME GUY

      August 11, 2010 at 1:43 pm

      With a guest panel featuring Mick Gatto, Alphonse Gangitano, Carl Williams, Jason Moran, Mark Mora– wait, hmm…

      Reply
3. 

   MrBS

   August 11, 2010 at 1:26 pm

   This might have been a good deal for aussies when the offer launched at USD$49.99 but now that 2K have raised the price to USD$79.99 for the standard edition ro USD$89.99 its hardly a good deal.

   Reply
4. 

   706-2

   August 11, 2010 at 4:29 pm

   I was kind of hoping this would just have a location for a cheap copy of Mafia 1. I’m not really interested in pre-odering Mafia 2 from steam, especially as I’ve never played the first one. Will have to see if any of my mates still have a copy.

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5. 

   johnrs911

   August 11, 2010 at 9:08 pm

   Knew there was a reason I held onto this game. It’s on ebay if anyone is interested 😉

   Reply
6. 

   vash128

   August 11, 2010 at 10:43 pm

   I own the first game but one day when I went to re-install it to give it another spin the second disk snapped in two when I tried to get it out of the cover. 🙁

   Reply
7. 

   Jeremy

   August 13, 2010 at 10:00 am

   Cannot get Mafia to install on Windows 7. Just freezes. Pity the developer is too stingy and stupid to (a) patch the original game as they apparently have the Steam version or (b) sell the original game to entice gamers to pick up the new one when it sells.

   As for 2K’s lame justifications for charging more for digital copies than physical, boxed copies – nothing more than contemptible pablum. If the market worked, the product that costs them less and gives gamers less would be CHEAPER. A lot cheaper. Not more expensive.

   Reply