Fellow Canadians, how do you cope with video game prices?

With new releases being 79$ and what not.

With games on PC having a starting price of 69$.

With graphics card being 1.5x the price of the American prices.

I miss when 1 USD was equal to 1.05-1.1 CAD. Now it's worth like 1.45.

Has it stopped your gaming habits? Are you holding off buying games?

Video game prices have already started to get to $84.99 sadly

how i cope with it? i stopped purchasing games day 1.. i buy games at $30 or less besides Destiny is helping me save money by playing it all the time and distracting me from other games tbh

90% of the Canadian population lives on the border of the United States, I assume most of you do, drive to the US and buy games in bulk, save money, return home.

Ah no thats not how things go

Lets say you take $60 CND to the USA and try to buy a $60 game from the USA, that $60 CND with the exchange rate be around $40ish USD, the only saving that will take place is slight saving from the tax since tax rate in USA is lower than Canada (13% in Canada at least in Ontario)

Lately I have been waiting a few months before picking a game up or getting them on digital sales.

If anything we lose money that way. 60 US is actually 87$ CAD.

We have to stay 48h to be able to take 800$ worth of goods.

Burlington is about 1h away from where I live. 2h back and forth isn't a lot of money on gas but I also have to factor that.

With everything said, even travelling to the US isn't cheaper. We're screwed. Just like Aussies with their inflated prices.

I completely forgot the value of your dollar tanked, I was thinking it was still around the US value for some reason.

@nyadc: wow

I only buy games I really want early, otherwise I wait for a price drop or two. My backlog can sustain me for months at a time.

Wow what? I don't exactly pay attention to the economics of other countries, that's something easy to forget, I'm not a stock broker.

Thread has some potential for entertainment.

Haven't bought a new game in years. I buy everything discounted to get way better value.

Everything gets to 40$ish on a sale within 6 months usually. I can't imagine spending $80 on a videogame

Cant you Canadians buy on Ebay? Seems to be the best place from what i hear.

Doesn't save us from the god awful $CAD.

@Juub1990: Lets see, you can buy a new copy of Splatoon from America on Ebay for $40-50. So yeah, seems yalls prices are bout same as ours once you convert.

So do Canadians have Gamers Club at Best Buy? Or i guess can get good deals from Amazon.

@mesome713: we got the Edge card at EB games which makes deals slightly less sucky. Never heard of Best Buy Gamer's club.

Amazon Canada isn't a lot better than most retailers really.

@nyadc: 90% of the population is toward the border, but not directly on it. It's several hours drive south for most people.

Anyways, I don't buy many, if any new releases lately. I'll make a ton of preorders around E3 when Amazon has them down to a reasonable price, and sometimes it goes even lower during the wait. Thanks to some freak accident of some kind, Xenoblade X shipped to me for a while $15.

I'll round it off with other sales like Black Friday/Boxing day. I picked up Halo 5 for $50 shortly after Christmas.

I'm pretty sure Canadian prices aren't as bad as UK prices.

@nyadc: you don't need to be a stock broker to know there are currency exchanges between 2 different countries.

Are you implying I don't know about currency exchange or something? What is wrong with you, how did you come to that conclusion? You do realize that semi-recently CAD was rivaling and at certain times actually exceeded USD right?

I was simply unaware that the Canadian dollar had completely tanked... I don't follow the economies of other countries, hence the stock broker reference as it's not something vital to my daily life or even an interest of mine. That should have been pretty simple to understand as that's essentially exactly what I said...

@nyadc: I'm just saying....

I'm lucky I don't get taxed to much when I buy a game on any of the consoles I currently own or at any store where I live, but the prices are still high were I live. I only have to pay a 5% tax were I live which is Alberta for goods and services like video games. I have pre-ordered games in the past which has helped save costs a bit and some of the current gen games I have gotten have been through console bundles or for free. I'm pretty much going to avoid buying games at full price now. Only have 2 of the 3 current gen consoles right now. Haven't gotten the other one yet because since it's the most expensive one right now because of the low Canadian dollar I'm waiting until it drops significantly in price.

