# Why are PC games so cheap on launch in India ?



## darkv0id (Feb 21, 2013)

It seems so strange to me that even AAA titles mostly launch at the $20 price point in our country, even as people in the US (or any other country) have to pay $60 or more for the PC release (at least until the Steam sales). And barely 3-4 months after launch they get further discounts eg- AC3, Hitman: Absolution @ Flipkart.

Considering how we are ripped off when it comes to most software and tech products, one would expect PC games to cost, idk, maybe $80 or something.

So why do you guys think we get a better deal than even the people who themselves reside in country where the game was developed ?

Thoughts ?


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## cyborg47 (Feb 21, 2013)

Smaller user base, its smarter to sell games at 20$ and make profit rather than 80$ with nobody buying them. Its odd though, people still buy call of duty like sheep


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## darkv0id (Feb 21, 2013)

cyborg47 said:


> Smaller user base, its smarter to sell games at 20$ and make profit rather than 80$ with nobody buying them. Its odd though, people still buy call of duty like sheep



Hmm... makes sense. But still, doesn't it strike you as odd that the console editions of the same game is are priced at $60 (same as the US), but only the PC versions are cheaper?


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## ghouse12311 (Feb 21, 2013)

darkv0id said:


> Hmm... makes sense. But still, doesn't it strike you as odd that the console editions of the same game is are priced at $60 (same as the US), but only the PC versions are cheaper?



thats cause you can re sell your console games or just lend it to someone but pc games are attached to your steam or origin account and cannot be re sold or you cant just lend it to someone


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## darkv0id (Feb 21, 2013)

Hadn't thought of the reselling part... thanks.


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## Sarang\m/ (Feb 21, 2013)

India has a very small userbase. There are many many people who wouldn't buy the game. They just pirate them. So they sell the games at low prices so at least people go out to actually buy the games.


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## Digital Fragger (Feb 21, 2013)

1. average income is way less here.
2. piracy.
3. smaller userbase.


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## Harsh Pranami (Feb 21, 2013)

darkv0id said:


> It seems so strange to me that even AAA titles mostly launch at the $20 price point in our country, even as people in the US (or any other country) have to pay $60 or more for the PC release (at least until the Steam sales). And barely 3-4 months after launch they get further discounts eg- AC3, Hitman: Absolution @ Flipkart.
> 
> Considering how we are ripped off when it comes to most software and tech products, one would expect PC games to cost, idk, maybe $80 or something.
> 
> ...


I've read somewhere that XBOX and PS3 games dvd are imported from outside while the PC versions are made in india only. Thats why.


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## theserpent (Feb 21, 2013)

People earn more in usa.


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## cyborg47 (Feb 21, 2013)

Harsh Pranami said:


> I've read somewhere that XBOX and PS3 games dvd are imported from outside while the PC versions are made in india only. Thats why.



That's also true


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## nikufellow (Feb 21, 2013)

simple answer:
indian literacy rate - 74% , piracy rate - 98%


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## cyborg47 (Feb 21, 2013)

nikufellow said:


> simple answer:
> indian literacy rate - 74% , piracy rate - 98%



Oh hello sir! care to provide the source please?


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## quicky008 (Feb 21, 2013)

Due to their cheaper prices,the quality of PC games available in India often takes a backseat-for instance,if you buy an imported game,you'll see the quality of packaging for it will be much better and the disc itself will be in pristine condition and will have no scratches at all-this however,is not the case with the games that are manufactured in India.I bought a couple of games recently as i was attracted to their low price tags,however to my dismay,I found that all the discs were badly scratched and it seemed they were bootlegged copies,not original versions.


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## tkin (Feb 21, 2013)

darkv0id said:


> It seems so strange to me that even AAA titles mostly launch at the $20 price point in our country, even as people in the US (or any other country) have to pay $60 or more for the PC release (at least until the Steam sales). And barely 3-4 months after launch they get further discounts eg- AC3, Hitman: Absolution @ Flipkart.
> 
> Considering how we are ripped off when it comes to most software and tech products, one would expect PC games to cost, idk, maybe $80 or something.
> 
> ...


