Harmonix's Rob Kay

By Ellie Gibson Published 9 April, 2008

On the price, DLC and more. But mainly the price.

Yesterday, EA announced Rock Band will make its debut in Europe on 23rd May. Big news. It was also revealed the game will be exclusive to Xbox 360, at least for a few months. Again, big news. But these announcements were almost entirely forgotten as the Internet was too busy going, "WHAT? One HUNDRED and EIGHTY POUNDS?" Or, "Zut ALORS! DEUX-cent QUARANTE EURO?" etc.

So when we sat down for a chat with Rob Kay, design director at Harmonix and lead designer on Rock Band, it was obvious what our first question would be about. And our second, third and the next eight. Read on to see what he had to say.

Perhaps you don't care how much Rock Band costs. Maybe you've already imported it, or are willing to buy it at any price, or suffer from a bizarre medical condition which causes you to excrete gold. In which case, read on anyway - there's some stuff about downloadable tracks, the online Band World Tour patch and sombreros.

Eurogamer: So, details of the European release for Rock Band were announced this morning, and within a few hours there more than a hundred comments on Eurogamer about the price. Not one of those was going, "What marvellous value for money..."

Rob Kay: So not one of them was jumping for joy at the price. I understand that.

Eurogamer: Let's pretend this is Watchdog and I'm Nicky Campbell. We've had dozens of calls and texts, alright comments on the website, and I'd like to put some of them to you. One reader says, "If I wanted to spend EUR 240 I'd buy a real instrument and join a band."

Rob Kay: So they should. Go and do that, yeah... If someone wants to go out and buy a real guitar instead, that's awesome. More power to them.

Eurogamer: How do you respond to this: "I'm sick and tired of these companies screwing Europe over." What about the fact Rock Band will cost twice as much as it will in the US?

'Harmonix's Rob Kay' Screenshot 1

Scowling, spiky accessories - both pretty rock.

Rob Kay: I imagine the things people are probably a bit peeved about are a) the delay, and b) the cost. The two are linked.

We wanted to make sure that when we released Rock Band in the UK, we did it right. There's a few components to that. One is getting lots of UK-centric music on there, and I think we've done a good job of that.

We also wanted to make sure the hardware gave people choices. Something we weren't able to do for the US launch was let people choose how they buy and experience the game. So [in Europe], people can go and spend GBP 50 on the game, and maybe that's all they do - they can use a USB microphone, or the 360 headset, and they can have the whole singing Rock Band experience. Or they can buy the wireless Fender guitar, or just the drum set.

Or, if they want the full-on Rock Band experience, they can buy the instrument bundle. The combined price, if you add all that up and decide you want that full experience, is quite high. It's not something that is normal in videogames. But Rock Band isn't normal in videogames. This is an entirely new thing. What other game comes with three peripherals that are all different? It just makes sense for the experience we're trying to deliver.

I think people might be a little bit put off by the price they have to pay for it. But I firmly believe that if people do [buy it] they'll have an amazing experience they couldn't get anywhere else.

Eurogamer: What about this comment: "You could buy another console for that price." A Wii, for example, which comes with a game. A cynic might suggest you've looked at the Wii and seen that a lot of people are willing to pay GBP 180 for a party game experience, something they'll perhaps only get out every few weeks after a night in the pub. Are you copying that business model?

Rob Kay: That definitely wasn't our process for coming up with a price for Rock Band. Genuinely, there is just choice. All we're trying to do with Rock Band is connect people to music and give them the opportunity to experience it in a totally different way. It's up to people if they want to buy into that... We're not trying to rip anybody off.

These are definitely not excuses so much as contributing reasons - the VAT in the UK, 17.5 per cent, is counted in with the price. In the US, tax isn't added to the price; what you pay at the cash register is more.

It's always annoying you look at the price of consumer electronics in the UK, and you look at the US price, and it's like the dollar and pound signs have been switched. I definitely feel the frustration with that.

Eurogamer: But we're talking about a price difference of nearly GBP 100. A mark-up of more than 100 per cent. VAT is only 17.5 per cent - how do you explain the rest?

Rob Kay: I can't talk to the explicit pricing - how it gets split down between retailers and distributors and the whole chain - because I don't actually know that much about it. But I can say for sure, we've tried to set up a situation where people can not feel ripped off playing the game, and actually feel like it's well worth their investment. I'm going to sit here and say I think it's well worth the money.

Eurogamer: So if you weren't working on it, if you were a plain old gamer, would you pay GBP 180 for Rock Band?

Rob Kay: Yeah. Maybe I'd try it over at a friend's first, to see if I liked it or not. Rock Band is a fantastic game for playing at a party, so lots of people will get that opportunity, and maybe they'll want to take that opportunity before they invest the money. I wouldn't blame them; it's not a cheap game, it really isn't. But it's a game that delivers that much more in terms of its fun factor and the experience it gives you.

Eurogamer: Perhaps Eurogamer readers could pop round yours to have a little go and see if it's worth it?

Rob Kay: [Laughing] Yeah, give me a call...

Eurogamer: So what about the downloadable content? The Internet's been saying tracks will cost twice as much in Europe as they do in the US. Is that true?

Rob Kay: No. It's the same pricing, the exact same model as we have in the States. Most songs are 160 Microsoft Points, and some of them are 80 Points - generally if they're more like indie songs or something, we'll put them in at 80 Points. So you'll be paying the exact same price for DLC. There are two price brackets that we use globally, and the DLC will cost the same globally.

Eurogamer: Will the same DLC be available in the US and UK?

Rob Kay: Yes. On Friday May 23rd, the game will launch in the UK. We launch all our music weekly on Tuesdays so on the first Tuesday after that, you can go on there and have access to all 70-plus songs that are on there at the moment.

There are more songs coming in every week, so you've got this way of accessing new music if you want to. With 66 songs on the disc there's a lot to play with, and you'll probably be occupied for months just with those.

'Harmonix's Rob Kay' Screenshot 2

Pink hair, finger salutes - also very rock.

Eurogamer: How many new songs will be added each week?

Rob Kay: Typically, we've been adding three songs per week. That's only going to increase over time. I can't say for sure what the number will be in the future but it's definitely not going to go down.

We listen to what people are telling us about their experiences with the game on the Rock Band forums. We want to make people feel like they can get the songs they really love, because you emotionally connect so much better with music when you love it already.

Eurogamer: Which reminds me, are there plans to release any Steps tracks for Rock Band?

Rob Kay: Ah, no, not at the moment.

Eurogamer: Scooch?

Rob Kay: We have a thread on our website where you can put your song requests...

Eurogamer: Count me in. I'd pay GBP 180 to play the drums to Better Best Forgotten any day.

Rob Kay: Well, that's it. People have their own tastes. Sheer volume is one way of us attacking that, trying to get people's tastes catered to. In the future, we'd love there to be a situation where any band in the world can get their song into Rock Band. That's not going to come any time soon, but it's something we're thinking about.

When people buy into Rock Band, I think they should know we're in it for the long term. We're not just going to short change them, they won't have to reset everything in a year. We really want to support this in such a way that the investment you're making isn't just in one game.

Eurogamer: DLC has been appearing on PlayStation Network later than on Xbox Live in many cases. Are you confident you'll be able to release these songs for 360 and PS3 at the same time?

Rob Kay: I hope so. That's what we've managed to do in the States, and that's worked out. We have to work closely with both Microsoft and Sony, because some of the things we want to do are pushing at the boundaries of what they're capable of doing. I don't think they really expected the volume of DLC we're putting into Rock Band.

So we're having to collaborate with them to ensure their systems are able to cope with the amount of music we're pushing through, and so far that's worked really well in the US. Every sign so far is it'll work in the UK and Europe as well.

Eurogamer: What happened to the online Band World Tour mode? Back in December, we heard a patch would be released to introduce this. Where is it?

Rob Kay: Band World Tour is the headline mode for Rock Band. It's the most awesome way to experience it, because you can customise your own band and live the rock and roll lifestyle, touring the world.

The character creation tool is incredibly fully-featured. You can choose movement sets, you can change the faces, the hairstyles, the height and build of characters, add different pants and shoes, design tattoos, put facepaint on, select different instruments...

Eurogamer: Can you wear sombreros?

Rob Kay: I don't think there are sombreros in there. I don't think they made it past the rock filter.

Eurogamer: That is very disappointing.

Rob Kay: So we tried to get that mode supported online, so you could have this persistent experience. We didn't get it in in time. We considered it for a patch, but we just couldn't do it justice in the time we've got. It's still something we want to do and down the line we're going to deliver it.

'Harmonix's Rob Kay' Screenshot 3

Sheepish look and white, floral pattern trousers - not so much.

Eurogamer: When you think about the future of Rock Band, do you envision adding modes such as that via patches, building on the basic game - or producing a series of iterations, as with the Guitar Hero franchise?

Rob Kay: It's tough to say. We're at this interesting point where both online and retail are good ways of distributing games, and there's a crossfade going on where things are gradually going over towards the download side.

We're totally embracing that, 100 per cent, because it's the future, while also trying not to shoot ourselves in the foot with regard to retail. I don't think it will ever get to a point where it's all digital - your Gran will always want to go down the shops and buy you a game for Christmas.

Eurogamer: Finally, then - let's get back to where you started. What makes Rock Band worth the money? Why should I spend GBP 180 on your game rather than a Wii? Or a pair of chopsticks, some upturned saucepans and a crate of delicious vodka?

Rob Kay: It gives you the awesome experience of making music with your friends. It is astonishing, the feeling you get. You genuinely cannot get that experience for that price point any other way.

Rock Band is due out on 23rd May for Xbox 360.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (241) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Der_tolle_Emil #1 4 years ago

    Eurogamer: Perhaps Eurogamer readers could pop round yours to have a little go and see if it's worth it?

    Nice one. Too bad he doesn't really say anything regarding the price but as a developer I didn't expect that he actually could say something relevant.

  • soylent_grey #2 4 years ago

    Blaming VAT is possibly the worst excuse I have ever heard to justify something's price.
    What are we supposed to do, turn around and blame Mr Brown for Rock Band's inflated price?

  • Fyzzu #3 4 years ago

    Decent interview. I'm not going to fly off the handle because I don't blame him personally for the price, and I'm equally unsurprised he's defending it what with being, y'know, a part of the company, but... nice to get some sort of feedback from the devs, at least.

    Good read, anyway.

  • asphaltcowboy #4 4 years ago

    So, still a load of crap then :/

  • OmagnusPrime #5 4 years ago

    We wanted to make sure that when we released Rock Band in the UK, we did it right. There's a few components to that. One is getting lots of UK-centric music on there, and I think we've done a good job of that.

    Sorry, what? Are we talking about the pitiful four tracks that we're getting for a mere £80?

  • thefilthandthefury #6 4 years ago

    "But I can say for sure, we've tried to set up a situation where people can not feel ripped off playing the game, and actually feel like it's well worth their investment. I'm going to sit here and say I think it's well worth the money. "

    A hearty LOL at you sir! Absolute drivel. This interview just made him look like a moron.

