Xbox Game Studios (AoE IV) overpricing games in Switzerland ?

Mischkov · Jul 28, 2022

Why is for example AoEIV is still overpriced on Steam and MS-Store in Switzerland, despite another new law prohibiting that behaviour ?

Using geoblocking restrictions to overprice a video game in Switzerland is clearly illegal since January 2022 (between you and me it was illegal even before...) :
"Unlauter handelt insbesondere, wer im Fernhandel ohne sachliche Rechtfertigung einen Kunden in der Schweiz aufgrund seiner Nationalität, seines Wohnsitzes, des Ortes seiner Niederlassung, des Sitzes seines Zahlungsdienstleisters oder des Ausgabeorts seines Zahlungsmittels:

a. beim Preis oder bei den Zahlungsbedingungen diskriminiert;"
Source : https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1988/223_223_223/de

English google translation :
"In particular, it is unfair if, in long-distance trade, without objective justification, a customer in Switzerland because of his nationality, his place of residence, the place of his branch, the seat of his payment service provider or the place of issue of his means of payment:

a. discriminated against in terms of price or terms of payment;"

For information, the game was so overpriced at the release date, that I've been able to find the game with 31% cheaper price at my local retailer. Even the most expensive local retailer was ~10% cheaper ?!

I asked a similar question about that last year before this new law. The thread is locked but you can still find it there :

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...fication/7be14a86-68d8-42b1-9c60-68fb7cf5db67

:)

JosefLBohorquez

I didn't say that's the exact reason, that was just me trying to give you an idea.

I don't live in USA, as I said. Prices depends on a lot of factors, can be a merge of everything

JosefLBohorquez

Prices depend on a lot of factors, could be something simple as the minimum wage, for example if your country minimum wage is higher than US or Europe minimum wage that could make a difference, but also can be something more complex like internal taxes for business or taxes for digital items, etc.

It is hard to give you an exact reason, but something like "discrimination" is not a reason for the price tag.

Comparing price tags between countries is sometimes not very productive, in that order ideas:

I can compare games prices between US and a Latin American country like Argentina, Colombia, Brazil etc or between US and Turkey

You're going to see that games are more expensive in US but more cheaper in Turkey, etc

Mischkov

Is this price happening only with AoE IV?

Not only AoE IV, other games too, even the GamePass is overpriced. And that not only on MS-Store..., and not only Microsoft related publishers...

Please share the links to both steam and Microsoft Store for this game

You may not see the same price as me, if you're not in Switzerland. It's 74CHF at the moment.
Link MS-Store : https://www.xbox.com/fr-ch/games/store/age-of-empires-iv/9n94ncgm1q2n

Link Steam : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466860/Age_of_Empires_IV/

To make it simple :
1 : The publishers on Steam have to select a default price for the game based on US$.
2 : Then Steam apply the regional pricing depending on regional VAT,currency,etc... via a suggested price for each region.
3 : Somebody at "Xbox Game Studios"/Microsoft changed manually +29% the suggested price for Switzerland customers.

AFAIK, they did something similar for the MS-Store.

Mischkov

That companies use geoblocking restrictions to lower the price and to access new regional markets is one thing Everybody is happy. People with less purchase power can access a product they could not afford, companies access a new market and new customers and still get a profit.
Using geoblocking to overprice a product in a country with more purchase power is another thing. The only reason is profit and is well known here in Switzerland as "Hochpreisinsel/îlot de cherté/isola dei prezzi elevati". And that's why this law has been updated.

You live in the USA ? or just imagine you do.

Would you think it will be normal to pay up to ~20% more for AoEIV just because you live in a certain state like California where people have in average a bigger purchase power above the average level in the USA ? (~20 without taking into account the VAT and other regional taxes ofc, just because you have more purchase power)

JosefLBohorquez

Hi and thanks for reaching Microsoft Xbox gamer's community. My name is Josef.
I'm an Independent Advisor and a Microsoft Xbox user like you.

Hope you're doing great today despite this Mischkov

Please share the links to both steam and Microsoft Store for this game

Is this price happening only with AoE IV?

I'll be waiting for your reply, greetings from another Microsoft user

Xbox Game Studios (AoE IV) overpricing games in Switzerland ?