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Electronic Arts just earned my life-long hatred.

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zephyr256k:
to be honest, this is the German governments fault, not Steam, Impulse, D2D, or even EA (as much as I like to hate on EA).

If Germany didn't restrict what games could be sold in their country, this problem wouldn't exist.

eRe4s3r:
Actually, the German USK ratings only apply to retail and in Germany sold digital goods. EA isn't German so they would neither have to pay tax/import tax/toll/tariff or obey the rating laws of Germany for a digital sold good - They can simply allow paypal payment and force payment in $ problem solved. (Downloads are not a good)

Same applies for Impulse - Impulse isn't European so they would not have to obey ratings that are German.

The fact is EA asks a 30€ premium and thats simply greed. The USK18 rating makes it even more problematic to legally buy it - but thats what imports are for... its not giving EA any valid reason to have higher prices though.

Besides i didn't mention the other reasons ,) DLC madness, the pre-order bonus stuff etc. Everything that sucks to have in a SP only game, ea does.

zephyr256k:
digital (and otherwise) retailers doing business in Germany have to abide by German laws and regulations.

Why did you think it would be otherwise?

eRe4s3r:
*snickers*

Oh you think...

Heres a thought example

You run a website in Malaysia and offer to sell me a product digital only with download link and serial X, in germany its forbidden to buy it without age verification, in Malaysia its perfectly legal, which law do you think applies to the Malaysian shop? If you answered German law, you failed the test ;) To a Malaysian shop it doesn't matter that customer A is German or B is American. Hes selling products in accordance with local laws, foreign laws do not matter at all. The customer has to check for local laws (of course), but how exactly do you propose the Toll would control online sales via paypal, a magical crystal that sees in your mind? Because it certainly won't see in paypals accounting for buying a age restricted product.

Actually in many ways you confuse me with your question, when you sell things to Germans you are not doing business in Germany - but with Germans, there is a profound legal difference. Where the shop is legally located is relevant for the laws it follows, not whom it does business with.

Edit: And legal location also defines where it (the shop) pays taxes.
Edit 2: I should add that this is the basis for the entire Import Economy ^^

zephyr256k:
That's not exactly true.
America and Germany are members of several organization, such as the G8, TRIPS and World Trade Organization (and soon ACTA probably), which regulate, to varying degrees and for varying purposes, how these nations' companies should operate towards each others' citizens. Additionally, Germany is an E.U. member, which has it's own trade relationship with the U.S.

Among these trade agreements, are stipulations that American based companies must honor to some degree, any applicable German law when doing business in Germany, or with German citizens.

As part of these agreements, U.S. computer game retailers must comply with the USK regulations to some degree, and in fact, many companies go above and beyond the required level of cooperation to avoid both bad press, and a different sort of trouble, unique to Germany.

The BPjM (roughly: Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons)
is a German federal agency which has jurisdiction over, among other things, games unrated by the USK, their sale and more importantly, their importation.

Illegal importation of a game is a crime under the BPjMs jurisdiction, any German citizen illegally importing a game is liable to be prosecuted (including adults, even though they might otherwise be able to legally buy the game from a retailer legally enabled to import such games)

The fact is, international laws regarding Video Game sales are a tangled mess, especially when dealing with particularly restrictive and draconian countries like Germany or Australia. Detangling this mess so that game companies can comply with applicable international trade agreements, be correctly rated, and so that retailers can cover whatever applicable legal hurdles exist. This is not cheap, and the consequences for not complying with the necessary restrictions can be even more so.

Yes, infact, these agreements, laws and agencies do apply equally to online commerce. And thanks to the trade agreements and organizations involved, there are courts in which the German government can bring suit against game companies and retailers violating them. On top of that, the German government could, legally, order German based ISPs to block websites selling digital versions of illegal or restricted games.

You're basically asking EA to pocket all of the legal costs and/or risk violating international trade agreements in order for you to get a game for the same price as a less restrictive country.

Yes, EA could do all sales via paypal in dollars.
Except they'd have to eat paypal's high service fees and still risk the online storefront being blocked in restrictive countries like Germany and Australia.

I admire the principle, but that just isn't realistic at all.

Just be glad you aren't in Australia, you'd have to deal with similar restrictions and every game would be twice as expensive as anywhere else regardless of ratings.\

The 'Import Economy' you're thinking of hasn't existed since the nineteenth century. Wlecome to the age of Digital International Law, nothing is beyond the reach of regulation or litigation.

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