  • stepneg #7 4 years ago

    "But I can say for sure, we've tried to set up a situation where people can not feel ripped off playing the game, and actually feel like it's well worth their investment. I'm going to sit here and say I think it's well worth the money."


    Well Rob, I'm going to sit here and say that your a CUNT.

    It probably is well worth the money and the investment if you live in the US especially when they look at how much we have to pay!

  • McBradders #8 4 years ago

    What do you expect him to say, really?

    Jebus.

  • Prodigy_BE #9 4 years ago

    Seriously, they should not do these kind of interviews.
    That guy is totally talking out of his ass. Now even more people will let Rock Band pass them by.

    And is it just me, or are other people also thinking that shipping this from US to Europe will kost you 100x more than with a regular game. As the gigantic Rock Band box can store about a hundred DVD casings?

    If I where him, that would be me excuse :-)

  • Crovax20 #10 4 years ago

    Eurogamer, used my line!

    I'm really getting sick and tired of all these companies screwing us europeans over. ^^
    http://ww w.eurogamer.net/article_discuss...

  • Scrumhalf #11 4 years ago

    It is not really the dev's place to defend the indefensible as pushed on them by some greed-ridden corporate.

    But I really don't buy any of the arguments, I listed yesterday 2 example of other products that are more expensive but in a sensible and expected way for exactly the reasons stated.

    I unfortunately will never get the chance to play it at a friends house and see if I like it, because all my friends have more than an ounce of sense so will not be buying it either.

    Maybe someone from EA or MTV would like to come and comment from a position of slightly more information?

  • siksik6 #12 4 years ago

    four!?! LOL

  • thefilthandthefury #13 4 years ago

    "I unfortunately will never get the chance to play it at a friends house and see if I like it, because all my friends have more than an ounce of sense so will not be buying it either."

    Same here. I don't have a single friend who's interested in it now. The backlash yesterday was hard but deserved.

  • toythatkills #14 4 years ago

    "Sorry, what? Are we talking about the pitiful four tracks that we're getting for a mere £80?"

    Three, actually. And it's £90 more.

    Brilliant.

  • Diomedes117 #15 4 years ago

    Nobody from Europe is going to buy Rock Band.

  • AmpH #16 4 years ago

    I just hope nobody will buy this untill the price drops. Otherwise publishers will continue to screw us.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 14:45

  • AcidSnake #17 4 years ago

    Good read...

    Still not going to get it...And I was so looking forward to it...

  • OmagnusPrime #18 4 years ago

    Ellie: Are you genuinely saying you would pay £180 for Rock Band? I'm curious, do you genuinely think that they are right to be asking this amount of money?

  • Midnight_Raven #19 4 years ago

    To sum up the pricing discussion: there is absolutely no reason at all why Europeans should have to pay roughly twice as much for the same experience than North Americans. No surprise there, then.

  • Killerbee #20 4 years ago

    Like I said on the news story, it's a little unfair to blame this guy - or indeed Harmonix - for their publisher's pricing decision. I actually think he deserves more respect for doing the interview and talking about his game in the face of some pretty venomous comments on the internet right now.

    Personally, I do think £180 is too expensive and I'm pretty sure I won't be buying Rock Star. And each and every gamer can choose in exactly the same way whether they think the experience is worth it or not.

    On the plus side, if it is an absolute flop over here at £180, you can bet the price will be cut pretty swiftly, so I think it's in everyone's interests to hold back a little bit longer and see what happens.

  • hughboy #21 4 years ago

    This debacle has encouraged me to make my first ever post. I've read most of the comments on the other news threads about this and completely agree with everyone. Just want to re iterate that the price is simply outrageous. The interview still gives no good reason why the price is so dire.

    I hope it bombs, bigstyle.

  • captainrentboy #22 4 years ago

    Right, that's it I'm convinced. I'm buying 8, one for each room in the house.
    That might very well have been the lousiest effort at justifying the rediculous price tag possible.
    Definitely not convinced.
    They're just greedy fucks, hoping to get as much moolah out of early adopters as possible.

  • myiagros #23 4 years ago

    complete lack of question(s) about how come it was released on Xbox 360 and PS3 at the same time in the US but not for Europe.

    EG FAIL!!

  • Dunk360 #24 4 years ago

    £127 delivered from play.com using the code 'experience08' and ordering through quidco.co.uk

    That's not bad IMO. Ordered.

  • LPXO #25 4 years ago

    Absolute
    Fucking
    Joke

    There is no defending that ridiculous price difference

  • siksik6 #26 4 years ago

    sorry Harmonix fella. No dice!

  • morriss #27 4 years ago

    What a load of bollocks. It's too much fucking money. No matter what he says, no matter how he spins it, no matter teh aw3somez unique utterly incredible sensational gaming experience it is, it's just a game and it's not worth £180.

  • Toothball #28 4 years ago

    I do like the fact that I won't have to buy the instrument bundle to get the game, as I want to get wireless guitars anyway. Just need word of a solo microphone to complete the set.

  • AwesomeWells #29 4 years ago

    "But I can say for sure, we've tried to set up a situation where people can not feel ripped off playing the game"

    In which case matey, you've failed utterly.

  • Xerx3s #30 4 years ago

    "Eurogamer: But we're talking about a price difference of nearly GBP 100. A mark-up of more than 100 per cent. VAT is only 17.5 per cent - how do you explain the rest?

    Rob Kay: I can't talk to the explicit pricing..."

    *BUZZ* You fail, you are the weakest link. kthxbye.

  • Beano #31 4 years ago

    I was looking forward to getting the full Rock Band package but NO WAY IN HELL I'm paying almost double the US price and 6 month after the US launch. There's no way to defend that inflated price... VAT and taxes??... stop insulting us!

    I'm gonna buy the game only for 360 and play it with the GH3 guitar... too bad because the drums gameplay really looked fun.

  • Progguitarist #32 4 years ago

    Theres obviously no way he would come out and admit that its overpriced. If it does sell badly it'll be a very hard slice of humble pie to swallow.

  • Beano #33 4 years ago

    "complete lack of question(s) about how come it was released on Xbox 360 and PS3 at the same time in the US but not for Europe."

    I agree... Call him back up, Eurogamer!

  • myiagros #34 4 years ago

    that is probably the worst piece of trash i have ever read on EG!!

    What a crap interview by both parties involved.
    If your gonna spend the entire interview asking basically one question, make sure your asking someone who is able or willing to answer.

  • afghan_jones #35 4 years ago

    hope this fails. its all sorts of wrong.

    cunts.

  • tomb85 #36 4 years ago

    Just to rub salt into the wound they're essentially saying you'll have to buy the innevitable sequel in order to play the online world tour mode which the dev says himself was intended to be one of the key focuses of the game. So it's missing a core component, has a grand total of 4 uk specific tracks, we'll pay double the money for our downloadable tracks as MS points handily ignore exchange rate differences AND it costs more than a new console- SOLD!

    /gets chequebook out

  • nickthegun #37 4 years ago

    The 'genuinely great experience' line could be trotted out if they had it up for £1000.

    Its a good game and a shit load of money, you cant really get around that, especially when the forced bundle in the US might have been annoying to some, but was actually within the grasp of the average person.

  • TONYgr #38 4 years ago

    FRAK YOU MAN.YOU TALK ABOUT CHOICE BUT YOU DONT GIVE ME THE CHOICE TO BUY THE THING WITH THE GAME AND THE INSTRUMENTS IN ONE BUNDLE IN A MORE REASONABLE PRICE.GET THE FRAK OUT OF HERE!

  • MikeN #39 4 years ago

    "Count me in. I'd pay GBP 180 to play the drums to Better Best Forgotten any day".

    So this article is basically damage-control by HMX & EG rather than getting some proper answers to the ridiculous pricing of the game in Europe?

  • 4thVariety #40 4 years ago

    100% pure hubris and ignorance. I just use one of my many choices and do not buy the game for that price. It's not like Europeans earn twice the money of Americans so there is an experience Harmonix can keep for themselves.

  • TheDudesRug #41 4 years ago

    The guy doesn't even realise he's having the piss ripped out of him all the way through the interview.

  • Stu #42 4 years ago

    Thanks EG, an interesting article and good to get a response so quickly.

    Anyway, I'm buying - I've been waiting ages for this, and the idea of me and three mates playing together is just too wonderful a prospect to shun. Plus the play.com deal is a bit better. Plus I crap gold.

  • Les #43 4 years ago

    "We also wanted to make sure the hardware gave people choices."

    So that's why it's a timed 360 exclusive... :p

  • phatb0y #44 4 years ago

    Just a game.

    And not one worth £180.

    Trying to go down the modular route is bollocks too. Who on earth would want this without all of the instruments?

    Its like selling a Ferrari and saying the badge and engine note are optional extras.

  • JonFE #45 4 years ago

    This whole debate would never even existed if the so-called "instrument edition" actually included the game itself at the same price...

  • barabbas #46 4 years ago

    Even though I know the developers have very little say on the pricing of the game, and he really had no other option than to defend the pricing, Rob Kay still came across as a total asshole in that interview. He didn't really answer any questions.

    I wonder what Microsoft is thinking about EA completely fucking up their timed exclusive with this ridiculous pricing.

  • shamblemonkee #47 4 years ago

    Colour me unswayed.

  • OllyJ #48 4 years ago

    I have in facte just bought a Ibanez RG 321MH for £180 inc postage.

    that was my Rock Band cash.

    cheers

  • Lebowski #49 4 years ago

    Blaming the VAT? Get real! And if Rock Band really is a long-lasting game then why don't you make a slight return, or even a loss on the instruments, safe in the knowledge that the ever expanding DLC tracks will bring in the coins and profit?

    Or can we expect Rock Band 2 in the (U.S.) shops by Xmas and Joe Europe will be footing the bill?

    Jog on, and well done again for getting into bed with EA.

  • MightyMouse #50 4 years ago

    @MikeN

    Even as a huge fan of Steps, I'd suggest that line was sarcasm. He wasn't really going to say anything more about the price so there was no point in haranguing him over it. As it was the interview told us that we'll probably have to buy another iteration of rock band in some form or another to get a lot of the core features, so it did give information.

    P.S. I'm not a huge fan of Steps.

  • BOFH_UK #51 4 years ago

    The one question I wish EG would have asked, even more than the timed exclusive one posted above, is simple: Why does the US get a pack including all three instruments and the game while the European relase requires the game to be purchased seperately? That really is the main issue here IMO as, if everything else were the same, then we'd be looking at £130 retail and £100 from the usual suspects which would have been fine for the majority of people. Still slightly overpriced but in-line with normal videogame practice at least.

  • Razz #52 4 years ago

    I applaud him for trying however the game is still too damned expensive.

  • toythatkills #53 4 years ago

    Why do people keep mentioning these four UK tracks? Oasis, Blur, Muse... What's the mystery fourth one?

  • thedaveeyres #54 4 years ago

    What a pile of shit.

    180 fucking quid!

  • dk_rare #55 4 years ago

    If double pricing is a trend we can expect to see more of, it is probably cheaper for me to buy an American 360 and just import all my games. It may seem pricey, but it will pay itself off within 6 months in savings.

