The price of Microsoft’s Xbox One recently went back up to $400, this lead to plenty of criticism from gamers in the USA. Like many, I live in the UK and I am usually baffled when Americans complain about prices as North America receives the best deals in the world for just about everything.
The Xbox One costs $350 in North America but in the UK the system’s price is £350 which is equal to a staggering $530. If you thought that the original price of $500 which extortionate then you should realise that Europeans where paying roughly $650 for the exact same product. It is worth noting that in places such as Europe there are no additional taxes added on to the overall price but the fact remains that us non-Americans have to pay a lot than those west of the Atlantic.
The rest of the world did not receive an official price drop of the Xbox One like the US did. In many regions of Europe there were a few stores lowering prices in order to compete in the holiday season but the official price remained at £349.99/€399.99 through-out late 2014. Even though the price of the Xbox One has gone back down to $349.99 people in Europe still have not received a price cut of their own.
Microsoft is not the only company who likes to increase the price of products for non-Americans, in an article where I looked at how much PS Plus was worth for the month of January, I found out the six games on offer are cost $65.44 in North America but £57.24 in the UK, this means that buy each of the six games from the British Playstation Store you would have to pay $86.78. The most shocking founding was that “The Swapper” costs $5.49 in the NA store and £11.99 from the UK store (yes the currencies are the right way around). This means that Britons have to pay over three times the amount Americans do for the puzzler.
Other consoles also suffer from price hikes in Europe. Both the Sony and Microsoft simply change the currency symbol when selling the PS4 and Xbox One in mainland Europe. The bigger systems are not the only culprits, Sony did the exact same thing with the Playstation TV came to the UK and the Ouya also received the same treatment when the device came to the UK in 2013.
The prices of software are also rather low in the US compared to anyway else. The official price of most current-gen titles from major retailers such as Game, Tesco, Amazon and Asda is £50 which is equal to $75. Imagine if at the next E3 a representative from Microsoft or Sony came out and announced that prices of games will raise to $75, there would be uproar from just about everyone.
The point I am trying to make is that Americans should not complain about the prices of anything as they are almost always getting a better deal than those in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia, New Zealand and more. Americans also receive products earlier than everyone else as well, with the exception of Japanese titles almost every release (digital and physical) happens earlier in the US compared to anywhere else on the globe. There is no need to complain, as you are already getting a sweet deal.