Gamasutra reported other reports on Wii details, including its price. Apparently, IGN reported that it should cost around U$229. The curious fact - and reason I'm posting myself a report on that - is that Gamasutra also links to a report by a Brazilian website, in which the price of the console for the Brazilian market is announced as something between R&1,400 and R&1,500. In case you are not familiar to our currency, that would be something around U$640 and U$690. Gamasutra's comment:
"However, high import taxes and a rampant piracy problem mean that Brazilian hardware prices are often greatly in excess of that elsewhere in the world, with the DS Lite costing 800 real ($367), accounting for the particularly high pricing compared to the rest of the world."
I am glad this is being noticed. I know I have posted on that before, but I hope reports like that help to change this policy and, consequentially, help to develop the Brazilian game market - which is potentially very, very big.
2 comments:
So is this the fault of the Brazilian government in particular, or a more complex entanglement with international law?
I do not know specific details - I believe it's the local tax policy, though. However, I do know that there are local groups of developers working to change that, which is good. Plus, the government seems to be aware of the industry, and trying to support it in some ways.
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