  • Paukl #56 4 years ago

    Reading that interview was like watching a maggot squirm on the end of a fishing hook.

    The price is a joke.

  • dieseljunkie #57 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:42:38 15-12-2011

  • Mr_Bison #58 4 years ago

    I think i will pop over to the states to buy it... will nearly be able to pay for the fare with the price difference

  • Bealsy #59 4 years ago

    * laughs at the "I don't care people will still my my game mwahahahahahahahahaha" attitude *

    Twat.

  • OmagnusPrime #60 4 years ago

    @toythatkills: I was going off of the Euro date article that mentions this:

    The full list of Euro-exclusive songs can be found below.
    English
    "Beetlebum" by Blur
    "Rock 'n' Roll Star" by Oasis
    "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
    "Hysteria" by Muse

  • Progguitarist #61 4 years ago

    Still using the VAT route as an excuse.

    He could've tried to be a little more creative and tried to sell us the "securing the rights to the music in European territories forced up the price" or something.

    Must try harder.

  • penhalion #62 4 years ago

    Ahhhhhh! Why do people think the developer has no say in how much the game goes for? Of course we bloody do!

  • toythatkills #63 4 years ago

    The full list of Euro-exclusive songs can be found below.
    English
    "Beetlebum" by Blur
    "Rock 'n' Roll Star" by Oasis
    "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
    "Hysteria" by Muse

    LOL, so one of Rock Bands UK tracks is by German band, Tokio Hotel? Nice one MTV

  • Whizzo #64 4 years ago

    It'd be more appropriate if it was "Money" - Pink Floyd.

  • Muddtallica #65 4 years ago

    Nice try EG, but this guy was never going to have the answers; frankly, I doubt there is any one single person who was in charge of making this call, and I'm CERTAIN there's no single person who'd actually be willing or able to tell us why it was made. EA/Harmonix's campaign time is over now, folks, and it's time for us to vote with our wallets. I know what I've decided....

  • toythatkills #66 4 years ago

    If VAT etcetera is too blame, why is the DLC the same prices as in the United States?

    They're the same amount of points, we don't pay our VAT in MS Points, we pay it in the Sterling that the points cost. And GBP points are more expensive than in USD. Not 110% more expensive though.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 15:16

  • thedaveeyres #67 4 years ago

    The full list of Euro-exclusive songs can be found below.
    English
    "Beetlebum" by Blur
    "Rock 'n' Roll Star" by Oasis
    "Monsoon" by Tokio Hotel
    "Hysteria" by Muse

    Ah! Now I see where all the money is going! O_o

    Colour me unimpressed.

  • Riggers #68 4 years ago

    This reminds me of when the Sony chap said that the PS3 was worth it's price, and that people would save up for it. Which as we all know was bollocks - the PS3 didn't start selling until the price went south.

  • phatb0y #69 4 years ago

    Having a re-read of the article I think a comedy interview with a random EA stooge would have been much more entertaining. We'd have had the same bullshit and backpedalling but with added buzzword bingo.

  • Blackthorned #70 4 years ago

    I wonder if they honestly thought people wouldn't care that they were getting so blatantly ripped off.

  • mazzl #71 4 years ago

    this interview was just damage control shame on EG for doing this.
    i will not EVER be buying this game.
    i guess guitar heroe will be the way to go.
    the max price ffor anygame in my book is 100E it's still just a game.
    and how many times will i have 4 friends over to play a game...
    for tops ones a month i'm not buying this overpriced crap!

    i do agree with the majority here, let´s just boycot Rockband and let EA suck it.

  • koji_m #72 4 years ago

    lol @ rockband.... first the waiting, now the pricing, tsk tsk

    plenty of other good games around to spend your hard-earned money on... certainly by the time they release it on the PS3

    hope it crashes and burns

    ffcourse it's very interesting for them with the lousy dollar to charge us mainland EU folks 240 euros... ah well, here comes the boycott
    Edited by 3 at 09/04/08 @ 15:30

  • yupyup #73 4 years ago

    I applaud Kay for doing the interview, so far it's more than what EA and MTV have done (shutting down Rock Band forum registrations, tut tut). However the price is still absolutely dispicable for a product that will be nearly 7 months old by the time it comes out here. 4 measly songs and some waffle about V.A.T. and 'having choice' certainly does not remove the aftertaste of yesterday's pricing.

    Never before have I lost total interest and in a game in such a short space of time. The delay I could just about swallow, being treated as a second-class customer? Nah, EA/MTV keep your 'experience'.

  • markypants #74 4 years ago

    No I think my highlight is their reason why you should buy it... "It gives you the awesome experience of making music with your friends."

    Errr... You're not making anything. You are standing like a twat pushing buttons in the right order to music made by somebody else.

  • peteb #75 4 years ago

    people can go and spend GBP 50 on the game, and maybe that's all they do - they can use a USB microphone, or the 360 headset, and they can have the whole singing Rock Band experience. Or they can buy the wireless Fender guitar, or just the drum set.

    I thought it was just the Game, or the "Instrument Edition (without game)" that we could buy?

    /is confused

  • strelok #76 4 years ago

    me says boycott EA altogether *shrug*

  • Lemming81 #77 4 years ago

    While this whole thing with the price is appalling, the interview itself made me smile. I love the fact he didn't spot the sarcasm about Steps and Scooch being enough to make you pay £180.

    Props to Eurogamer.

  • smoothn00dle #78 4 years ago

    Rob kay is a fucking asshole. Just read through the first page of the interview. I am fucking angry right now. What fucking choice?? The word "choice" is so fucking meaningless nowadays. Thx to M$. I fucking hate rockband now. Assholes

  • WickedDeeJ #79 4 years ago

    Oh my God, seriously. Everything he says is bloody corporate lingo. But what did we expect? "We're sorry, seeing the internet's reaction has made us realise we were ripping you off!" ?

    There is one way and only one way to fight this. Hurt them at retail. No matter how much you want this game, do not buy it in Europe. Force the retailers to cut the price in half so they can unload their initial shipments and they will in turn be very dissatisfied with EA and not willing to pay their price for the product.

    Rock Band has a value. That value is $169.99. Or £87. This is what the product was launched at, this is what the product is worth.

    If we add in the VAT of 17.5%, and then say round that up to cover VAT in some other European nations, along with shipping, let's say an increase of 30% over the US price should cover that. We then arrive at $221 or £112.

    This leaves roughly £70 unaccounted for that Harmonix is pocketing, and pardon me but the 8 extra tracks the EU release contains is not worth £70.

    So Rob, scurry back to EA and wait for the fiscal reports to (hopefully) come crashing down on you like the Sword of Damocles.

    And again; for European gamers there is one way to show your dissatisfaction here: Do not buy Rock Band for anything more than the aforementioned £112 maximum. That is the product's value, and with a generous percentage added to cover their shipping costs. If you cannot find Rock Band at this price, then do not purchase it at all. That is the strongest message you can send to EA and Harmonix that you will not take this kind of blatant price-inflation.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 15:37

  • chrissiddall #80 4 years ago

    "Yeah. Maybe I'd try it over at a friend's first, to see if I liked it or not."

    Not if none of your friends have bought it you won't!

    "Rock Band is a fantastic game for playing at a party, so lots of people will get that opportunity, and maybe they'll want to take that opportunity before they invest the money."

    At this price, I'd need to charge my friends to play it with me to help cover the cost!

    "I wouldn't blame them; it's not a cheap game, it really isn't."

    However, the build quality of your peripherals IS cheap. I know, I have a US copy.

    "But it's a game that delivers that much more in terms of its fun factor and the experience it gives you."

    Yes it does, but is that experience what we are paying the extra money for? No, as it's no different from the US experience. Oh wait, we have a few "Euro-centric" songs. Who wants to start counting down with me until they're available as DLC in the US, and that'll negate that argument too.

  • Darren #81 4 years ago

    Very amusing interview and I loved the way EG grilled Rob Kay about the price, well done! LOL

    Anyway, ignoring the high price, I can see how the way they plan on selling Rock Band in Europe offers more choice for people who already own a guitar peripheral especially and/or a microphone/headset so those people aren't going to want to pay £130 for the instrument pack anyway, just maybe the drums which are sold separately. I'd imagine that even if the game and instruments had been £100-£120, the full experience would have only been of interest to a minority of people because how ever you look at it, £100+ is an awful lot of money to pay for one game that you might only play for a dozen hours. Better that you already have the guitar (and an Xbox LIVE headset) because you only really have to fork out £40 for the game.

    One question, since I'm not interested in buying this game anyway, but considering you need other people to play the full thing properly has anyone considered sharing the price, say, with friends or family who also want to play the game?

  • Dunk360 #82 4 years ago

    @ peteb

    I thought it was just the Game, or the "Instrument Edition (without game)" that we could buy?

    you can buy components individually, so you might be able to use your guitar hero 3, guitar hero 2 and a random USB mic / XBOx Live headset, then just buy the game. You'd only be missing the drums so you could buy those separately (£70 or £80 at play), or just do rockband without the drums. Which is a bit pointless.

  • peteb #83 4 years ago

    @Dunk360

    Cool, thanks! Don't think I'll bother though, and hope my not buying it hurts them in some tiny tiny way.

  • strelok #84 4 years ago

    @Darren: it is not just the the price is high and can be shared with friends.
    The main concern is that it is 100% higher than the price in US which is ridiculous.

  • agparrot #85 4 years ago

    Particularly good plastered with GH3 adverts, yes.

  • gingerlink #86 4 years ago

    ok,ok, I'll buy it if you add at least 3 more Jonathan coulton songs to the DLC...

  • sph #87 4 years ago

    I find it very annoying that people are blaming mostly EA. They are just the distributor, and probably don't have too much say in the final pricing. Most likely culprit, publisher MTV, is in very convenient place in the middle mostly forgotten, and EA as the distributor front is taking all the crap. It's just always so convenient to bash EA, whether they deserve it or not.

    Yeah, the price is still outrageous. I was expecting something like 170 euros, which would be pretty much in line with what the European conversion usually would be. For that price I would've bought it on the day of release. Now I'm not in that much hurry, and researching import options. I just really want the game. It's just the shipping that hurts...

  • miiiguel #88 4 years ago

    smoothn00dle, what MS has to do with this?
    I mean, I was realy sad for Arsenal last night, should I blame on MS ?

  • SlackMaster #89 4 years ago

    @ Dunk360

    GH2 and 3 controller are not compatable with Rock Band. If you want to play it you have to buy their Guitar. There was a big fall out between Activision and Harmonix's a little while ago about this very thing.

    In the interview with Rob over on videogamer.com he confirms that they will not work with Rock Band.

    £180 RRP is a joke and cannot be defended in any way at all.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 16:00

  • shamblemonkee #90 4 years ago

    So, if GH can provide a game and guitar for £65 why does RB cost $40 for game and £60 for a single instrument. Surely its possible to discount the disc or bundle it with the insturments anyway....

    Somewhere the math doesn't work in any of the packages and none of Rob Kayy's excuses answer why.