Three words, Purchasing Power Parity 



quicky008 said:


> *Due to their cheaper prices,the quality of PC games available in India often takes a backseat-for instance,if you buy an imported game,you'll see the quality of packaging for it will be much better and the disc itself will be in pristine condition and will have no scratches at all-this however,is not the case with the games that are manufactured in India.I bought a couple of games recently as i was attracted to their low price tags,however to my dismay,I found that all the discs were badly scratched and it seemed they were bootlegged copies,not original versions.*




Did you buy them from a street vendor? I and many others here bought many games from flipkart, hs18 etc and from local malls and none had any issues, discs were in pristine condition and scratch free, so was the packaging.


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## NVIDIAGeek (Feb 21, 2013)

And we like it to be that cheap, thanks.


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## nikufellow (Feb 21, 2013)

cyborg47 said:


> Oh hello sir! care to provide the source please?



Sorry govt surveys doesn't include piracy 'column' for me provide you with sources but am pretty sure it'll be damn high , there is no point arguing that all are 'honest' but for literacy rate a google search will yield you proper results .



NVIDIAGeek said:


> And we like it to be that cheap, thanks.



lol true


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## cyborg47 (Feb 21, 2013)

Ofcourse not all are honest, but its kinda vague to say that 98% of the gamers in india are pirates.


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## Allu Azad (Feb 21, 2013)

I am afraid , they may see this thread and hike the price


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## nikufellow (Feb 21, 2013)

cyborg47 said:


> Ofcourse not all are honest, but its kinda vague to say that 98% of the gamers in india are pirates.



not gamers i was talking about sotware piracy in general,at least my experiences makes me believe so , i maybe wrong but for me it looks to me like maybe 1 or 2 in each 1000 gamers are willing to shell out real money , again that could just a matter of me not having enough exposure btw as of now i'll stick to my inference .


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## arijitsinha (Feb 21, 2013)

Well regarding softwares you can tell 99% are pirates excluding Windows. And 1% belongs to Antivirus. But I think here at least 10-20% Gamers buy original games.


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## cyborg47 (Feb 21, 2013)

nikufellow said:


> not gamers i was talking about sotware piracy in general,at least my experiences makes me believe so , i maybe wrong but for me it looks to me like maybe 1 or 2 in each 1000 gamers are willing to shell out real money , again that could just a matter of me not having enough exposure btw as of now i'll stick to my inference .





arijitsinha said:


> Well regarding softwares you can tell 99% are pirates excluding Windows. And 1% belongs to Antivirus. But I think here at least 10-20% Gamers buy original games.



Ugh..software piracy(in general personal computing sense) is hopelessly rampant in india.


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## NVIDIAGeek (Feb 21, 2013)

C'mon people, let's all be happy it's cheap and that we can afford it. Why fight? [I also mean, why discuss?]


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## Nerevarine (Feb 21, 2013)

Its not just PC games, look at Kaspersky Internet security.. 
On the official site, its 50$ for 1 pc 1 year but on flipkart , its only Rs 500..
I still dont understand the reason why this is so..
Is there a difference between those two versions ?


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## RCuber (Feb 21, 2013)

Nerevarine said:


> Its not just PC games, look at Kaspersky Internet security..
> On the official site, its 50$ for 1 pc 1 year but on flipkart , its only Rs 500..
> I still dont understand the reason why this is so..
> Is there a difference between those two versions ?



nope.. same version, also if you see INR pricing of the same you would see it would be higher in download version.


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## arijitsinha (Feb 21, 2013)

RCuber said:


> nope.. same version, also if you see INR pricing of the same you would see it would be higher in download version.



Yeah.. thats what I wonder. I have seen in Amazon also, Some games prices are higher for download versions.
Download version = No Disc Costs,Packaging charges,shipping charges. Then why is it?


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## Fog (Feb 21, 2013)

arijitsinha said:


> Yeah.. thats what I wonder. I have seen in Amazon also, Some games prices are higher for download versions.
> Download version = No Disc Costs,Packaging charges,shipping charges. Then why is it?



I put my mind to this
and I thought because

the download version is basically you buying from the original site e.g Steam

if the price of dload on steam is 49$ then to get a profit the seller must sell at a price above 49$

however if you import say 1k CDS of games you are bound to get heavy discounts from the original shops

hence price gets cut..


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## ithehappy (Feb 21, 2013)

nikufellow said:


> simple answer:
> indian literacy rate - 74%


What're you taking bro?


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## tkin (Feb 21, 2013)

NVIDIAGeek said:


> C'mon people, let's all be happy it's cheap and that we can afford it. Why fight? [I also mean, why discuss?]


