Games

Canadian Gamers Buy Your Games Now

By Eli Green
August 11, 2008 - 14:30

It was just less than I year ago that I wrote an article telling you that Canadian gamers were paying unfair prices for video games and consoles. This was because the Canadian Dollar had risen to parity with the American Dollar, but the pricing of those

products at Canadian retailers had not changed to reflect the higher value of our Dollar. With time, the prices began to drop slightly. Canadian gamers would eventually get to pay the same price that Americans were paying for the same games and most consoles, but in Canadian Dollars, which means they were paying fair prices.

However, it took quite some time for most manufacturers and retailers to finally make those price changes, compensating for the parity of the Canadian and American Dollars. Sony was the first of the three major manufacturers to cut their console and game prices, matching the Canadian pricing for their products to the American pricing, in mid-October of last year . By the end of 2007, most retailers in Canada had dropped the prices of all of their video games to match with the American pricing, making them all the more enticing. After all, gamers that were used to spending $59.99 or $69.99 for each game were now only had to spend $49.99 or $59.99 for each game. It was like a constant sale where everything was $10 off.

Along the way, a number of retailers dropped the price of the Nintendo DS to $139.99 and finally to parity with the American price of $129.99. Officially speaking though,

Nintendo never dropped the price of the popular handheld system itself, nor did it drop the price of Wiis. In fact, the price of a Wii in Canada is still $20 more than it is in the United States, and that is only because retailers decided to drop the price by $10. I can only assume that retailers calculated consumers would consider taking a trip down to an American retailers to purchase a Wii, especially if they happen to live close to the border, if they could get it for $30 less there, but they wouldn't bother making the trip if the difference was only $20. Who knows. Microsoft finally dropped the price of its Xbox 360 consoles to match with the American pricing back in February . Of all of the manufacturers that dropped the price of their consoles, Microsoft was the slowest to do so.

Recently though, in the past week, the Canadian economy has taken a bit of a dive, and the Canadian Dollar has dropped in value by seven cents to 93.64 cents American per Canadian Dollar. While I can't predict the future of our economy, one thing is clear.

If the Canadian Dollar continues to fall, the price of video games, as well as most other products, will rise once again. The difference between this economic downturn and last September's rise of the Canadian Dollar is that Canadian retailers will be much quicker to act this time.

We all remember how much effort it took for consumers to finally get retailers to change their pricing in the first place. I suggest you keep an even closer eye on them now, if the Dollar continues to drop. I guarantee they will not be as hesitant with hiking their prices back up as they were to bring them down. Their excuse for raising the prices will be the lower Canadian Dollar, of course, but they won't care to answer why it took so little time to implement the new, higher prices, especially when compared to the time it took for them to drop them in the first place.

My suggestion to Canadian gamers, buy the games you want now, while you can still get them for a fair price.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12