  • HarryB #91 4 years ago

    EA are getting out of hand... extortion of Europe with Rock Band and charging people for menial things like guns in Battlefield: Bad Company. After slowly shrugging off their reputation for shit games, now they cause more bad PR.

  • barnard666 #92 4 years ago

    great interview - if it was a video interview we could have all watched him squirm!

  • Kyle #93 4 years ago

    So no real answers what so ever then. Frustrating. Although I appreciate he's a Harmonix guy, and so not really in charge of the whole pricing thing.

    And well done for presenting some of the comments to him. If you could do that to a guy at EA that would be priceless.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 16:10

  • BillyBrush #94 4 years ago

    Well

    for £19 more than Rock Band you can get a return ticket from London to New York

    In fact, there's a lot of comparisons that open up when you're game costs just shy of 200quid..

    with Easyjet you could fly from London Gatwick to:
    Majorca from £34.99
    Alicante from £34.99
    Malaga from £30.99
    Faro from £37.99
    Madrid from £30.99
    Barcelona from £30.99

    for £20 more than rock band...that's a 6 country tour, think of all the local music you could take in whilst there ;O) (and they're return flights so you don't have to do a 6 country tour all at once)


    it costs more than the 360 you'd play it on...he he
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 16:09

  • fruitpunch #95 4 years ago

    That guy managed to say a whole lot without ever answering the question, hell yeah I love PR guys

  • y2rich #96 4 years ago

    I think I'll pick up GHIII and spend the other £110+ on GTA IV, Ninja Gaiden 2 and The Bourne Conspiracy.

    I have barely been able to wait for Rock Band over the past couple of months but they can go fuck themselves if they're going to charge that. Even with Play.coms price it's still a bloody rip off.

  • BillyBrush #97 4 years ago

    If you've a got a match, then we've a got the gas, let's burn down harmonix and have ourselves a blast


    kerannng!

    +10 if you can name the band

  • MyPointIs #98 4 years ago

    "for £20 more than rock band...that's a 6 country tour"

    ... are you aware that all six destinations are actually in the same country?

    You know, Spain?

    :)

  • FenderMaster #99 4 years ago

    yeah, way to grill them EG

    i like how you didnt mention Scrumhalfs comment:

    I have two examples for him of VAT and higher price of consumer electronics:
    iPod Touch $299 - £199
    Macbook Air $1799 - £1199

    Now explain Rock Band $170 - £180, please

    or how the Wii/360 didnt have double the price here...

    or even the guitar hero comparison...

    and instead you show your disappointment at the lack of sombreros

    what we wanted to know:

    How does $170 U.S +17.5% VAT = £180/240 euros?

    this guy says:

    I can't talk to the explicit pricing - how it gets split down between retailers and distributors and the whole chain - because I don't actually know that much about it. But I can say for sure, we've tried to set up a situation where people can not feel ripped off playing the game, and actually feel like it's well worth their investment. I'm going to sit here and say I think it's well worth the money.

    yeah, that answers all our questions...

    Edited by 2 at 09/04/08 @ 16:30

  • BillyBrush #100 4 years ago

    Whooooops

    sorry, i am clearly stupid

    you could go back and forth to Spain 6 times then, which would be nice :oP

    According to EA's website songs won't be 80 and 160 G's though, they only mention once price, no prize for guessing which

  • Les #101 4 years ago

    "... are you aware that all six destinations are actually in the same country?

    You know, Spain?"

    Faro is in Portugal...

  • dudefella #102 4 years ago

    Well. This article did absolutely nothing to make me more likely to buy the game.

  • shamblemonkee #103 4 years ago

    Actually Faro is in Portugal, but yeah lol.

  • gingerlink #104 4 years ago

    portugal is in spain....basically

  • kangarootoo #105 4 years ago

    I think it is kind of a shame that this guy was wheeled out to defend the pricing. Its not his call, he probably doesn't even have a say in the matter. I think the pricing sucks, but I don't blame him for it and people on here calling him a c*nt need to calm their sorry childish heads down a bit.

    I don't see anyone from EA or MTV in the firing line. The people who determined the pricing should be answering the questions about it. Then we can reasonably decide what to call them :)

  • BillyBrush #106 4 years ago

    Spain...Portugal, whatever

    you can get the lovely trolley dolleys of easyjet serving you cheap drinks a total of 12 times, which rocks...hard!

    kerrrannng!

  • tonynibbles #107 4 years ago

    Don't. Try. To. Justify. It.

    You're all cunts. Get over it. We hate you.

  • mkreku #108 4 years ago

    I must say I'm disappointed at Eurogamer for not asking the relevant questions. What's the point of having a news site if you're afraid of stirring the pot? Would it really be that difficult to ask about the delays, about how "choice in the EU" somehow justifies a 100% increase in price, or why the discrepancy between the Xbox 360 and the other versions in Europe?

    Seriously, you might as well just post the press releases unedited if your interviews will continue to be this lame. Waste of space.

  • t8yman #109 4 years ago

    I'm with tonynibbles on this one.

  • shamblemonkee #110 4 years ago

    Yeah but the fact that he's not even saying, "we'll we tried our best to get it to you guys at a reasonable price. We really love our product and really want the most people ot be able to play it but this this and this were out of our hands for x and y reasons" smacks of 'I don't care' and 'I can't agree else i may be in trouble'

    Instead you get a i don't really know and some vague improbable gueses mixed with some of the weakest excuses i've ever read.

    That doesn't do anyone any favours.

  • w00t #111 4 years ago

    Feel sorry for Rob - surely it's EA's decision on pricing/bundling?

  • FenderMaster #112 4 years ago

    btw this interview was clearly taken yesterday, some of yesterdays quotes from him were taken directly from this interview

    EG could have just told us yesterday that we wouldnt get our questions answered (like we didnt already know that

    instead they had us waiting til today for this uninformative piece of journalistic drivel

    until someone can tell us where the extra £100 or so is going we wont be satisfied...

    and even then, it better be going to a damn good place... like famine relief or aids vaccines for the third world, before we can in good conscience pay that fee...
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 16:45

  • chrisjm #113 4 years ago

    its probably cheaper to buy a US XBox and the US game? (ignoring shipping of course) did US get an xbox price drop when we did?

  • chrissiddall #114 4 years ago

    @t8yman "I'm with tonynibbles on this one."

    Seconded :p

  • miiiguel #115 4 years ago

    @FenderMaster : Some of it will definetly go to fund the European social state, which I may add, I'm totaly for.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 16:45

  • braddrac #116 4 years ago

    A wait of over six months longer than the US release, a price increase of over two hundred per cent, and a harmonix employee had the balls to try and defend this bullshit? All this interview has done was make me lose all respect for harmonix. They were a great company, they pioneered and popularised rhythm gaming, which is one of my favourite genres. If they had just kept quiet, I could have given them the benefit of the doubt, but publicly backing up the hideous gouging of the EA pigfucking greedheads is not something I can easily overlook.

    This was my most anticipated game of the entire year. Knowing that in order to get it, I'll have to bend over and take a financial raping seriously harshes the buzz that has been gradually dwindling over the past six months anyway. I'll still probably get it, but only used so that those extortionists don't get a single cent of what I pay.

  • FenderMaster #117 4 years ago

    @Miiiguel

    well im all for this socialist state too, but theres more deserving causes imo, like helping trachoma/river blindness sufferers

  • chrisjm #118 4 years ago

    "... are you aware that all six destinations are actually in the same country?

    You know, Spain?

    :) "

    and Easyjet?! ROCK AND ROLL! ;)

  • Moz #119 4 years ago

    I guess they wont learn until it goes on sale and no one buys it. Unfortunatly there are probably too many people who'll when it comes to it will just say sod it and buy it anyway. So my message to those people is DON'T if no one buys it then they'll have to lower the price.

  • BillyBrush #120 4 years ago

    Yes, Easyjet play motorhead songs while you fly and the pilot comes on the tannoy to tell everyone to 'mosh furiously' when you hit turbulence (to stabilise the plane)...they rock hard

  • FenderMaster #121 4 years ago

    @ Moz

    yeah your probably right..

    but remember, thats what sony thought with the PS3, and MS with the original XBOX, and look at how they were forced to price cut?

    seriously, people wont swallow this crap at this price, theyll be forced to move to salvage their money back and price cut (i.e lower their prices to still extortionate, but slightly more digestible proportions)

    theyre gonna have to shift a few of these, cos they wont make a loss on this

  • JonFE #122 4 years ago

    @SlackMaster:
    "GH2 and 3 controller are not compatable with Rock Band. If you want to play it you have to buy their Guitar. There was a big fall out between Activision and Harmonix's a little while ago about this very thing."

    I think you are only half right there, because GH2/3 controllers are compatible with Rock Band on the x360. The dispute you mentioned was only for the PS3.

  • chicknstu #123 4 years ago

    "if people do [buy it] they'll have an amazing experience they couldn't get anywhere else."

    still doesn't answer the question

    "Why is it £100 more expensive than the states?"

  • Trikk #124 4 years ago

    I'm going to sit here and say I think it's well worth the money.

    Why does it feel like there should be a "not" in there?

  • BroonBottle #125 4 years ago

    I won't be buying it either. Sadly history tells us that other people will buy it despite the price and EA will grow richer. People grumbled about the price of DLC for GH2 on the 360 and yet it still shifted in sufficient numbers that there was no price cut. The idea of an EA boycott is nice but good luck in organising it, people say one thing and do the opposite.

  • smelly #126 4 years ago

    There are a lot of assholes on this thread arent there?

    He's the game designer.. Of course he's trying to say the game is great and buy it anyway.

    It's not HIS fault the price is high. He's just saying "but it's great anyway - so please buy it".

    This is a games site.. We want games developers to come here and be interviewed - but the way all these comments threads go where you geeky little shites all consider yourself to be better than the people making the games you love so much just go down their necks.. I'm surprised any of them ever come back.

    CUNTS some of ya..

    Besides.. The fact you all are so upset tells me you're going to probably buy it anyhow. Europeans are stupid like that, they quite happily bought the ps3 at the ridiculously high price it launched there (pretty much the only territory it sold at launch)

  • smelly #127 4 years ago

    @FenderMaster:

    "How does $170 U.S +17.5% VAT = £180/240 euros?

    this guy says:

    I can't talk to the explicit pricing - how it gets split down between retailers and distributors and the whole chain "


    That pretty much explains Most of it to me.

    Hey.. did you know a big mac costs MORE than double in the UK!!!

    QUICK WRITE TO YOUR POLITICIAN..

  • mischief #128 4 years ago

    Save your £180. Get PAIN for £5. Spend £175 on beer. Live Happily ever after.
    Rock Band looks like a "colossal waste of time" at that kind of a price.
    I don't care what the American's pay. I'd still rather be living in Europe.

  • naked_naked_power #129 4 years ago

    At least you can sum it all up in a picture.

  • Dunk360 #130 4 years ago

    "GH2 and 3 controller are not compatable with Rock Band."

    I thought that was only on the PS3? I thought the 360 versions are fine.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #131 4 years ago

    Hey.. did you know a big mac costs MORE than double in the UK!!!

