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Sony Exploits Brazil


XZero
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http://ps2.ign.com/articles/104/1048252p1.html

Here's the rundown. Sony's officially releasing the PS2 in Brazil, presumably for the first time ever. It's also releasing a number of excellent games, including God of War II and Gran Turismo 4. Nothing wrong with that, right?

They're charging R$ 799 (USD $445) for the system.

The games range from R$ 99 (USD $55) to R$ 119 (USD $66).

So I guess my question is twofold: wouldn't you expect most Brazillian people who wanted one to have simply imported PS2s by now, and even if they didn't, who on earth would shell out $445 USD for a console that costs $99 USD in America and is 9 years old? Never mind the ridiculous prices for the games.

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That's pretty ridiculous, but it's been done before. Some countries just get left out for economic or political reasons.

China never got the N64 until the iQue, seven years later and well into the GameCube era.

It sounds stupid, but apparently this pays off for game companies somehow.

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I don't understand that - wouldn't it make a bigger incentive to make it cheaper?

Maybe in your fancy-pants, logically run REAL WORLD, but this is BUSINESS WORLD here, and when people steal things that means a price hike to make up for lost revenue! Which, y'know, only encourages more stealing, but at least we're making more on each unit sold!

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Whoa. NNY. Where the hell have you been?

Unfortunately though, this really isn't just a game industry thing. If you ask me, it's the reason behind DVD region coding, and those "not for sale outside of X country" labels on a lot of textbooks.

There's really little reason to pay that kind of price tag... just import it.

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I'm not surprised at the jacked up pricing, but what I am suprised is that Brazil had actually been left out of the gaming scene for a good while.

Had no brazilian over there EVER imported stuff or read gaming websites? That's what I want to know.

If you saw how much it costs to import anything into Brazil you wouldn't import either.

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I don't know actually I'd have to ask my friend in Brazil, we talked about it once but that was long enough ago that I don't remember, all I remember is being indignant that he had to live with it, and wishing he could get out of the country but he can't even manage that because of the costs sort of tie him down.

The government taxes you an arm and a leg to import anything (it also taxes the sender an arm and leg to ship anything into the country). Which is probably one of the reasons the PS2 costs so much in Brazil, Wii's also cost a ton, and I don't even want to imagine how much it would cost to get your hands on a 360 or PS3.

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The government taxes you an arm and a leg to import anything (it also taxes the sender an arm and leg to ship anything into the country). Which is probably one of the reasons the PS2 costs so much in Brazil, Wii's also cost a ton, and I don't even want to imagine how much it would cost to get your hands on a 360 or PS3.

I imagine after buying one, they wouldn't have any hands left :<

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Brazil is a haven for piracy, so the price of game software and hardware is ridiculous there. I'm not surprised.

Brazil is a haven for piracy BECAUSE everything there is so expensive.

When I went there about three years ago, wireless mouse and wireless routers were like a huge thing there because they're just so damn expensive. The fact that I had a Mac was like "HOLY CRAP" to most people.

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Brazil is a haven for piracy BECAUSE everything there is so expensive.

When I went there about three years ago, wireless mouse and wireless routers were like a huge thing there because they're just so damn expensive. The fact that I had a Mac was like "HOLY CRAP" to most people.

Right. By this time, everyone who wanted one has modded ps2s, and those who don't can probably buy one for about the same price or less than the official R$799 already modded with tons of games to go with it.

Besides, there ARE "other ways" to get stuff from overseas without officially importing, and that's what many of us do. Import taxes are INSANE, to the point it's not surprising at all that a $99 USD console would cost more than 4x the price here.

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