The disparity in video game prices across different regions isn't exactly a new topic, but with the accelerating push towards digital distribution the issue is becoming ever more prominent.

This issue struck a nerve with me last week in particular with the release of my most anticipated PlayStation 4 title: inFAMOUS: Second Son. Although I've thoroughly enjoyed every neon-flinging moment I've spent with Delsin Rowe so far, I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth over the raw deal British and European gamers have been given, compared to our brethren across the pond in the US of A.

Somewhere over the North Atlantic, Second Son gained a 75% price hike from £36 ($60) to £63 for the 'Legendary Edition'!

Why?

I really have no idea, and that's sort-of the point of this blog post. I'd love to be proved wrong! I'd love there to be a valid excuse for the vast differences in prices in different parts of the world, so if you know of one please post it in the comments section. I've heard a lot of rebuttals before but to me, none of them seem to hold-up.

"Europeans earn more than Americans" just seems to be straight-up untrue. While the national minimum wage is lower in the States, the actual average monthly salary is £1977, versus £1857 in the UK. I'm no economist, but I don't think £1857 is more than £1977.

"Advertised US prices don't include the sales tax" might be a valid argument if a) sales tax was 75% and b) online marketplaces charged sales tax, which they often don't.

"But video games are cheaper now than they have ever been. Stop complaining!" No, you stop complaining, imaginary quote person I just made up! Yes, if you take inflation into account, video games are cheaper now than they were 25 years ago, but publishers also have additional revenue streams available to them now that ye olde game developer could never have even imagined. On the surface, video game prices may appear to have remained static but the cost of buying the complete game with all it's pre-order bonuses and DLC is steadily rising.

"Distribution costs are higher in Europe." This might have been the video game industry's solitary valid argument 10 years ago, but we're living in the future now. As ridiculous as it sounds, we're talking about the "distribution cost" of a bunch of bits and bytes floating knocking around a bunch of tubes. If it costs your company 75% more to push data down a pipe in Europe than it does in North America then you're using the internet wrong.

What can be done about it?

In some sort of utopian world where businesses didn't want to make as much money as possible, the solution would be for publishers to price games equally across all territories, or at least in proportion to their costs. But that's unlikely.

There are ways that gamers can avoid over-paying for their digital games, but here's where you run into a bit of a grey area; It's fairly easy for a user in one country to purchase digital games from a store in another, however it would involve providing incorrect information on their PlayStation Network or Xbox Live account, which is against the providers' terms of service. For this reason I would never do it myself, or provide information on how to do it.

Now please don't get me wrong; I'm fully aware that gaming is an expensive past-time and I was my parents were aware of that when I started. I have absolutely no problem with paying a fair price to enjoy the hobby I love. I just can't think of a valid reason why I should be asked to pay so much more to do it, just because I happen to live about 3,800 miles too far to the east.

(This post was originally published at http://rocketcheetah.com/blog/video-games-an-expensive-trip-across-the-atlantic/ )