If they raise prices because of seeing this thread, I'll curse some people to hell(and I can do that, heritage    )



Nerevarine said:


> Its not just PC games, look at Kaspersky Internet security..
> On the official site, its 50$ for 1 pc 1 year but on flipkart , its only Rs 500..
> I still dont understand the reason why this is so..
> Is there a difference between those two versions ?


Kaspersky 500/-, 90/100 people buy, kaspersky 2500/-, more avast or avira or avg.


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## theserpent (Feb 21, 2013)

Well like i said..In Other countries 
On a average a person earns about 25$+/day(Even a person who works in MCD can easily get 30-50$ average a day)..compared to about 5$/day in India.


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## Nerevarine (Feb 21, 2013)

tkin said:


> If they raise prices because of seeing this thread, I'll curse some people to hell(and I can do that, heritage    )
> 
> 
> Kaspersky 500/-, 90/100 people buy, kaspersky 2500/-, more avast or avira or avg.



My point is, Kaspersky and other companies, leech so much money from us.. even though more than a 70% discount would give them good profits..
50$=Rs 2500
Rs 500 for india..


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## gameranand (Feb 21, 2013)

Well its simple. They all know the condition of India. I mean when games are at 999 INR then also only 10-20 % gamers buy them. Imagine the condition when its like 2500 INR./ No one would buy that so its a business strategy that get whatever you can get. Also here the per capita income is way too low as compared to USA and similar.


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## tkin (Feb 21, 2013)

Nerevarine said:


> My point is, Kaspersky and other companies, leech so much money from us.. even though more than a 70% discount would give them good profits..
> 50$=Rs 2500
> Rs 500 for india..


That's the main issue in softwares, there is no raw material needed, so cost is measured in man hours and resources like electricity or hardware, so ultimately the pricing can be whatever they want, take for example, look at revenue or Oracle, or Microsoft, or even Adobe, adobe's softwares cost more than a kidney, but if they costed that much to produce or even 80% of the product costs adobe would never make so much profit, same with microsoft, that's why they gave Win 8 at 3k and still maintained a profit by selling overpriced office and other softwares.

This guys nailed it right: Do you think that Adobe software is overpriced? - Crowdsourcing Questions & Answers

Back to games, while I think game prices are justified in USA, not so here, lets take an example, a movie ticket here is how much, 200/-?(in kolkata you can watch 3d movies for 99/- in the morning), in USA its $10 avg right? Now, a game is 5 times the price of movie tickets in USA, so here is 5x200=1k for PC, justified, not so for consoles.


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## darkv0id (Feb 21, 2013)

tkin said:


> That's the main issue in softwares, there is no raw material needed, so cost is measured in man hours and resources like electricity or hardware, so ultimately the pricing can be whatever they want, take for example, look at revenue or Oracle, or Microsoft, or even Adobe, adobe's softwares cost more than a kidney, but if they costed that much to produce or even 80% of the product costs adobe would never make so much profit, same with microsoft, that's why they gave Win 8 at 3k and still maintained a profit by selling overpriced office and other softwares.



So basically they try to maximize revenue by decreasing the price, and in turn, increasing the sales 
And since the cost of producing and packaging the discs is still much less than $20, they still make a profit.

Have I got it right?


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## RCuber (Feb 21, 2013)

Anyone who has a original game disk (box) on hand, look at the back side and see where it was manufactured. I can't check right now as i'm in office


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## tkin (Feb 21, 2013)

darkv0id said:


> So basically they try to maximize revenue by decreasing the price, and in turn, increasing the sales
> And since the cost of producing and packaging the discs is still much less than $20, they still make a profit.
> 
> Have I got it right?


Yes, exactly.



RCuber said:


> Anyone who has a original game disk (box) on hand, look at the back side and see where it was manufactured. I can't check right now as i'm in office


I have 2 game packs in front of me, Dirt 3 says made in India by sony dadc mumbai and distributed by zapak, HAWX 2 is made in Poland and imported by e-Xpress in India.


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## darkv0id (Feb 21, 2013)

tkin said:


> Yes, exactly.



Okay..thanks for helping me out.

Actually, I was somewhat overwhelmed at the response to this thread. It feels nice when the community comes together to answer even such seemingly trivial questions.