    QUICK WRITE TO YOUR POLITICIAN..

    Apples and Oranges comparison. A Big Mac costs a lot more in Switzerland than it does in Austria, however a 360 costs less. So what?

    I can't deny the fact that things in Europe cost more than in the US and why would I. It's also no secret that there's much more to it than just the taxes. But nothing even remotely explains why Rock Band more than doubles in price after being affected by taxes etc. while other, similar products don't. The Guitar Hero games or other console peripherals like the wheel all cost a bit more than in the US, that's no secret but it's all within a limit that can be explained whereas Rock Band simply costs a lot more and noone can really explain why.

  • BrokenSun #132 4 years ago

    No, seriously, are you THAT self absorbed? Or do you genuinely feel that European emotions have a 110% premium om them. You're not selling some profound moving experience, and forget the hyperbole of "connecting people to music" You are selling a video game. And it's fantastic that the best response to why you're charging so much was the usual piss poor trump card of UK VAT. Regardless of how retailers retain their margins, your will remain untouched at any price.

  • FenderMaster #133 4 years ago

    @smelly, that doesnt explain ****

    you think that retailers and distributors (EA themselves) dont take a cut in the american[/b] price?

    the game in america is $170, that includes retailers and distributors (EA)

    add another $20 (max) in tax and thats $190 (about £100)

    here it costs £180/240 Euro

    if £100 can cover retail, distribution, and tax in the U.S, THEN SURELY £120 could cover it here (im saying an extra £20 shipping fee per unit, though i doubt it really costs that much)

    so all things considered, youve still got about £60 (realistically, more) unaccounted for...

  • Muddtallica #134 4 years ago

    smelly: "We want games developers to come here and be interviewed - but the way all these comments threads go where you geeky little shites all consider yourself to be better than the people making the games you love so much just go down their necks.. I'm surprised any of them ever come back."

    So how does that explain your confrontational belligerence towards spadge of Team17 in the Worms: A Space Oddity comments page, where you mocked and lambasted the development efforts of himself and his development team, before calling into question his honesty about his job? There are some rude, unpleasant comments here, but no-one here is delivering those comments directly to the person in question, unlike yourself in that discussion.

    I actually agree with your sentiments here, but coming from you it reeks of hypocrisy.

  • JDub #135 4 years ago

    Haven't gone through all the comments, but my 2p: -

    So, the VAT argument is a crock. Bringing a product from the US to the UK doesn't involve a 100% price increase - Full stop. Did I see something about UK specific content - and then a comment about all the same tracks will be available?!? Another crock, another excuse. How have they setup a situation where people don't feel ripped off? What has been done? It easy to say you feel it's good value when you haven't got the EG lynch mob breathing down your neck.

    After 6 months of US production, their systems are in place. Their manufacturing must be cheaper than at launch.

    There was no reasoning why potential buyers are being treated this way. The real reason is that they feel they can probably get away with it. I refuse to buy Crock Band - and so should you.

    Unless I hear some proper explanation, I'd put the money to better use and buy a Wii.

  • TheOnlyNemesis #136 4 years ago

    what did we expect he will reap the rewards of our ass fucking, he wasn't gonna turn around and say, stupid price, too high, was he. If he was a normal perosn on a normal wage he'd be in this comments box saying fuck you EA fuck you.

  • Lucien21 #137 4 years ago

    Blaming it on VAT is predictable and not entirely without merit.

    Sales tax is added at the counter in the USA so the $ prices quoted don't include sales tax which is usually between 5 and 9%.

    The other excuse about electronic devices being generally higher in the UK is a crock....It is basically saying everyone else gets away with it so why not us.

    As other people have shown the mark up on certain devices like the Ipod etc is no where near the 100% mark up that they are taking.

    So once again I say "EA can Git to f**k" I certainly will not be purchasing Rock Band.

  • TheOnlyNemesis #138 4 years ago

    "complete lack of question(s) about how come it was released on Xbox 360 and PS3 at the same time in the US but not for Europe."

    I agree... Call him back up, Eurogamer!

    OI numbnuts, xbox have secured an exclusive release for it, thats y

  • stepneg #139 4 years ago

    @smelly

    Your entitled to your opinion and I'm entitlted to mine and I think this guy is a prize cunt of the highest order. He might not have personally set the price but to come out and say, " I'm going to sit here and say I think it's well worth the money." he can fuck off and take his cheap, plastic instruments with him. He must know like we do theres no justifiable reason for this price point yet he spouts this shit, so either he belives it's ok or he's got someone pulling his strings and should grow a pair of balls and back up the fans of his games.

  • sanctusmortis #140 4 years ago

    Your 209% markup just sold me Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and GTA 4. There's your value, mate; you lose a sale, I buy 3 or more games with the cash I was willing to spend. I'll certainly not be upset, especially after that idiocy display.

  • Arathia #141 4 years ago

    Dev's have no control over the price...
    Good read and i'm still going to buy it. But only because ill be able to get it a tad cheaper

  • udat #142 4 years ago

    "Scooch..?" made me laugh.

    /Not buying

  • JohnnyFireBlade #143 4 years ago

    I've just pre-ordered GTA IV. Maybe by the time I've completed that, Rock Band will be semi-affordable. Until then, they stick their microphone where the sun don't shine.

  • FenderMaster #144 4 years ago

    you said it stepneg

    this guy has no loyalty to his custmomers or fans, despite the fact that we are the biggest market, and our currency is more valuable than the U.S

    EG you need to call up EA and have them breakdown the costs

    i want to know how much it costs to manufacture, distribute and send to retail + tax in the US and Europe, so we can see what these extra costs are, and whether they really do add up to £100/125 euro difference...

    ... even though we all know it wont come anyway near close, my guess is they can only account for £30-40

  • Tyronne #145 4 years ago

    Sorry but with this interview there were but a few decent questions and the rest of them were utter utter cock.There was a chance here to get some deep and actually meaningful questions answered and instead there is lip service and questions about a hat.

    Utter utter waste of time.

  • Transcendent #146 4 years ago

    This guy probably can't say anything negative about the price without having his boss (publisher) getting pissed at him.

  • TheOnlyNemesis #147 4 years ago

    at fendermaster

    and even then, it better be going to a damn good place... like famine relief or aids vaccines for the third world, before we can in good conscience pay that fee...

    fuck that, if i wanted to help aids victoms i'd go to a charity and ask them to charge me 180 quid for a picture of a african child not buy a game

  • Tyronne #148 4 years ago

    to quote `So if you weren't working on it, if you were a plain old gamer, would you pay GBP 180 for Rock Band?`

    Sounds like they would have got a sale off this had he not no doubt already had one.

    utter utter lazy question and wtf was he supposed to say.....no ?

  • miiiguel #149 4 years ago

    wow... so many stuff wrong.

    GH guitars work with Rock Band on the 360 (not on PS3).
    Faro is actually... in England. It's an English colony. A recent one. Last time I went there they abolished Portuguese for good, so it's not Portugal.

    gingerlink: you wish..., you have to loose to us on penalties, every time.
    Edited by 2 at 09/04/08 @ 19:18

  • Darkjinxter #150 4 years ago

    Quote - because I don't actually know that much about it. endquote
    I beg your pardon. that's your job matey.

  • SpigleyMcCheese #151 4 years ago

    I feel sorry for that guy. Marched out in front of the angry typing fingers of the internet to try and defend the most blatant overpricing of goods I can think of right now... Damn Ea...

  • smelly #152 4 years ago

    @Muddtallica: Touche!

    I'll shut up now :-)

    Still i do think you guys are being a little harsh..

    Yes i slagged off Team 17 for their decision on worms.. BUT I didnt (i hope) get personal towards spadge himself. And i most definately didnt resort to calling him a "cunt" like at least 3 people on here have done.

    The other difference being spadge was probably (judging by way he spoke) partly responsible for the decision to cut features. This guy CLEARLY has no say in the price of the game..
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 20:59

  • furrfu #153 4 years ago

    Maybe someone from EA could come and defend the pricing decisions, given that they're distributing it.

    (I'd probably have bought it at US prices. Now, I produce a hollow laughter.)

  • peteb #154 4 years ago

    charging this much is one thing, but not even offering a decent excuse is (to quote the drill instructor from full metal jacket) like fucking a guy up the ass without having the god damned curtosy to give him a reach around.

    We aren't bending over EA.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 20:42

  • JDub #155 4 years ago

    Very good point Aspic - The price is by far the biggest point of contention at the moment. The EG article subtitle even emphasises the pricing issue. To not be able to shed light on this is ridiculous - to think we'd be satisfied with what been passed so far is insulting.

  • smelly #156 4 years ago

    "Then why does he seem to be the Harmonix/EA spokesperson on the issue."

    He's the designer.. he's talking about the game he's designed.. He may not have even known question of price was coming up.

    But he's asked his opinion on it.. so he's stating it.

    If you think the designer has control over the pricing/marketing of the game.. then you're quite frankly a bit strange.

    And if you think he's going to be 100% honest during an interview like that then again you're quite frankly naive. You can almost guarantee the interview was done over email and his legal/marketing department edited and censored what he replied.

    EVEN if he thought the game was too expensive, he's hardly going to say "man, yeah.. dont buy this at this price - it's a complete rip off" is he? FFS THINK people!

    *sigh*

    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 21:03

  • iapetus #157 4 years ago

    The question that really needs to be asked is a more specific version of the one about the price being so much higher than the US price. It's not why the price is higher, because we all know the answer to that one (increased retail cost in Europe, higher taxes and import duties etc.) It's why the mark-up on the price is so much higher than comparable products. Every other piece of gaming hardware comes in at up to 50% above the US price. What is it about Rock Band that doesn't impact any other title that justifies the markup being almost 110%.

    After he's failed to answer that one, it should be followed up Paxman-style with something along the lines of "Isn't it true, Mr Kay, that the real reason for the price being so high is that EA is trying to charge Europe for the hardware reliability problems you had in America?"

    Actually it shouldn't be Rob Kay, because he's stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one - I'm sure he knows the European pricing is bull, and I'm sure he has no input on it. You guys need to get hold of an EA PR guy and give them a hard time.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 21:18

  • smelly #158 4 years ago

    @Aspic: I agree.. EA *should* give an interview (they probably wont though)

    But my point being was that some people were OVERLY harsh on the poor guy.. stooping to personal name calling.. and he obviously has little to do with it.

    (how many people have called him a "cunt" for example)?

    Call EA names.. not the poor guy that DESIGNED the game YOU lot seem to want to play so badly!!!!
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 21:31

  • chiz #159 4 years ago

    Damn, I thought that interview has some excellent questions until you hit on page 2 and started crawling up their arse.

  • dk_rare #160 4 years ago

    Actually the suggestion in the interview of buying a Wii instead is a pretty good idea. We were going to buy Rockband and a 360 for my offices lunch/rec room, boss wants me to buy something at work that will make us paper slaved look forward to coming to work everyday (go figure). But a Wii sounds like a much better investment (everyone loves a good 'ol Wii Sports tourny, right?), plus with the money saved from not buying a 360 he can finally buy us the new coffee machine we've been for.