A video game cost $92 with taxes. Its absolutely ridiculous and reminds me of N64 days.

Or any EU country with euro curency.

Doesn't really bother me,I don't buy games on day 1. Last time, I pre-ordered a bunch of Wii U games when they were still 60$ during the 30% off E3 promo two years ago...paid 40$ and the last one I received was Xenoblades.

And my 3470k\GTX 670 are still holding up and don't really feel the need to upgrade

For me the prices for console games are just back to what they were in the 90's or so. NES cartridges were routinely 79,99 plus tax, total 92$. Same as now except now I have hundreds of hours in some games like Halo 5 and Horizon 2 because of the online, so I don't feel games are more expensive today.

Gas, alcohol, movies, food, etc....those are the things that have really increased in price in the past decades, not really the games honestly.

What burns are short games, I would hate to pay full price for a game that will only last me less then 10 hours, unless it is something really memorable. It's also the little things that get to me, I like supporting the indie scene and I buy tons of those 10-20$ games, but they add up too....so gotta be careful with that as well.

Personally I go to this place, do stuff for them and they give me money.

A new Xbox One game can usually be bought for about £50 in England

£50 = $100 CAD

£50 = $70 US

Last gen a 360 game was £40 so the new gen has added an additional £10 compared to last gen in the UK.

Prices are more competitive on amazon and other online retailers ...the above is a simplified example based on physical disks at retail.

Yeah it sucks that the prices are high here. That's why I don't bother buying PC games day one since they can go from $70.00-$80.00 and I'm talking about them being on Steam which sucks since they are digital downloads and not on CD in cases so I wait when the prices in Steam go down a lot. The only games that I pay in full though sometimes are Nintendo games since they take forever to go on sale. But I find that the prices of Nintendo games are worth it.

Dont buy 1st day if you can help it. The only games I am guaranteed getting is Zero Time Dilemma and Persona 5. I weigh my options on games like FF XV, Deus Ex, SF V, Xcom 2, Horizon, Recore, Zelda, ect...

Gamers club? never heard of that, is it aa rewards program? there's no such thing like that in Canada and amazon matches any retail store so whatever prices are at regular retail store are exactly the same at amazon

There are lots of sites that sell PC games for fairly cheap but console games you gotta wait for sales, buy second hand off craiglist or something or just bite the bullet and pay the price.

I'm too lazy to search around for second hand games so I end up paying but the high prices did prevent me from picking up Until Dawn recently, $75 for a 6 hour game is fucking nuts

I live in Canada, and I cross over to Detroit every month or so. This is very much incorrect. For at least the past several months now the Canada/US exchange rate has taken a large bite out of the former. The dollar's freefall just recently stopped to where it's slightly hovering over 70 cents U.S.

Its a membership you buy, cost $30 for 2 years at Best Buy. You get 20% off all new games. Here in America that is, we also just got the Amazon one also, 20% off games, which im guessing yall might not have either. Thats the only two major ones i can think of. O, and the Target one, when you preorder from Target for $1, you get a 5 dollar girftcard and card also use your Target Redcard (Target card that works as a debit from your bank) for an additional 5% off.

I order my 3DS and retro games from https://www.videogamesplus.ca/, it's a lot cheaper than buying them in sweden (and that is even if you include import tax and shipping).

I don't get at all what Canadians and Australians are complaining about, maybe if you compare with the US but the rest of the world? Forgeeeet about it.

@Juub1990: Higher minimum wages in Canada is how they cope.