So.. thanks everyone


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## logout20 (Feb 25, 2013)

ithehappy said:


> What're you taking bro?



what're you talking..indian literacy rate = 74 %...

and btw "yar sabji bhaji aur petrol,diesel kharidne ke bad kya bachta hai ek middile class{85 % india} indian ke pass"


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## sam_738844 (Feb 25, 2013)

logout20 said:


> what're you talking..indian literacy rate = 74 %...
> 
> and btw "yar sabji bhaji aur petrol,diesel kharidne ke bad kya bachta hai ek middile class{85 % india} indian ke pass"



he meant what do you try to imply here? just because India has a literacy rate of 74%, we should not/must not/cant afford to play games because "PC games are so cheap on launch in India"?? Do you even perceive how much absurdity your post posses? 

People in India, has money...now listen...people in india has money to buy a scooter after 16 years of travelling in a n-crowded bus, people have money in india to buy a TV where there is 12 hours powercut, people in india have money to invest on a dance bar with a distressed sense of lust, people in India have Money to pay for prostitution...You know what people of India have money for ? For Entertainment, its the biggest signicant need after the stomach...Its perspective they pay for. Even you are not posting in this thread to enhance literacy..its a different version of entertainment, it has values in life...know it...its different for every people, and for gamers..it may be life. its time you smelled the coffe


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## Nerevarine (Feb 25, 2013)

Agree


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## logout20 (Feb 25, 2013)

sam_738844 said:


> he meant what do you try to imply here? just because India has a literacy rate of 74%, we should not/must not/cant afford to play games because "PC games are so cheap on launch in India"?? Do you even perceive how much absurdity your post posses?
> 
> People in India, has money...now listen...people in india has money to buy a scooter after 16 years of travelling in a n-crowded bus, people have money in india to buy a TV where there is 12 hours powercut, people in india have money to invest on a dance bar with a distressed sense of lust, people in India have Money to pay for prostitution...You know what people of India have money for ? For Entertainment, its the biggest signicant need after the stomach...Its perspective they pay for. Even you are not posting in this thread to enhance literacy..its a different version of entertainment, it has values in life...know it...its different for every people, and for gamers..it may be life. its time you smelled the coffe





dude where do you live....LOL.....


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## Zangetsu (Feb 25, 2013)

1.Piracy
2.Maximum PC gamers
3.Console Disc is costly compared to a dual layer DVD


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## sam_738844 (Feb 25, 2013)

logout20 said:


> dude where do you live....LOL.....



Somewhere where u'll be late to reach, after reaching will be late to live in, and when u'll be started living...its time to wake up 

you will be amazed to realize with a little thought, how f**ing big India is, and insanely populated it is...it doesn't really matter if tmrw PC games prices go up like hell as Rs 9000 for an original copy, some people will always buy it, just like some Landlords in 18th Century bought Belgian Glass Mirrors the price of 20 Rice Fields, forcefully taken from the sweat of farmers, some people will buy games just like Ministers bought "kilos" of diamonds to stud their shoes with... 

they will buy games because they care for the dev? noo! , but because of the implicit exhibition of affordability...Its a country of riches...Poverty? Literacy? just fancy words of saying once a loser always a loser...then who the hell are we anyway?

 WE cant buy games with such threat to our food? so what do we do, we do nothing but endure...endure illegal Imports, endure absurd duties, endure Piracy...What can we do about it? Nothing ( Inference : Should we? )...First World gave us Torrents, First World gave us "Developed" games, First World gave us frigging GFX cards...so we stop complaining of "Not Having", get high with mineral water with few drops of irony, smoke "sutta", then *with all those points made in this thread on why "games are cheap" combined.*..live and burning with truth and sense of absolution......we play games from Rs 60-250 DVD's...even get our eyes red late at night watching that shitty internet lest it should break the torrent. So that's cheap, yes it is.

But now we ALL are buying original games sometimes, out of arbitrary resolve of righteousness and guilt that we should have paid for what other people have so dedicated ages to make..and repent that we should have been independent hundred years back.


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## NVIDIAGeek (Feb 25, 2013)

Bullshyt thread, TBH. No offence.


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## sam_738844 (Feb 26, 2013)

^^Agree


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## ico (Feb 26, 2013)

NVIDIAGeek said:


> Bullshyt thread, TBH. No offence.


QFT.


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