    Thanks EG, you've made my purchasing decision much easier ^_^ It would be irresponsible to spend this much money on Rock Band when the price is so huge for what essentially is "just one game".

  • FenderMaster #161 4 years ago

    yeah, we need to hear EA/MTV's voice on this one, rather than this guy who couldnt tell us the truth even if he wanted to...

    EG if you could find some EA/MTV exec to answer just where the extra £80-85 (on top of $30 VAT) is going, it would be great

    that is all we want to know

    weve been insulted and lied to, now we just want to know where exactly the remaining £80 or so, not accounted for by VAT, is going

    btw if anyone remembers that writer who appeared on FOX news bad mouthing mass effect, and the consequences on her amazon book reviews, it'd be cool if we could to the same thing here, and bring the games amazon review rating down to the dirt

    at least it might dissuade some parents not in the know to avoid buying it for their kids...

  • dk_rare #162 4 years ago

    "to quote `So if you weren't working on it, if you were a plain old gamer, would you pay GBP 180 for Rock Band?`

    Sounds like they would have got a sale off this had he not no doubt already had one.

    utter utter lazy question and wtf was he supposed to say.....no ?"

    I think he was meant to be caught off guard, give an honest answer, and admit that Rock Band was poor value for money

  • iapetus #163 4 years ago

    dk_rare: Nice idea, but I suspect EA had a sniper in the rafters to make sure he didn't get off-message.

  • tgigreeny #164 4 years ago

    Sorry EG. That's weak-assed journalism....

    EG:C an you justify the pirce?
    HX: Well not really but its good, honest...
    EG: Yeah but it is pricey?
    HX: Sorry love, ask EA
    EG: Oh, okay... well I'd buy it!

    Nicky Campbell must be spinning his grave.

    Metaphorically.

    Oviously he's not dead...

    Unless he went quietly in the night and is yet to be discovered by the maid.

  • smelly #165 4 years ago

    "at least it might dissuade some parents not in the know to avoid buying it for their kids..."


    uh??

    Sorry.. i'll repeat.. UH???

    If said parent thinks it's good value, and said kid enjoys said game.. then what's it matter if they lived in another country they could've gotten it cheaper?

    Or is it a case of "you cant afford it - so no-one else should"?

    Edited by 1 at 09/04/08 @ 23:39

  • RobTheBuilder #166 4 years ago

    Considering its not Harmonix who are responsible for the price I think he said all he could in a reasonable manner.
    Its EA we need to be asking about the price.

  • tgigreeny #167 4 years ago

    Vent your anger here folks...

    ssmithwright@europe.ea.com

    Mr Simon Smith-Wright, EA's European PR Director.

  • FenderMaster #168 4 years ago

    @ smelly

    uh??

    Sorry.. i'll repeat.. UH???

    If said parent thinks it's good value, and said kid enjoys said game.. then what's it matter if they lived in another country they could've gotten it cheaper?

    Or is it a case of "you cant afford it - so no-one else should"?

    as usual you get the wrong end of the stick...


    if a hundred of us went on to amazon.co.uk, wrote short reviews saying to import the game from the US, mention the price gouging, and gave it low ratings, and direct them to an importer, then it would might significantly impact their european sales, enough to make them lower the price

    cooper lawrence certainly took note when mass effect fanboys started thrashing her book
    alot of people take note of customer reviews on amazon, and amazon is a large distributor of games...

    kids could still get their game, but parents may save £60-70 if they import

    now what on earth is wrong with that smelly?
    Edited by 2 at 10/04/08 @ 00:11

  • hiddenranbir #169 4 years ago

    Don't know why...but I'm glad I have a game like Audiosurf. Just cost me £5 to enjoy music. Sure, I'm not emulating actually being a musician but I can do that for free when I sing along to it on my cd player...

    Hey...anyone feel like going to a Karaoke bar? :)

  • KreyAtiv #170 4 years ago

    "Maybe I'd try it over at a friend's first, to see if I liked it or not." That is if your friend could afford to get the game and the peripherals. He really didn't think that one through.
    Can't have a go at your friends when your friend can't afford the thing.

  • iapetus #171 4 years ago

    tgigreeny: I was also given swhite@europe.ea.com

    If anyone does write to these gentlemen, please keep it rational, polite and to-the-point. Ranting and raving at them isn't going to help anyone.

  • smelly #172 4 years ago

    >now what on earth is wrong with that smelly?

    It's a bit sad and immature?

  • FenderMaster #173 4 years ago

    man, im really getting tired of you... im not even gonna argue with you anymore...

    i see someone else has already beat me to it anyway

    well, if anyone cares to do it, it'll only take 2 minutes, and may help some uninformed people avoid getting ripped off at the very least

    i might get around to it tomorrow...

  • Stoatboy #174 4 years ago

    ">now what on earth is wrong with that smelly?

    It's a bit sad and immature? "

    Smelly - I really hope you're called something like Shaun or Steven or Simon Melly, so the alias has a meaning.

    Otherwise you're calling yourself smelly, and are accusing other people of being sad and immature.

  • smelly #175 4 years ago

    >man, im really getting tired of you...

    The feelings mutual.

  • Krelle #176 4 years ago

    smelly is so full of shit, in every thread, attention-whore deluxe. why dont we just all ignore him?

    Ill just take that offer right now. Wow, the warmth..mm~

  • TitusCrow #177 4 years ago

    buy a fucking guitar and learn to play for 180£ - my 1st guitar was less than that tbh..

  • Krelle #178 4 years ago

    Yes titus! Playing a real guitar is great, but its not the same. You can do both! (well, if you can stomach the price of the plastic one..)

  • puddleduck #179 4 years ago

    I wonder if they've taken the PS3 and other overpriced products as a benchmark? Aim for the stars don't they say? Perhaps the pricing has been taken with the aim of making as many sales at this price as possible before lowering it and still picking up the sales they would have gotten anyway? That as the library grows and the price drops people's interest will grow, and as such will sell maybe more units at the price everyone expected it to be (yet still considered too much?).

    Also, I find it interesting that on the social side, this is a game that yet again attempts to take public activities and turn them into just one, or at most a few, people. Things like actually going to a bar and singing some karaoke, or seeing a live band, or learning to play an instrument and playing as a live band all forgotten as people yet again aim to emulate real life activities in a small confined and controlled space.

    I'm just speaking my brain.

  • 3william56 #180 4 years ago

    Gents, the answer is simple. They sold a bucket of them in the US, saw the huge GH sales, thought "gee, we must have underpriced it" and decided to make a bunch of extra cash for the much vaunted new "quality over quality" ethos at EA.


    Bend over Europe, we got some hot lovin for ya.

    (and when you factor in the extra cash for DLC - ooh yeah, it stings).

    Just vote with your wallet.

    Yeah, he's just the sacrificial lamb thrown to the internet wolves by EA, but it's still his job, and he could easily have said "I made a great game, but I'm not comfortable with the pricing by the publisher - talk to them", like when Michael Bay hit the roof when Transformers was HDDVD only. Trying to bullsh*t that it's a fine deal irrespective of the US price was foolish. But leave the insults, guys.

    /Full Metal Jacket quote - priceless.

  • dk_rare #181 4 years ago

    "Gents, the answer is simple. They sold a bucket of them in the US, saw the huge GH sales, thought "gee, we must have underpriced it" and decided to make a bunch of extra cash for the much vaunted new "quality over quality" ethos at EA. "

    That sounds believable actually Will. They saw that the game was selling anyway, so they might have thought they could overcharge us because we will need it anyway. Profiteering some people might call it.

  • septimus #182 4 years ago

    I hope this game fails miserably here, so they don't pull this 110% price inflation crap again.

    And time releasing it for the 360 only is going to hurt them.

  • jamespo #183 4 years ago

    smelly - you are boring

    anyway I'll get the game and use the GH guitar...

  • grussbarbar #184 4 years ago

    You know, I'd love to see EA and/or MTV come out and just admit the price is higher than it normally should be, backed up with some reasons they think are legitimate. Maybe that the US DLC's didn't make them as much money as they planned for, or that they want to recover money for all the broken peripherals in the US... Of course, they'll never say something like this (since it would be a PR disaster if it wasn't accompanied with an apology and an immediate price cut) but if they did, at least they'd have back some of my respect.
    I'd even settle for any reaction at all. The internet gaming community has been set aflame by this, and it's a bit shameful that they haven't stepped in and at least responded to the outrage yet. At least someone from Harmonix had the balls to respond (I'm hoping he wasn't ordered to do this by his boss), although his answers are a bit disappointing, since it's making him look like he's fully supporting the price.

    Come on EA, just respond to us! Setting this much higher a price point is insulting and not responding to us even more so!

    @sph
    You can count on it that EA has a very large part in pricing this. Contrary to what you're thinking, they're not just a distributor here. They're the publisher. And MTV isn't the publisher, but Harmonix's owner. So yeah, MTV is partly responsible for the prices, but EA is more responsible. Hence all the negative reactions towards EA. ;)

    Edit:
    Oh, two other things. First, throughout these discussions, there's been a mention of import duties popping up sometimes. I thought that the import duties on videogames were abolished in 2002 or 2003 or sometime around there? Or am I mistaken? (Of course, there's still the import duties we as consumers have to pay if we import games ourselves, but that's to replace the VAT.) Can anyone enlighten me as to whether the import duties on videogames still exist for sellers/game publishers?

    Second, here's another place to speak your mind:
    http://ww w.petitiononline.com/RockBand/p...

    Of course, we should vote with our wallets first, but maybe petitions like this will help lower the price faster, so we can enjoy the game faster... ;)
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/08 @ 09:38

  • Zomoniac #185 4 years ago

    Oviously he's not dead...

    Unless he went quietly in the night and is yet to be discovered by the maid.

    He woke me up this morning. So I suspect he's not dead.

  • andromeda #186 4 years ago

    please, music games, f**k off forever

  • mingster #187 4 years ago

    Can we all just agree the price is a rip-off and that Smelly is a Cunt and should be Globally Ignored / banned / and cast into hell to be eternally buggered.

  • rick_x #188 4 years ago

    Eurogamer = Journalism, don't make me laugh. That 'interview' was as challenging as farting at a baked beans eating contest.

  • Krelle #189 4 years ago

    In my world, smelly do not any longer exist. You should try this "world 1.001"-patch, guys.

  • Krelle #190 4 years ago

    And yeah, about the journalism.. ;x
    Im all for Ellie, she makes boring stuff hilarious..but to put her at an interview? No thanks..
    When you read an interview that you yourself is serious about (the price) you dont want cheap laughs in between. Just so wrong.

