One of the makers of the very expensive Rock Band game has told annoyed UK gamers that the price will stay the same and not all the grumbling in the world is going to change it.
It’s a new approach to smoothing ruffled feathers, I’ll grant you, but at least Greg LoPiccolo, the head of product development at Harmonix, took time out on the company blog to address some of the issues surrounding the controversial price tag.
Rock Band is eagerly awaited by tens of thousands of Guitar Hero fans but news that the game, plus the instruments, was going to around £160-180, rocked fans to the bottom of their wallets. After all, the same bundle costs around £75 in the US.
LoPiccolo wrote:
“We’re not gouging you, primarily because doing so doesn’t serve our interests. We can only build our franchise if you buy our games. You may conclude that Rock Band isn’t worth the price charged, and that is your prerogative. But it’s not magically going to get cheaper because you wish it to be so.
“We’re not making a killing on Rock Band in Europe. We are incredibly sensitive to pricing issues. We are painfully aware that the higher the price we charge, the less copies we’ll sell. That is true of any nonessential commodity; it’s not rocket science. The fact of the matter is, the costs of releasing in Europe are far higher than in the US, in some ways uniquely so for Rock Band compared to other game titles, because of the size of the peripherals.”
“Seriously, I was shocked to learn how much it costs us to ship an RB peripherals box to Europe. It’s way more than you’d expect.”
While I understand that shipping costs, and the VAT effects of pricing in the UK, can push up the price of any product, I feel many gamers will still be wondering how this amounts to a price hike of almost £100.-Martin Lynch
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Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
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truth is simple...
America is collapsing and trying to squueze everywhere it still can.
I had the same issue with Apricorn, manufacturer of quality external storage devices. The price ratio was 1:1 between USD and GBP (and furthermore I come from a Euroland adhering country... even worse).
Wrote their CEO and he got pissed.
Why these products are not follwing currency market??
Open your eyes...
"shocked to learn how much it costs us to ship an RB peripherals box to Europe"
that's a load of crap - it's all made in China!
The truth is...they can charge so much because people WILL pay. I'm sure the price will become reasonable in time as all things do, but they know for a fact they can get a big boost by taking advantage of those early adopters. People will pay...and they'll do it again.
China isn't so cheap anymore, its all inflating
no matter.... i'm sure ebay will soon be flooded with friendly americans wanting to sell reasonably priced packs :D
I'll stick with guitar hero, hell for the saving I make choosing guitar hero over rock band I could buy myself a real guitar.
Its simple, Dont Buy it!!!!!! ,Then give it 6 months they will be giving it away.
Who the Hell Does he think he is talking to Ex-customers like that. muppet
everyone stop being losers and spend that 160 quid on a real guitar... then u might actually pick up some woman
:P
Tis true.. people who can afford it will buy it.
Others will buy a real guitar;
And the last lot will watch enviously.
I think it is truely foolish that it costs £100 more to send it too us?? Do they think we are r*tards?
Yes.
But what do they care? They have a desirable product, and to hell with everyone else except the goddamn US of mother farking A.
Here's a reply I got:-
I appreciate your concerns regarding the announcement of the upcoming European release of Rock Band. Recently a Harmonix developer posted on the RockBand.com community site, addressing several of the key topics of discussion including pricing and the decision to ship the Rock Band disc separate from the instruments. Here is the link:
http://www.rockband.com/forums/showpost.php?p=500855&postcount=1
I recommend that you take a moment and check it out. I think that will lend some transparency to the European launch, and hopefully you’ll be able to gain some insight into the complexities of the situation. We’re really excited to bring Rock Band to Europe, and we want to make sure that your concerns are being addressed.
Keep on rocking!
what a load of rubbish.Thats the polite word for it.I hope they really get stung,arrogant idiots.
please - dont buy it.
It'll make me cry - i mean no game is worth that much.
You can buy an xbox 360 for £20 more which clearly makes it not worth it.
Just dont buy it - an then they will be forced to drop the price.
I think EA can go f*** themselves.
If you think this is bad you should check out the difference in price for CAD software between the US & Europe.
Pretty much everything coming from the US to the UK just has the currency symbol changed from $ to £ (well, nearly), rather than a currency conversion plus a few quid for shipping.
I'll be buying it because I really want it.
"everyone stop being losers and spend that 160 quid on a real guitar... then u might actually pick up some woman"
Learning guitar to impress women is a *real* sign of being a loser.
The reasons simple. The European launch was delayed as the original peripherals were built to a shoddy quality and the stock destined for Europe ended up replacing faulty NTSC /US stock.
They've now had to spend thousands retooling to improve the quality of their product and to pay out on the warranty claims on the original items, the US price cannot be raised to pay for this so they are trying their luck in Europe. They're probably shipping it all airfreight as well so they can get it into the shops quickly, adding 10-14 dollars a unit to the price.
The best thing for us to do is simply DO NOT BUY ROCK BAND!! In order to cut the price this is the ONLY thing we can do.
If we don't buy it, they'll know why.
What happend when the original Xbox was released in the UK? Anyone remember?!
THERE YOU HAVE IT! DON'T BUY IT AND JUST WAIT A LITTLE MORE!! After all we've also been unfairly waiting for months for this game!
Pre order it on play for under 100 quid?
"Pre order it on play for under 100 quid?"
Yeah, if you don't want the game with it.
I was going to buy this until I heard of the price increase, after the way that guy at EA tried to justify it they can go suck my dong if they think i'm shelling out another £100 for something thats the same in another country.
Crash and burn EA.
I presume the US bundle won't work on a UK machine?
Can I get the instruments in the US and get the game only from the UK?