Comment Re:Lower prices (Score 1) 453
I'm from Malaysia but I used to study in the US and I worked part-time while I was studying. I earned around USD 13/hour. Working full-time during the summer break, earned me close to USD 2k a month. I bought the original Blizzard's Diablo Battle Chest set for USD 50. Back in Malaysia, I got a job that paid RM 1.8k a month. The conversion rate is USD 1 = RM 3.8
Had I been in Malaysia all these while, do you think I would have bought the original game when it would cost me RM 190 (which is more than 1/10 my monthly paycheck) than to pay RM 5 per cd * 5 cd (in the Battle Chest set) = RM 25 for the game? Obviously I would buy the pirated version!
Now IF they scaled the prices according to the spending power of the countries at large, maybe I might buy the original.
Then again, lowering prices based on spending power might just kick back on itself causing a different trend in software piracy; distributing original games bought cheaper in China/Malaysia/wherever + shipping fees == cheaper than original games sold in US/UK.
So we're back to square one... *ponder*
Had I been in Malaysia all these while, do you think I would have bought the original game when it would cost me RM 190 (which is more than 1/10 my monthly paycheck) than to pay RM 5 per cd * 5 cd (in the Battle Chest set) = RM 25 for the game? Obviously I would buy the pirated version!
Now IF they scaled the prices according to the spending power of the countries at large, maybe I might buy the original.
Then again, lowering prices based on spending power might just kick back on itself causing a different trend in software piracy; distributing original games bought cheaper in China/Malaysia/wherever + shipping fees == cheaper than original games sold in US/UK.
So we're back to square one... *ponder*
