Australian Productivity Commission comments on game price disparity

The Australian Productivity Commission has released a report which outlines the state of Australian retail, and cites game price disparity as a problem.

The report outlines several key factors influencing retail purchasing trends, and targets the inflated local price of videogames as a major driver of consumers to purchase from overseas online sites.

L.A. Noire has been used as a case study to demonstrate the difference in prices, with average brick and mortal retailers selling it for as high as AUD$104.99, and overseas online sites as low as AUD$48.98.

The Australian dollar reaching parity with the United States dollar has only further driven consumers online, although the report notes that incompatibility between local and overseas versions (specifically regarding DLC) does stall this problem to some extent.

The report also cites a grave concern that an Australian general sales tax (GST) is not collected on goods purchased from overseas.

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