  • warlockuk #191 4 years ago

    Interesting...
    ...though:

    1) If we don't get the US tracklisting and get some "UK-centric" bullsit that means a load of fucking Muse tracks and other wanky bollocks. It's possible we'll end up with a comparatively piss-poor experience compared to the septic version.
    2) FIFTY quid for _just_ the game?!? I could see them getting away with £30 but FIFTY and you don't even get the instrument... That's some definite swapping dollar for pound signs.
    3) 160MSP or 80MSP for ONE song is daft - That's £1.36 / 68p. Or $3.32 / $1.66 per track. 6.25
    Like-for-like it's like charging us 266 or 133 GP for one song. I know it's because the pricing structure is wonky and MSP are much more expensive over here and if Microsoft are going to have a global points pricing (800 for this, 400 for that) they need to sell their points according to the exchange rate but it still stands that we're _actually_ paying more. So the You're-paying-the-same-as-the-US is a nice dodge ;) (Incidentally Wikipedia is out of date - they showed the UK price being 1.4 times the US price in October - now it is 1.65 times the price)
    I reckon something sneaky is going on here... Like MS will have, say, 20,000 points spent on a product and pay a developer the US-cut of 20,000 points... but in reality they're making way more cash in different territories... So if anything EA are getting screwed. Or, rather, not being allowed to partake in screwing us. That said, I can't see EA's legal team missing that one...
    4) This comment is getting too long.
    5) The price per track could be a deal breaker if the track listing in-game is total arse. I'm still pissed off that GH2 had pretty much no decent DLC at rip-off prices (£10.30 for 3 tracks, one of which would be shit). I was hoping for a 2100 point pack with all the GH1 content as it was GH1 I wanted to play - and the threat of "more DLC than any other game" made me stupidly think GH1 would get a release as a DLC pack. And it didn't. Lesson learned, I'd hold back and see what sort of DLC gets released and the volume of it. I only bought GH2 because I thought I'd get loads of cool tunes for it - and I didn't. Plus my guitar was arse and I spent the first six months trying to email someone to get a replacement. Emails either bounced or went unanswered, so I boycotted GH3 and if RockBand is £180 then I'm out on this too.
    6) I wish people would stop comparing GH/RB to playing a real instrument. They're not even close - not even the drums (unless you're some kind of Indie two-piece drumkit kiddie). They're both fun, but one is a game and the other is grinding your nuts off. And there's no way I can play the GH guitar anywhere near as hard as my real instruments. It'd break :-D
    7) More metal / death metal songs - Some Cannibal Corpse, Death, Deicide, Obituary etc. DragonForce is just arse - but comical. The Slayer track in GH3 was a nice touch but sadly the GH2 guitar just isn't up to playing it (mine registers mis-hits just when you go anywhere near the trem bar - push down and then up and you often get three notes. Touch it even slightly and you get a note. Bollocks. :)
    8) NOW this comment is way too long. \o/

  • Zomoniac #192 4 years ago

    I just went on Amazon.com out of curiosity. They're doing Rock Band 360 for $148, and there's a marketplace seller selling a 360 Arcade unit for $238. So for £10 more than UK Rock Band you can buy it AND the 360 to play it on in the States. So that's a super-powerful console with 256MB memory card and 5 XBLA games for a tenner.

    I don't blame Rob Kay, I feel sorry for him and the abuse he's getting. But whoever is responsible for this really is a fucking cunt. A cunting cunt. But it'll slide, just as PS3 did it'll be reduced within 6 weeks.

  • Les #193 4 years ago

    "a super-powerful console"

    lol

  • slivir #194 4 years ago

    I wonder how much it's going to cost in Australia? We get raped the most when it comes to game prices. Doesn't matter though, I won't be buying it.
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/08 @ 10:49

  • Zomoniac #195 4 years ago

    For fuck's sake. They're both super-powerful consoles, if you want to go on a fanboi bitch then go somewhere else.

  • toythatkills #196 4 years ago

    Which idiot started that petition to have the price lowered? You'd think they'd try to make it look a little bit professional, spell words correctly, address it to the correct people, that kind of thing.

    It's not going to make any difference anyway but still, you'd usually at least try to make it decent.
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/08 @ 10:57

  • Les #197 4 years ago

    "They're both super-powerful consoles"

    No, they both are not.

  • turnget2005 #198 4 years ago

    there is no way that i would spend 180 on a game, i dont care how many instruments they include, they could have a whole orchestra for all i care!
    and that was a week ass excuse "VAT is 17.5%" and electronics do not cost double over here, who are they trying to kid,,, themselves!!

    ridiculos!!

  • Krelle #199 4 years ago

    Les showing his fanboy-colors. Good stuff. Busy day for the ignore button today, lalala~

  • martinh #200 4 years ago

    I'll just repeat my tuppence in an attempt to get the comment number on here as high as possible -

    What a load of tosh blah blah I'm outraged etc.


    By the way, with pricing, guys, GH2/3 solus are still 50 pounds in the shops - so I don't grudge them that.

    I just grudge the audacity of not selling the two together. It's borderline offensive.

  • kenbrilliant #201 4 years ago

    So, it is agreed we don't like the price. So don't buy it.

    If nobody buys it, they have to drop the price. Simple.

  • MrChuckles #202 4 years ago

    Do you need to buy it on day 1?

    Nope..

    Wait, and ye shall be rewarded...

  • Der_tolle_Emil #203 4 years ago

    I wonder how much it's going to cost in Australia? We get raped the most when it comes to game prices. Doesn't matter though, I won't be buying it.

    I guess Australians will have to wait for a release date first and foremost. With a bit of luck there will be the usual delays and maybe, just maybe, there was already a price cut when it finally arrives in Australia. Not much consolation though.

  • Kazzahdrane #204 4 years ago

    I don't see why everyone's making such a fuss about this. Hardly anyone is going to buy Rock Band at its current price in Europe. it'll be the next Steel Battalion.

    I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's a pricecut for the game/instruments or they introduce the US bundle in Europe within a couple of months of release. Then maybe I'll consider buying it.

  • Luxsy #205 4 years ago

    _We also wanted to make sure the hardware gave people choices. Something we weren't able to do for the US launch was let people choose how they buy and experience the game._

    Finally, the price of choice is releaved. It's a 100% markup.

  • Scrumhalf #206 4 years ago

    It is possible, at play.com, to get this for £127 in the UK - we should be careful to include this in any debate about the price. As yet no-one is having to pay £180 to actually buy it - although Game has put prices for everything but the intruments up and they are RRP.

  • FenderMaster #207 4 years ago

    i read somewhere that rock band may not get an australian release at all...

    something to do with shops just not willing to take in a game at that price because they know it wont sell...

    ... just goes to show then that the extra £100 may not be due to retail, as Rob Kay suggested...

  • toythatkills #208 4 years ago

    There's no way the extra £100 is due to retail anyway. Why would Game want to sell Rock Band at £180, when they could sell a Wii/360 at the same price and get future game sales too? Retailers aren't stupid enough to think that this'll sell at this price, and as a result I wouldn't be surprised to see it not available in stores, for all the space it'll take up just sitting there with no interest.

    Of course, when that happens EA/MTV will just assume that it's because no one's interested in the genre and not bother releasing this kind of game here ever again.

  • Ali_sdf_pwn3d #209 4 years ago

    i agree w/Les. teh 360 is NOTHING cumpared to teh ps3 and teh cel. les, will you b my frend? 2getha we can spred the word of sony!!!!!1

  • Mr_Bison #210 4 years ago

    All pressing buttons when the telly tells you to games are for wankers.

  • Les #211 4 years ago

    @ "Les showing his fanboy-colors."

    &

    "i agree w/Les. teh 360 is NOTHING cumpared to teh ps3 and teh cel. les, will you b my frend? 2getha we can spred the word of sony!!!!!1"

    Jumping to (the wrong) conclusions is usually reserved to fanboys and idiots. If you two had actually read the thread, you’d know that my ‘lol’ at “super-powerful” regards both 360 and PS3. But that will then probably make me a Wii fanboy in the ignorant eyes of the likes of you…
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/08 @ 12:56

  • BobsUncle #212 4 years ago

    What he actually means is:

    "I actually feel like it's well worth their investment. I'm going to sit here and say thanks for all the money."

  • neuroniky #213 4 years ago

    Disappointing interview, basically it was all about dodging the subject and stating that whoever doesn't understand how lucky you are cause you're only paying 240 Eur for it it's just a sad guy that is never contented with anything.

    F**k Harmonix.

  • Blacklodge #214 4 years ago

    I imported it 2 months ago. Its guitar hero with an MB Games Simon strapped to it and sub standard singstar.
    1 day of playthrough and its not been touched since. The whole thing feels really cheap and plasticy.

    I imagine its like drugs - you'll never get the high of GH back, your habit gets more expensive and less satisfying, until you are just buying it because its there.

    Just my opinion but I was really excited about it and well - its crap. I wanted to sell it, but I was made to bring it into the office where everyone got really excited for an hour and then it was left in the corner to be replaced by COD4. The drums make a low quality novelty hat stand, so its not all bad.

    There is a moment about 2 hours in when you just go

    'What the fuck am I doing - I'm a grown man surrounded by hundreds of pounds wourth of cheap tacky plastic, singing along to some crap song surrounded by other losers banging on a plastic pot like an autistic chimp and a dick with something the size of a childs ukelele 'thrashing' five brightly coloured buttons'

    My daughter is 1 and she does the same thing at nursery with pans. I can tell you now, this is not how I imagined my life panning out when I was a bright eyed 16 year old.

    I am a fucking dick and I deserve to be bummed by EA for desiring this white elephant enough to piss my daughter inheritance up the wall on this shit.

    I am a fuckwit. No two ways about it.

  • FenderMaster #215 4 years ago

    YEAH!!!

    fuck that shit!!

  • shamblemonkee #216 4 years ago

    Blacklodge, maybe you could garner some entertainment from it by smashing your instruments up during an all out freestyle BIG ROCK ending?! Raaawr!!

    Yeah, stick it to the man and Fisher Price!

  • Blackthorned #217 4 years ago

    Blacklodge - Excellent and very funny food for thought there, thanks.

  • ArtOfLife #218 4 years ago

    No offence to the guy because he’s been given the impossible task of trying to put a brave face on yet another video game related disaster, but as always with these things, most of the answers involve sidestepping the questions. To say that at that price you will get an experience which can’t be found anywhere else is simply not true, because I found that exact same experience two weeks ago in Times Square and it cost me £85.

    The US sales tax was around £7.
    For anyone mentioning how VAT is already included in UK prices and to keep that in mind when comparing, this is how much extra you’ll pay on Rock Band in an American shop. The exact figure at the counter was $215, and I bought Rock Band ($170) and Professor Layton ($30), so not that it was, but even if the entire $15 tax was due to Rock Band, that’s only £7.50 extra added onto the price. That’s still miles off the UK price for Rock Band, which is a ridiculous amount of money for the exact same thing the Americans got months ago. The game is the same, the songs are the same, the peripherals are the same, the ‘experience’ is the same; nothing’s changed, therefore it should be marginally more expensive and no more. There is absolutely zero justification for whacking an extra £95 onto the price. Besides, £85 is what it obviously costs to sell the item and still make a profit on it, so charging £180 for it is daylight robbery.

    And to mention how they’re offering consumers a choice is again not the issue. The Americans are getting a choice too; you can buy the game for $60 (£30), the drum kit for $80 (£40), and the entire thing, game and all, for $170 (£85). So to say that Europeans have the choice to buy just the game, or just the drum kit, is something US customers have already been able to do this whole time, except that it cost them a whole lot less.

