L4D2 Pre-Purchase unfair regional pricing

If you are thinking about pre-purchasing L4D2, you should think twice, as you might be yet another victim of Valve’s regional pricing scam.

Previously only differing the price between US Dollar, Euro and British Pound, they now topped it by even discriminating between the European countries.

So we not only have the well known unfair price difference between Dollar, Euro and Pound:

US L4D2 Pre-Purchase: $44.99

EU L4D2 Pre-Purchase: 44,99€

UK L4D2 Pre-Purchase: £26.99

but also differences between european contries:

Germany, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and a lot of others pay the high, unfair price of 44,99€ (L4D2)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/550/?cc=de (or /?cc= fr, nl, dk, fi, se..)

while countries like: Poland, Norway, Italy, Spain, Lithuania and a few other – for incomprehensible reasons -, pay a much cheaper price of 34,19€, which is only slightly more than the UK price in Euro!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/550/?cc=pl

Thats a price difference of 10€ or even 20€ less when buying a bundle of four L4D2 copies.

Workarounds:

1.) Gifting cheap games to friends in an expensive, foreign region is thankfully still possible, eventhough it probably won’t be for long, judging from recent developements.

So have a good foreign friend who lives in a cheap priced region gift you L4D2, after sending him the money via PayPal or likewise.

2.) If you can live without the “exclusive baseball bat” weapon that comes with Steam Pre-Purchases: Don’t support the Steam Regime at all and Pre-Order L4D2 on Amazon.co.uk for the cheapest of all prices: £26.99 (29,26€)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronic-Arts-Left-Dead-DVD/dp/B002BSH9J4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1254503223&sr=8-2

German users should be aware that L4D2, like 1, will be censored again, when buying from their region.

Buy the game at Amazon.co.uk or have a foreign friend gift it to you, for uncensored Zombie Slaughter.


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34 responses to “L4D2 Pre-Purchase unfair regional pricing”

  1. deer Avatar
    deer

    “it probably won’t be for long, judging from recent developements”

    What do you mean by that? Just preordered L4D2 4 pack ;D sweet deal for 25€ each.

  2. SecuFox Avatar
    SecuFox

    Oh, I’m pretty sure that Gabe Newell can and does influence the price.

    I named him representative for Valve though.
    He’s the just perfect hate figure, beeing an unsympathetic, lying, money-greedy, close minded and sandwich-eating fat guy. ;)

  3. endgame Avatar
    endgame

    actually, i think he does slay. i’m thinking.. bobby kotick. :)

  4. slay Avatar
    slay

    You guys are just obsessed and cannot look outside the box

    I am sure that Valve has it’s own financial and marketing department who makes the prices.

    Gabe is like Steve Jobs, he is The Boss. Do you think that Steve will say how much any apple product will cost? No, he is too boss for such small things.

  5. SecuFox Avatar
    SecuFox

    endgame: I’ll quote a comment I made on our Steam Group’s Announcement, to answer something similar:

    “[NR][XC] Gone until 3/10/09 6pm posted on October 02, 2009 @ 11:13pm:
    Well, guess what: its less expensive in Italy, etc… bcz they are poor! Countries like France are rich, so you have to pay more… Ahhhh, I am so good here is US…

    “Secu|Fox posted on October 02, 2009 @ 11:47pm:
    And what criteria does Valve use to “judge” wheter a country is rich or poor? It’s just complete random BULLSHIT what they do.
    Some countries marked with expensive prices are everything but rich – and the other way around.

    Just take the UK! They have the CHEAPEST prices for all Steam games.
    Is England a poor country? Certainly not.

    And even if it DID fit, it would be absolutely absurd and pathetic to have a product change its value depending on country. (Excluding the Tax, which is clearly NOT the cause here.)

    A game is either worth 30€ OR 45€. Period. It’s absolutely discriminating, if not even racist to claim more from people, just because they live in a country that GABE NEWELL thinks is rich.

    Gold has the same price in countries with a lot of poor people too.

    Even if you are lucky enough to be in a cheap tier, its overall just one big, unfair, capitalistic mess.

    IP Racism, like Dragoon said, describes it quite good.

  6. endgame Avatar
    endgame

    *buy
    well, except tier 1, those guys pay way too much.
    p.s. u should definitely add an “edit” option.

  7. endgame Avatar
    endgame

    ok hold on a sec. i think u’r wrong this time.
    first of all, yes, the everyone should pay the same price for the same product but the fact that valve let’s some countries but the game for less is ok. not everyone makes the same amount of money / month so what they r doing is actually very nice of them.
    and second of all, the prices r totally fair:
    US: $49.99 $44.99
    UK: £29.99 £26.99 (5% lower)
    EU tier 1: 49,99€ 44,99€ (46% higher)
    EU tier 2: 37,99€ 34,19€ (11% higher) (*i’m here)
    EU tier 3: 37,99€ 34,19€ (11% higher)
    so what, i pay 11% more when the VAT is 20% in my country.
    bottom line, i’m ok with what they r offering and the price that they ask in return for it.
    oh one more thing, this IS NOT an expansion. some people should pull their heads from under the rocks they’ve been living in the past year and see that.

  8. Alastayr Avatar
    Alastayr

    @Dragoon
    The EC has already investigated this. I have their letter here and can send you scans if you want.
    And don’t be so quick: You have to factor in sales tax, which is 19% here in Germany. So it comes down to: $45 ~ 31€ * 1.19 = 36.89€
    And still end up paying 20% more than US, but that is pretty normal nowadays. :/

    Personally, I am more appalled that Valve has the audacity to price L4D2 above $30. After all, I think they have to make amends for botching up L4D.
    And to see them jump on the pre-order bandwagon is disconcerting.

  9. Dragoon Avatar
    Dragoon

    I wish I could edit the my comments but well.
    They maybe able to help us.
    The European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net)
    http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/index_en.htm

  10. Dragoon Avatar
    Dragoon

    That is clearly an case of IP RACISM.
    Incredible that amount of hate Valve seems to have towards some of it customers.
    For me this is not only a case of IP Racism but also a violation of EU Free Trade Bill. But without accuser no crime.
    We really should get off a combined effort to the EU Trade Commission to stop cases of IP Racism like this committed by Valve.

  11. Kossak Avatar

    i’m not thinking about prepurchasing L4D2 :)

  12. BOBO Avatar
    BOBO

    Steam is an Epicfail..

  13. slay Avatar
    slay

    True

    US: $49.99 $44.99
    UK: £29.99 £26.99 (5% lower)
    EU: 37,99€ 34,19€ (11% higher)

    But if we add 11% taxes, then it’s okay :)

    Too bad that it’s for other EU fellows is so high price :(

    So if there would be 3 guys who wan’t to get L4D2 for ~35€, contact me :)

    Mind that Amazon prices are low because they don’t include tax and delivery (IMHO).

  14. just_do_it_ffs Avatar
    just_do_it_ffs

    Finally a post about it here :)

    It’s quite sick really, $65 for an expansionpack like this. No wonder why people are using piracy…

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