Earlier in the week the US division of SCE had all but the very latest PixelJunk games on sale for a dollar. The expectation – rightly – was that SCEE would do the same, and we could grab some of the PSN’s best games for a matter of pennies.
However, that wasn’t the case.
The full list of titles is as follows: note that some of the games are actually over three pound, and only discounted if you’re a PlayStation Plus subscriber, which has an RRP of £40 a year.
- PixelJunk Monsters (£1.99, €2.49) (€0.99 for Plus members)
- PixelJunk Eden (£3.19, €3.99) (€0.99 for Plus members)
- PixelJunk Shooter (£3.19, €3.99) (€0.99 for Plus members)
- PixelJunk Shooter 2 (£3.19, €3.99)
- PixelJunk Racers 2nd Lap (£3.19, €3.99) (€0.99 for Plus members)
- PixelJunk Side Scroller (£3.19, €3.99)
“It seems a bit unfair to have European gamers pay so much more for the same games. At a dollar a piece, I would have certainly given these games a try. At 4 euros a piece, I don’t think I’ll try them out.”
SCEE’s Jawad Ashraf replied on the Blog. “Unfortunately the pricing is something we have to make do with,” he said.
“It was a difficult decision and we only hoped to have done exactly the same sort of offer.”
Jawad doesn’t continue to answer any further questions on the PixelJunk pricing, sadly. “The difference between the US and European pixeljunk sales is downright insulting,” says a user in the comments. “Another greedy move from SCEE,” says another.
The comments continue, and go mostly unanswered yesterday. “It was a hard decision SCEE had to make and we’re discussing it internally,” Jawad comments this morning.
For European PS3 owners, the situation is frustrating, not least because it doesn’t seem like end users are getting anything like the full story. I’m not stupid enough to think there aren’t internal issues at hand, but at least let us know why we’re expected to pay considerably more than the US did just a day before for the exact same games.
Even Dylan Cuthbert doesn’t really have the answers. Â “It’s a complicated territory,” he said.
Of course, if you’re behind the Plus paywall, please go get your fill of PixelJunk games whilst the sale is on, you’ve only got another six days.
gaffers101
Going to fill up on my .79p PixelJunk games tomorrow, shame none PS+ users have to pay so much more.
Boomshanks
Brilliant. This is how SCE handles a sale. SCEA handles it perfectly making games that have been out for a long while cheaper in order to get more people to buy them. In the end everyone profits. Q-games will make more money because suddenly a lot of people buy their games and if they like them they can buy DLC for them as well. The buyers are happy because they get a great deal. SCEA is happy because the made the consumers happy which solidifies the relationship they have with SCEA and Sony in general.
Now take that perfect scenario and screw it up completely. Q-games aren’t happy because they know the prices are ridiculous. Apparently they tried to change it or something but in the end SCEE decides on the price. Buyers aren’t happy unless they have PSN+ which isn’t a lot looking at the greater scale. And now everyone has another reason to put on their long list to hate SCEE even more. SCEE must be so happy with that.
*sigh
Boomshanks
But we all know what we should do don’t we? I’m buying the games I want with my American account as we speak.