Image: Aelanna Tesla/Flickr
Over the last couple of months, Australians have been slugged extra charges thanks to changes in the GST law. Video games are no exception to this, but fortunately some developers are using the forced impost to have some fun.
In an email to backers and a post on the official website, Cloud Imperium Games announced that thanks to the Federal Government, they would be discounting several of their ships following changes to GST law.
“In an effort to help our Australian citizens and as we have done previously when the EU implemented VAT, we are offering several of our most wanted ships prior to this change,” the post read.
Because the GST changes are specific to Australians, CIG has restricted the sale by emailing out individual codes to backers down under. It’ll run until tomorrow, when the GST changes come into effect.
It’s worth noting that most of the ships “on sale” aren’t really cheap. The RSI Aurora LX is available for $US30, but apart from that every other ship on offer will set you back at least $US125, with the most expensive weighing in at $US350.
I wouldn’t advise against dropping that amount of money for in-game purchases, but hey, it’s your money. If you’ve been holding off on grabbing an Anvil Crucible or an Origin 350R, you can check out the offers here.
Update: As fellow Kotaku writer Luke pointed out to me, the changes to GST were actually delayed by a year. They won’t come into effect until September 1 next year. Here’s the guidance from the ATO’s website:
The Federal Parliament has passed law that will extend Goods and Services Tax (GST) to low value imports of physical goods imported by consumers from 1 July 2018.
Businesses that meet the A$75,000 registration threshold will need to take action now to review their business systems to ensure that they are able to comply.
The existing processes to collect GST on imports above $1,000 at the border are unchanged.
If we hear back from Cloud Imperium Games as to what’s going on – it could just be a case of crossed wires – we’ll let you know.
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