They’re not. In fact we often pay less than the US after factoring in exchange rate and the fact that a USD$70 game doesn’t include sales tax.

Because.

Have you not heard of the term "Australia tax"?

Here I am relaxing to half an hour or so of Day of Defeat Source in the evening and not having to think about the price of any games and also not having to think about hardware cuz it runs on any old thing.

Corporate greed and a weaker dollar.

Take a look at MS flight Sim 2024

US$70
AU$110

Actual conversion using xe.com says US$70 is only AU$101.

Because while both countries use the "dollar," it is not the same currency and cannot be compared directly.

Australians also tend to make more, and thus have a higher cost of living. If an Australian is making less than the equivalent American, someone or something failed somewhere and that person is not going to have a good time. If an American is making more than the equivalent Australian, that person is probably enjoying life.

It's why pushes for minimum wage are so poorly thought out. Okay, you double everyone's wage, it means the companies that pay them pay twice as much, so they will raise costs to compensate. They're not going to take a pay cut. With everything going up, those who get paid more have roughly the same spending power (so nothing has really changed for them) but those who didn't get paid more have it worse — and that's the point.