Sure, back in July we were told that games retailers would be taking the hit from the then-recently announced rise in VAT and not raising prices, but now we’ve actually got to it, it seems like that might have been a little bit of a lie. We’ve engaged the TSA Re-pricing Confirmation Force (yeah, I went outside) and checked out the three major high-street games chains to see how hard the new rules will be hitting your wallet.
As it turns out, not so hard: of the three stores we checked, two had indeed upped their prices slightly, but the other had seemingly stuck to their guns and not adjusted the RRPs of games. The main point though is that there are no massive price jumps, and those that have increased theirs have listened to the words of Activision’s UK MD back in July: “In this industry retail tends to work in large price steps rounded to the nearest £5. Is it likely £39.99 will become £40.84?” said Andrew Brown. “Perhaps the VAT change will drive retail to re-think the large price steps being used.” Most of the price increases are indeed only a pound or so.
GAME appears to be the store with the most adjustments, with a lot of the new releases and chart games now up to £40.99 from the usual £39.99, and the same also applies to all of the recently-released Kinect titles. In addition, those big releases like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Gran Turismo 5 have gone up from £44.99 to £45.99. Gamestation appears to be doing much the same, and although my local store hasn’t got round to pricing up yet, online reports say that new releases are now £40.99, with the Move Starter Pack now up from £49.99 to just over £50. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Black Ops were both £45.99 in my branch, though. HMV is the winner out of this one, not upping any of their prices past last week’s levels. Having said that, they still like charging a good £45 for most games out in the past couple of months, so maybe they’re not your best bet for a bargain.
On the plus side, online retailers seem to be keeping to their guns, with Play*, ShopTo and The Game Collection all keeping their prices the same. GAME, Gamestation and HMV’s websites also still have prices at the £39.99 level, not matching the new, higher in-store levels.
So, if you’re looking to avoid the VAT increase, your best bet is still, as usual, to shop around online before heading into stores. Of course, it’s likely that once the current “sales” finish up, we’ll see more games heading up to the new prices.
Are the retailers where you are raising prices to match the new level of VAT, or keeping pre-rise prices and taking the hit themselves?
*Editor’s note: Play are based in Jersey where VAT gets a bit weird. As the Channel Islands are not part of the EU, companies based in Jersey can sell goods on the British mainland without charging VAT at 20% per cent.
mcphatty
I’m gonna be a bit contravertial. If prices are too high, save your money and wait til they drop!
BrendanCalls
I totally agree, I dont think Ive ever lived in a world where I can get a game for as cheap as I can these days.
Frugal Gaming and Post A Bargain are amazing for video game deals. Unless you absolutely have to have the game on release then modern gaming can be quite cheap.
I got MoH in December for £17.99, you can’t say fairer than that
BoyDay
“I totally agree, I dont think Ive ever lived in a world where I can get a game for as cheap as I can these days.”
Well, my old ZX Specturm games used to cost £3.99, £7.99 or £9.99 depending on how big the release was; but yeah, other than that games are the cheapest they’ve been in years.
JoshHood
Follow @ukgamedeals on Twitter, or check out CheapArseGamer (same site), they are the best for deals.
minerwilly
I agree , there where only 2 games i have bought fullish price (£34 on the net) in the last 12 months that where bought new (most where used for under £15 ) and i expect the same to continue in 2011 .
Thanks to HUKD (Hot Uk Deals) i get so many great deals and have saved a fortune . Heck thanks to one of the deals posted there a few months back i can rent any game out on a wednesday for 7 days for only £1 so i get the games like Enslaved , Vanquish , GOW III etc and finish them in a week unless their crap !
I bought over 20 games last year and probably 10 on the PSN store . Too have only bought 2 new games (GT5 and BFBC2 incidentally) shows that im doing nothing to help the games industry i so love , sad but im on minimum wage so not my problem as i just do my best to get games as cheaply as I possibly can and where is the harm in that .
BoyDay
I’m far from rich, but a 2.13% increase in prices (which is what the extra 2.5% actually works out as) isn’t going to be something I notice in any other way than thinking pricess look odd at £40.84 instead of £39.99. Personally I’m all for the VAT increase as it’s not actually going to make a difference in most consumers’ pockets, but will help the economy in general, and also some businesses.
XisTG
Just for reference, in Portugal the VAT is now at 23%. Irrelevant as a gamer since I never buy any games: the new ones cost 51£!
Peter Rushton
THIS IS MADNESS!
coolgr33k
THIS IS SPARTA!!!!
Urm yeh Sparta also suffered a VAT increase a couple thousand years ago. (Keeping on topic :P)
Peter Rushton
Haha yeah.
It was already hard for many including myself to buy games on a regular basis but this is just getting out of hand :\
beeje13
Surely GAME can take the increase themselves? They probably sell the most games in the U.K , so they’ll get very good bulk prices, plus the prices are already very high AND they earn outrageous profits from pre owned games (thats why they want you to buy them)
bigdon23
the only part of that article that gripped me is that play dont have the same vat rate, i always did love play and still do
beeje13
I did love play but i prefer not to buy from them anymore.
It’s because they used to be ‘shopto’ prices when they were still relatively small, but just after their t.v. adverts their pricing was went to ‘normal’ and uncompetitive e.g. like GAME.
And for that reason I don’t like buying from GAME either, except if its a deal then it makes me feel good!
Root Ginger
Don’t you see, increasing the new prices makes it even more likely you’ll buy pre-owned games that earn Game et al huge profit.
coolgr33k
Very true, and the profit made from pre-owned games is huge. If I get £5 back for a game, they’ll probabaly charge £15 for it.
ijustwantagood1
Correct me if I’m wrong, but no one decreased their prices when VAT went to 15%. So why are they putting them up now? It doesn’t surprise me stores are hiking their prices though, especially money grabbing GAME, I’ll stick with ShopTo thank you very much.
beeje13
shopto ftw, although I have noticed their price increase (about 80p for a £15 game)
coolgr33k
The shops should take the bullet, they all make enough profit these days.
But my dad seems to knock the price down on anything anyway these days. A few examples:
TV(new model) cost £2200, we sorta knew the guy and he gave it to us for £1600.
Other day he buys a new motorbike helmet which is £220, he got it for £170.
My TV cost £300, he got it for £200.
These wernt on sale or anything, just good convincing by him.
The list goes on but just as a tip people, try knock down the prices in “Private” companies or what ever they are called, you might be suprised :)
But places like GAME “Non-private places” you usually have a 0 chance in knocking down the price, although my dad has convinced price reductions at PC world a couple of times and some furniture places.
But yeah if you don’t ask you wont receive, and its worth a shot!
(sorry to go slightly off topic with this VAT stuff)
beeje13
nice reading though!
Tanzil
That 2.5% makes a difference! gonna have to save up a bit more, maybe take out a mortgage on my non-existent house and sell my non-existent car.
Tanzil
It makes a big difference when you’re talking more pricy stuff, a gaming laptop mebbeh?