It has been quite some time since the Indian Parliament had passed the Goods and Services (GST) Tax Act. It was quite a sad day for gamers,since almost all gaming equipment made its way into a higher tax category, which meant that the gamers of the country, already strained by huge duties, have to shell our extra on taxes while buying gaming hardware or software.
Most online retailers like Steam had already changed their prices to accommodate the increased tax. Origin maintained its price throughout, without changing the tax charged on the prices of every game. A few days back, Origin could be seen charging extra “tax” on the preorders as well as on all existing games.
On further verification, and some calculation, it was found that the tax charged on the total amount came out to be 18%, which is the new rate dictated by the GST law. The bumper? The MRP (Maximum Retail Price) is supposed to include all taxes, but here, the tax is clearly being added to the advertised MRP during checkout.
The tax does add up to be a significant amount, and considering the high prices of AAAs, it would have been well worth to it to adjust the prices.
This does give a huge advantage to other online retailers, as well as offline retailers like Games The Shop, where the same game sells without the added “tax”. However, it is not conclusive whether the move is permanent or temporary, and whether other retailers in the country will be instructed to implement similar “taxes” on the total advertised price.