How does a higher minimum wage mean they can cope with it? Sorry to inform you everything in Canada costs more then the united states which I'm assuming your from. Food, clothing, electronics etc.. Everything costs more and then you have to add on sales taxes which in Ontario is 12% which takes a $79.99 game up to $90.32. Don't forget about canada's large tax's in general as you pay them all year round from your paychecks as well. So a higher minimum wage doesn't change the fact that when making minimum wage in Canada which for most means a part time job (Because companies don't like to pay full time benefits or overtime pay) doesn't break you out of what Canadians call the working poor class. If you live off minimum wage in Canada have fun trying to pay all your bills let alone spend $140 on a ultimate edition of a game. Pure ignorance your statement is.

To address the OP or TC as this forum calls them. I no longer buy video games unless they are master pieces, and offer me value for my money. This year alone I've spent what I'd normally spend on games close too $1500 in total. On 1 single game eve online ( Purchased plex to buy a highly trained toon), and a couple of others like the Witcher 3. I haven't seen any reason to buy a game new when they release now a days, as the prices drop drastically and fast, by the time it's under $15 dollars I'll have a better running and put together version of the game. So waiting for sales on my pc is a big thing for me ( I do not own any consoles). Also I tend to avoid any game that highly uses F2P business models in a retail priced game. So in this day and age that cuts out a lot of games. I've become way more picky with the games I buy now, simply due to the fact too many companies are building their games to make your mind want to spend more cash in in game crap that lets face it is useless. Ya go **** yourself and your emotes companies that think a shooter needs emotes...

I buy a lot less games day one. Last year was Batman Arkham Knight and Mario Maker day one. I managed to get a discount on bloodborne soon after its release.

This year my eyes are set on Street Fighter V and Zelda day one while looking for a deal on Dark Souls 3

You are attempting to address economics (a complex subject I'm versed in, but not this audience) in SW going so far as to address the proletariat and poor (but only in Canada and you forgot to address the US). I didn't address poor people, that's a strawman argument. Obviously poor people struggle regarding any country, it's pure ignorance to assume only Canadians have problems with companies paying full time benefits or overtime pay. That's a huge problem in the United States as well (massive). That said, the minimum wage is just the starting point as people work and get raises and their starting point is much higher than the United States starting point. No system is perfect, but starting at a higher wage is a huge benefit, especially years ago when games were close to the same amount of money as the US despite much higher Canadian minimum wages. Then again, before that point, games were expensive in Canada than the US, as they are today, but people are too young or weren't born to remember that.

You shifted the argument to address poor people, and then made a general sweeping statement regarding that change. It doesn't apply. If you live off minimum wage in the United States, have fun trying to pay all your bills let alone spend $140+ on a ultimate edition of a game. Pure ignorance your statement is to think those problems are only Canadian.

The issue is you are reading too much into my comment and took it personally. This is forum and I wanted to address something that not a lot of people realize at all and was not discussed in this thread.

Regarding the question posed by the TC: "how do you cope with video game prices?"

One way is the higher Canadian minimum wages. I didn't say those higher Canadian wages were a cure all to the social ills that plague Canada. I'm not running for office.

I simply answered The TC's simple question ("how do you cope with video game prices?") with an answer no one bothered posting, which is higher Canadian minimum wages which is one way they cope, but clearly one could also just not buy games day one, buy specific games only, etc.

No need to get defensive, as I'm also a person with a lot of family in Canada and I've visited them often. I am well aware of the ups and downs. I'm actually a person that has worked on both sides of the border.

Anyways, I've expanded my very simple answer and I'm not looking to discuss economics. I don't have the time. I wanted to expose something that the TC may not have been aware, as I know some others here weren't aware of the higher Canadian minimum wages. Let's not forget the economy will bounce back but those wages will be still be there, as they were when the Canadian economy was stronger and people were also getting paid more than their counterparts in the US.

You get nailed on the exchange rate. So the cost you actually save is minimal.

Look on the bright side, the plastic boxes should be real cheap to produce right now :P

As others have said though, 85 cabucks is about 59$ so... I guess they're still better off in that sense?

I buy quite a few used games or buy or borrow from friends. I've been buying more 3DS games lately which are $35 to $40.

