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Denver, 7:57 PM
Wed Nov 25
53 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/19/09
Yes, BR taxes are outrageous. Still, this price is far above anything that could be justified by taxes alone. This is good old greed, or maybe just stupidity.
PS2 are selling for what? $99? Add about $40 for S&H and another 60% over it (including S&H) for import taxes, bringing the total to $224. Some states change extra taxes that would bring this price closer to 280 USD (480 BRL), still a far shot from Sony's suggested price.
You can buy an imported PS2 in most videogame shops for about 500 BRL, proving my point. I don't know what the hell Sony is thinking.
Evidence: PS2 at Americanas, R$ 499,00
If Sony was serious about Brazil, it could import PS2 components instead of the finished console, and assemble it in it's established ZFM facilities (Zona Franca de Manaus, a special economic zone with zero import taxes for components in northern Brazil), bringing the cost closer to the original $99.
Moral of the story: taxes are bad, but don't blame it for everyone else's greed.
11/19/09
Import taxes for electronics can reach up to 70% of the original price PLUS SHIPPING.
Yes, you read right. I know from first hand experience.
In fact, aside from books, almost everything else has high import taxes.
For instance: Figures - [xspblog.com]
Government claims this is to "protect the internal market", which is utter BS because we don't really have equivalent quality electronic products in Brazil. We do have some brands, but they are all inferior to foreign counterparts and they all just assemble stuff in Brazil... most parts are still imported.
But they receive tons of tax reduction from the government to operate this way, and they became big companies due to that.
The end result is that companies in Brazil, specially the small starting ones, have a hard time investing in technology.
Government keeps filling their pockets with the people's hard earned money (not to mention corruption schemes), and the development of technology on companies, education and all areas advances at turtle steps.
But that's an old song here in Brazil. As most politicians are only interested in their own wages, well being and gives a flying fuck to the people.
Another example is how almost every money invested in culture and technology is completely controled by the government.
Years ago, we had this boom in the game development industry, with some games reaching international status and serving as example to more people go after this market.
But as soon as a new president took place, all government fund for games were shut down. Couple of years ago, when I started on my post-graduate course on Game Development, what we had as teachers where all people from those companies who went bankrupt or decided to close their companies due to that.
Also, in the movies industry, we end up with stuff like a movie about the life of our president (no, I'm not joking unfortunately - [en.wikipedia.org]) and other crap that was produced in the best interest of the government using it's funds.
So you can imagine how hard it is to create cultural content to criticize the government. We still do, it's true, far more than other latin american countries... and Brazil still enjoys plenty of democracy when compared to some neighbors. But it's not as good as our government makes it to be.
11/19/09
This is mainly because I don't buy pirated games anymore.
It's a personal stand really.
And it has more to do with the process of choosing very carefully what I'll buy and then forcing myself to play the game to make it worth my money then being against piracy, really.
Piracy allowed me access to so many things I wouldn't be able to get otherwise I can't even imagine how life would be without it.
It affected choices in life, the ability to learn new software and new things, to perfect my english, to know other cultures I wouldn't otherwise, to play several titles and to be able to discuss stuff here on Kotaku and other Gawker blogs I wouldn't be able to if piracy didn't exist.
But anyways, that's another discussion...
11/19/09
I agree with your comment about the crash of games industry but I disagree that government has to finance everything. A business must depend on market and not in BNDES money. What happens is that most "entrepreneurs" in Brazil just don't want to work and don't want to risk their own money (a kind of redundancy here...).
I don't agree that movie films must be "financed" by government (not really financed, since money never is paid back). But you see... people here are just freaked out about making a decent project and looking for an equity fund somewhere.
I understand that much this is inheritance from times where horizon of events was measured in hours (80% inflation/month) but this situation changed more than 20 years ago. Now it's time to look forward and go on.
11/19/09
Since consoles don't have much of a presence in Brazil, I'm guessing your PC market is pretty big, then? Is digital distribution the only way to buy foreign PC games for reasonable prices?
11/19/09
Are you kidding me??? tec toy's Zeebo rullez above all consoles!
11/19/09
Casimiro, I read your reply an I must say some of my comments needs reviewing... agreed 100%!
I also have the opinnion that funding must NOT come all from the government... in fact, the less it comes from them, the better.
But since there are too many stuff from that government that hinders technology and games development, the market is in a sad state of depending on them.
I guess we can only hope a day comes that the government realizes how much of a burden they are to national technology, makes the necessary adjustments, and as a result private investors starts putting money on it...
#speakup
11/19/09
I dunno how it is compared to other country markets, but with all the taxes I guess the gaming market ends not much different in proportions, but far less people have access to them as a whole.
Since game prices are high for all hardwares (consoles or PCs), what we have is a VERY high piracy rate.
The most sold consoles are the ones which you can easily "jailbreak" or play pirated games... like the PS2.
Since there are no official reps from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, we all have to buy imported consoles and play international versions of the games (english or spanish).
Most (not all, but most) stores who import those consoles offer the jailbreak in store... just like a repair service or customizing. I think most parents buying a console for their children don't even realize it's "illegal".
Now, about digital distribution, a great side effect of it is that PC game prices are dropping due to it.
Unfortunately, not many people know or trust digital distribution in Brazil... for the general game consuming population, you have to think back some years when comparing to markets like US and Europe.
People still have problems with spending money on the Internet.
But there are exceptions (like me)... the last 6 games I bought were all either Steam or D2D.
And I also buy - every now and then- some Indie Game titles, even if it's just to give some support to great developers out there.
#speakup
11/19/09
@brurpo: LOL
#speakup
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11/19/09
"Better late than never."
11/19/09
11/19/09
Ghostbusters II. When the ghost of the Titanic arrives.
11/19/09
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#speakup
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11/19/09
Wasn't looking at Japanese prices enough?
11/19/09
I dunno, do typical JP games ever reach beyond $100?
11/19/09
No, but they still sell for $20 extra or more (especially now with the higher Yen). Back in the PS2/PS1 days, they were $65 on average.
Anyway, thought that this would make a better comparison since Japan is a developed nation.
Looking for rip-offs in other developed nations is easy. PAL regions always pay more for both games and FAR more for consoles.
Yes, we have it good here.
11/19/09
Wasn't the PS3 at first over $800 when it launched in the UK? I know NA made a big deal about "599 US dollars," but that's just terrible.
11/19/09
Don't remember, but Canadians got screwed a bit too. Despite the CAD hovering around the USD back then (not quite the parity it got later), the 360 was $500 CAD and the PS3 was $660.
Now, they're priced similarly to the US because of the strong CAD. However, games can cost $70 CAD and Nintendo for some bizarre reason sells Wii's for $220 CAD.
11/19/09
I import all my games, but buy most HW from here.
07/25/09
07/25/09
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07/25/09
Life is a copyright infringement.
07/25/09
07/25/09
btw, the crotch censor should be the next DLC
07/25/09
07/25/09
Anyways. Daaammnn son, I used to watch this thing everyday. I remember when they had really hot blond hostesses instead of annoying kids.
07/25/09
Yeah, I remember when they had Jackie Petkovick, she was beautiful. I hate these new kids...
07/25/09
07/25/09
07/25/09
Man I'm sure glad I live in Portugal, where the TV is all quality! Oh wait...