EB Games Canada raising prices for game preorders

The Canadian dollar is currently struggling, and at least one retailer is hoping to make up the difference by raising its prices on video game pre-orders.

While all currently available releases cost $59.99 CAD (on-par with US retailers), over the past few weeks multiple titles that are up for pre-purchase at EB Games have been raised in price, from $5 to $10 more.

Newly priced $69.99 game examples include Watch Dogs, Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Crew, Mad Max, The Elder Scrolls Online, Dying Light, Destiny, and many others.

Games that are releasing much sooner, such as Thief, Dark Souls II, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII have been bumped to $64.99.

We have contacted a few local stores and those that agreed to speak with us have confirmed that the increases are here to stay, and are coming directly from corporate. No local store managers were able to provide a reason for the increase, as they did not have any input into the decision. The main EB Games Canada office refused to provide a comment over the phone.

The most common theory is that due to the weak currency, EB Games Canada hopes to make up on lost profits. Prices have reached these levels before, in pre-2008 economy. But back then, it was all major retailers who offered such price levels on video games.

This time around - at least for now - other retailers such as Future Shop and Amazon.ca are holding on to the current price point of $59.99 CAD. Only time will tell if others follow suit. But for now, gamers in Canada should price-shop for their preorders and avoid EB Games in the meantime.

EB Games is the Canadian arm of the major video game retailer GameStop.

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