For someone versed in economics you should know a higher minimum wage doesn't necessarily mean more cash flow or free spending. Your problem is your thinking American prices. In America yes a higher minimum wage would help due to the price of goods and services being low. We in Canada have a higher price on all of that and much much higher tax's on a provincial and federal level. I don't bring up American poor simply because we aren't talking about American money or American economics or Americans in the sense outside comparison. We are talking about Canadians and as I'm assuming most on here including you are American, so I use your culture as an example to compare too nothing more. If you go over my post again I added some tax stuff before I saw your post which helps to clarify one of the main reasons a higher minimum wage doesn't mean they can cope better with the prices. My point being if you live off of minimum wage your most likely part of the 59% of employees that get that wage who in fact are part time. Who can potentially gain every year a possible 25 cent raise from their employer like say Lobes up to a $5 dollar raise in total over the life of working for that company unless your promoted to a higher position with a better pay bracket and possible full time employment. These low wages, are stripped by the Added Canada federal and provincial taxes, much higher tax's then what Americans are used to seeing, Union fees' etc... and your down all ready bellow the minimum wage. I'll post a good example of what I'm talking about so we don't need to go back and forth about economics on a gaming site.

It's a year old but hey it's relevant and not that dated. http://globalnews.ca/news/2011969/could-you-live-on-the-minimum-wage/

edit: You make a lot of assumptions and giant leaps with your conclusions on your second edit. How did I take that personal? Honest question, as nothing I ever said has to do with me or you personally outside of responding why your wrong. Maybe you should re read what I wrote, and sober if your not because I at no point come off like I took it personal, I wrote back an obvious answer to a statement that is factually not correct in any way shape or form.

"You shifted the argument to address poor people, and then made a general sweeping statement regarding that change. It doesn't apply. If you live off minimum wage in the United States, have fun trying to pay all your bills let alone spend $140+ on a ultimate edition of a game. Pure ignorance your statement is to think those problems are only Canadian."

What are you going on about here? We are talking about Canadians... Though this is a typical self centered American response... But what about us!... In a conversation about another country and it's money. This subject matter of this thread is literally Canadians so why would I bring up similar issues in the united states to address your wrong statement? How does that have anything to do with what we are talking about besides comparisons. Also those poor people I'm talking about are the people who live off minimum wage and a part time job. In Canada those are poor people, not homeless people poor people.. They fall below the poverty line, 99% of the time.

If your going to argue or give rebuttals, maybe try to understand what the person your writing too is talking about, or the subject your talking to them about.

I only buy games at discount now. I haven't spent more than $50 CAD on any game over the last few years. Most games I get a lot cheaper than that. No need to get most games right away as the backlog will keep me busy until prices drop. I used to buy almost all my games day one and by the time I actually played them, they would be at half the cost or less. That was a waste.

Key sites like G2A, Kinguin, GMG offer discounts on a lot of new PC games which is nice. Since I play 90% of my games on PC, the exchange rate hasn't hurt too much. We get raped on hardware costs though. My 980 Ti = $900, ROG Swift = $900, Oculus Rift = $850. My video card and monitor are actually more expensive than that now too. So yeah, it sucks that our dollar is so low, especially when you like nice things.

@BassMan: Ya hardware in Canada is stupid damn expensive. A $2000 dollar laptop in the states can cost almost double depending on the brand and timing of purchase.

I just never buy day one anymore. I use kijji classifieds for all my recent purchases.

I just got forza 6 for $35 this month. Fallout 4 for $60 the day it came out, Assassins creed syndicate for $40 2 days ago.

As you can see I save a lot of money by buying this way. Just have to have patience and find the right seller.

Canadian prices can't be any worse than Australian prices. We get charged ridiculous amounts for games and other technology. It even has its own term... "the Australia tax", where companies automatically charge more here for the same products.

@hrt_rulz01: You are right Austrailia has it way worse. My laptop that cost me $3500 is $4000-$5000 there.