World's Worst in Videogames: Sony's War on Imports Edition
Another terrible thing Sony has done, this time in the name of profits: they have officially sued importer Lik-Sang out of business (story: http://www.planetgamecube.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=12287).
Lik-Sang has been one of the largest importers for hardware and software purchases. This has especially been important in Europe and Australia, who often get games and systems months, sometimes years, after the releases in the US and Japan. Sometimes, they import games that you can only get in US or Japan.
Well, Sony didn't like that Europe can get a PS3 this year. Sony, among some others, has been hounding Lik-Sang and similar importers to keep people from buying non-local versions of consoles and games.
Why? Simply for profit. Europe, Australia, heck, every non-US/Japanese market get large mark-ups in prices. Often, games from Japan can be cheaper then local versions, despite importing fees.
The main problem I have is that this is only the first step toward trying to kill all alternative markets, including the used bins.
Those who think that digital distribution will be better are kidding themselves. Looking at Steam pricing for Half Life 2 (as listed on Steam's official site), you can spend $30 (with only Half Life 2 and its Lost Coast demo; not even multiplayer), $60 for the entire Half Life 2 collection of games, or $80 for the complete Half Life Collection (all the games from both Half Life 1 and 2). On the other hand, the current retail Game of the Year Edition is $30, and it includes all the pre-Episode 1 games (minus Day of Defeat Source).
Killing competition is a bad thing for the market. It destroys not only alternatives, but any incentive for Sony to do better. That's why Sony, once again, gets the Worst in Videogames Award.
Lik-Sang has been one of the largest importers for hardware and software purchases. This has especially been important in Europe and Australia, who often get games and systems months, sometimes years, after the releases in the US and Japan. Sometimes, they import games that you can only get in US or Japan.
Well, Sony didn't like that Europe can get a PS3 this year. Sony, among some others, has been hounding Lik-Sang and similar importers to keep people from buying non-local versions of consoles and games.
Why? Simply for profit. Europe, Australia, heck, every non-US/Japanese market get large mark-ups in prices. Often, games from Japan can be cheaper then local versions, despite importing fees.
The main problem I have is that this is only the first step toward trying to kill all alternative markets, including the used bins.
Those who think that digital distribution will be better are kidding themselves. Looking at Steam pricing for Half Life 2 (as listed on Steam's official site), you can spend $30 (with only Half Life 2 and its Lost Coast demo; not even multiplayer), $60 for the entire Half Life 2 collection of games, or $80 for the complete Half Life Collection (all the games from both Half Life 1 and 2). On the other hand, the current retail Game of the Year Edition is $30, and it includes all the pre-Episode 1 games (minus Day of Defeat Source).
Killing competition is a bad thing for the market. It destroys not only alternatives, but any incentive for Sony to do better. That's why Sony, once again, gets the Worst in Videogames Award.
posted by SeanM at 12:11 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home