    “Or, if they want the full-on Rock Band experience, they can buy the instrument bundle. The combined price, if you add all that up and decide you want that full experience, is quite high. It's not something that is normal in videogames. But Rock Band isn't normal in videogames. This is an entirely new thing. What other game comes with three peripherals that are all different?”

    …em, the American version of Rock Band does. It comes with three peripherals that are all different. And it costs half the price!

  • Ali_sdf_pwn3d #219 4 years ago

    sad face. les wont b my frend.

  • japstersam #220 4 years ago

    'weve been insulted and lied to, now we just want to know where exactly the remaining £80 or so'

    why does everyone get so mardy about this? its just business. I really want this game, but as its expensive i'll just wait till it eventually gets cheaper, or not buy it, or save up. no point ranting about it like we're all hugely influential marketing execs, because none of us know bugger all about why its so expensive.

  • iapetus #221 4 years ago

    One more EA email address: lmarchant@ea.com is apparently in charge of Rock Band PR. My email to that address:

    I saw your address listed as PR contact for Rock Band - if you're not the right person to be contacting regarding this, then please accept my apologies, and I would appreciate it if you could forward the mail to the appropriate person or let me know their contact details.

    I'm writing concerning the recently released pricing scheme for the UK and European release of Rock Band. I'm sure you're already aware of the general public response to this - the price, at £180 for the game and full set of instruments, is seen as unacceptably high when compared against the US price of $170 for the same goods.

    First let me say this: nobody is expecting a direct dollar-to-pound conversion. The majority of European gamers are fairly well educated on these matters and accept that there will always be a markup over the US price to reflect VAT, higher import duties and general higher retail costs on this side of the Atlantic. These points were, I understand, raised by Rob Kay of Harmonix at a recent press event.

    However, it's very hard for us to accept the *level* of the price increase on Rock Band. A quick comparison of RRPs of console gaming hardware and software shows that the vast majority costs between 20% and 50% more in the UK than the US. This represents the 'myriad of small differences' that Mr Kay referred to, along with the fact that a variable level of VAT is part of the RRP in Europe and not in the US. This represents the sort of price that European gamers are willing to pay (or at the very least accustomed to paying). There are some outliers - normally on the low side, with the XBox 360 being only 12% more expensive in the UK than the US, for example - but the median seems to be around 40%. Rock Band, however, is marked up over the US price by almost 110%.

    While I understand that there are additional expenses incurred selling in Europe, the fact of the matter is that your RRP for Rock Band represents a mark up that is more than double the percentage mark up on equivalent goods from other companies - and given the higher price of the product, it's an even larger increase in terms of the actual amount. I'm sure you can see that without an explanation of why Rock Band in particular should incur over double the extra costs when compared to other gaming products it's very difficult for a European gamer to accept this. If your pricing were in line with the more expensive end of other games, the UK RRP would be closer to £130.

    Without a compelling explanation of why Rock Band is different to other products in this respect, there are two conclusions that it is easy to jump to.

    1) This is just a money-grab by EA - upping the price for Europe solely based on a belief that people will be willing to pay it, not on any increased value provided.

    2) This is an attempt to use the European market to pay for the costs incurred by warranty replacements in the US market.

    Neither of these is acceptable to consumers.

    I've been looking forward to playing Rock Band for a long time now. I considered importing it, but decided against it partly because I wanted to support the European release. But although I can comfortably afford to buy it, I will not be doing so. To accept the pricing structure you've set out would be to implicitly accept that EA have good cause to charge European gamers so much more than the rest of the world, and to encourage such unreasonable pricing in the future, and I can not with good conscience do so. Until the pricing issue is addressed, either by a substantial price cut to fall in line with other products or by a convincing explanation of why Rock Band is unique among gaming products in requiring such a high markup then I will not be buying the game. I will also be encouraging others not to buy, and attempting to spread the word through gaming publications and message boards and consumer affairs publications and programmes.

    Make no mistake, this is a PR disaster. Nobody will be happy with the pricing, and it will cause much dissatisfaction with EA, particularly given your reluctance to date to make any official statement regarding the pricing. With the delays that we frequently see on game releases and the generally higher pricing there is already a feeling among European gamers that we are treated as second rate citizens by the industry. This extreme example of both (particularly for PS3 and Wii gamers) will only reinforce that impression about EA in particular. I hope that you will be able to do the right thing and avoid that.

    Regards,

    iapetus

  • shamblemonkee #222 4 years ago

    A little birdie tell sme Woolies are expecting to shift RB for around £130

  • FenderMaster #223 4 years ago

    great letter iapetus, i know it wont do any good, but its great that someone can make a convincing and intelligent argument and politely eloquently put in words how we all feel...

    i really hope your e-mail reaches the right person, and they at least read it...

  • braddrac #224 4 years ago

    ->iapetus: Very well written letter. I hope you get some sort of non-stock response, because you sure as hell deserve it. I might also suggests posting it on the rock band/EA forums or something, just to increase the visibility. In any case if you do get a decent response, make sure to forward it on to destructoid/kotaku/joystiq etc.

  • iapetus #225 4 years ago

    I've already posted the letter in a couple of places, and my current plan is to send one a day until I receive a satisfactory response or run out of EA addresses. :p This one's the second, so I've got a few addresses to go yet...

  • Krelle #226 4 years ago

    nice one iapetus, keep us posted

  • Kyle #227 4 years ago

    Yeah, very well written and I agree with you on every single point. Keep it up dude.

  • BobsUncle #228 4 years ago

    Is this the right version? Play have it for 100 quid.

    http://ww w.play.com/Games/Xbox360/4-/539...

  • captain-future #229 4 years ago

    OK. nice guy tries to talk things pretty... but STILL NO SALE!!!

    A friend of mine (who's gonna buy the game no matter what the price...) already joked about "people have to pay admission" to play Rock Band in my house...

    I'M SO ANGRY!!!!!!!

  • Cronan #230 4 years ago

    Rob Kay, and everyone at Harmonix , EA, and MTV can suck my balls before I'll buy this game at that price.
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/08 @ 19:13

  • 2099net #231 4 years ago

    Buy it or don't buy it. Who cares. It will come down in price anyway.

    It least nobody here is rioting for food.
    http://ww w.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo...

  • 2099net #232 4 years ago

    No, you can complain. But lots of people here are easily overstepping the line with their abuse. Calling somebody a cunt? That's not really complaining is it? As they would say on Monty Python, "Stop it, its getting silly". And overblown out of all proportion.

    500 sensible, well constructed comments will have more weight than 250 comments with several containing heavy personal abuse.
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/08 @ 19:40

  • TheBard #233 4 years ago

    I have nothing more to add, but to +1 the postcount.

    Fuck this shit.

  • iapetus #234 4 years ago

    Greg over at Harmonix has commented on the pricing.

    While I don't think he's fully addressed the issue it's nice to see someone trying in an official capacity. Might be nicer if that were someone from EA, but I guess they're still hiding behind the developer.

  • Entwistle #235 4 years ago

    Could we be realistic here for a moment and stop comparing post VAT UK RRP with pre sales tax discounted US prices? Rock Band is £130 ish on Play, and about £75 equivalent on amazon.com. Im not entirely sure how much the tax is in the states, but lets say it bumps it up to about £85. So we are realistically paying £45 more than the US. Now go and google UK/US salary comparisons and notice how much more you earn in US dollars than your American counterpart in the same job (assuming you actually work, and are not relying on parents to pay for this stuff). In my case I earn about $13,000 more than if I were working in the states, same job. The UK is expensive, but factor in the global economy, cost of living, salaries etc, and we are not paying double, allright?

    If you choose to buy anything at UK RRP you are a complete moron.

  • iapetus #236 4 years ago

    Entwistle: I keep seeing that kind of argument, but it still doesn't address the fact that Rock Band is so much more expensive in the UK than the US when compared to other gaming products, or when compared to the typical markup associated with gaming products.

    Nobody's asking for it to be sold at £85. That's just silly talk. However, by just about every sane comparison, the RRP should be around £130.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 10:58

  • Entwistle #237 4 years ago

    Iapetus,

    I see what you are saying mate, and I think you are right, the RRP should be lower.

    Given the US RRP is 2.4x the usual RRP of a game, yet over here it is 3.6x, it does seem unbalanced.

    I just think that once all factors are taken into account, we arent paying much more than our American counterparts. No-one should settle to pay for RRP, ever. It just winds me up when people fly of the handle and blame all and sundry for what they deem a rip-off, without actually considering all the factors involved.

    Cheers

    Edit: If the RRP was £130, thus we could buy it for £100, it would soften the inevitable blow of buying DLC! Shame it will never happen....
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 12:28

  • iapetus #238 4 years ago

    We're not paying that much more than the US, agreed. While they're pretty arguments to throw around to make a point, the fact that we pay twice as much for Rock Band in the UK as the US or that the UK price for Rock Band could get you a full Rock Band bundle and the console to play it on in the US are misleading.

    But again, by every measure I try to apply the same thing comes through - to be comparable relative to the rest of the market to the US price, the Rock Band game should be included in the price of the instrument pack in the UK. That one simple move changes it from way beyond the pricing of other titles to merely at the high end of the scale. I'm not asking for an £85 Special Edition bundle. Well, okay, I am, if EA is listening, but I have no expectation of getting one. :p A £130 bundle, though, seems reasonable. And sure, we'd probably see smaller discounts on it from retailers, and that's fine.

  • Entwistle #239 4 years ago

    I suppose it comes down to the usual thing, talk of boycotts is all well and good, but I for one, want to have some fun outside of work, and games are awesome escapism. I will look at my payslip, curse and swear over how much dissapears in tax/NI etc, then precede to spunk the remainder on video games and beer. No matter the cost :).

    So yes, my flatmates and I will wile away hours playing plastic guitars and drums, ignoring the £10k of real musicial instruments we own!!

    Iapetus, I assume you are gonna pick it up, so I hope you enjoy it, maybe see (hear) you on live!

  • beastmaster #240 4 years ago

    Never mind the price, how big is the fucking box it comes in?

  • iapetus #241 4 years ago

    You'll hear me on Live if the price drops substantially. I can't buy it before then - not because I can't afford it, but because buying it sends a message to EA that it's acceptable for them to rip us off in this way without any valid explanation.

    Meanwhile I'll also stick to the far-too-many real guitars, basses and microphones lying around my house. (Don't have the drum kit - no space for it and the neighbours might complain given how terrible I am on the drums...)

  • sneetch #242 4 years ago

    Sorry if this has already been said a hundred times, 250ish posts are a lost.

    "Rob Kay: I can't talk to the explicit pricing - how it gets split down between retailers and distributors and the whole chain - because I don't actually know that much about it."

    OK, fair enough no-one really expects him to know that, but then can they get someone who actually does know to explain it? Surely that's possible.

  • Iceberg #243 4 years ago

    Definitely not buying and I will talk all my friends not to buy this game until it's around 40-50% cheaper.