EA quickly cuts down digital game prices on PS4 but they are still far too high

I guess we can throw the exchange rate out of the window as for whatever reason, console games have gone up in price this generation in the UK despite prices remaining the same over in the US and if you thought digital was going to be a big thing this gen, think again as EA's prices are through the roof.

Last week the UK PSN prices were revealed ahead of the PS4 launch in the UK. Prices mostly remained the same if not a tad cheaper than the games physical counterparts but EA had other ideas in mind. EA burst out of the gate with a £62.99 asking price for digital copies of its games on the Playstation Network and once it was revealed that the same games were £8 cheaper on the Xbox One, the publisher was quick to reduce its hefty price tag. EA is now charging £59.99 for its digital games but unfortunately, this is still £5 more than on the Xbox One. Weren't digital copies supposed to cut manufacturing costs and allow games to be sold a bit cheaper? It seems that way on PC but the consoles seem to be immune to this. Here is a little price comparison for Battlefield 4:

• Xbox One digital – £54.99
• PS4 digital- £59.99
• Physical copies for both platforms – £47.00

Downloading Battlefield 4 on the PS4 is £13 more expensive than buying the physical copy from Amazon and the worst part is, there is absolutely no excuse for it. You could buy a Battlefield 4 code for the PC for £34.99 through Amazon the day it was released and even without taking the PC copy's price in to account- the digital copy is still cheaper on the Xbox One.

Now lets tackle our next problem- the exchange rate.  In the US, games cost $60 new, which works out as £37 over here and with VAT added it comes to £44.47.  Amazon has got that down, having already reduced its next gen titles from £54.99 to the reasonable sum of £47.00, which isn't far off the exchange rate. unfortunately though, it seems someone over at EA didn't think to take this into account when pricing the games up so we're going to do it for them. £59.99 is the equivalent of $97.09, now let that sink in for a minute- UK gamers are being charged almost $100 for one game, even when the manufacturing costs have been cut out. That is outstandingly expensive and if other publishers follow EA in this price hike, console gaming is going to get really expensive, really fast.

Kitguru Says: EA simply cannot get away with charging its UK customers the equivalent of nearly $100 for one game, that's ridiculous pricing. Hopefully this will get nipped in the bud fast. We've had reasonable digital prices on the PC for years now, which is why Steam has done so well. There's no reason to make console games cost so much more. What do you guys think of EA's price hike? It's pretty shocking when you look at the US equivalent. 

Source: TechRadar

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