Harmonix blames taxes, other 'little differences' for Rock Band Europe price

'Kay explained that VAT adds 17.5% to the total UK price'

well that's a relief, it almost explains why the game costs over 100% more! thanks harmonix dude.

VAT is charged on all UK games, but we don't see much of a price difference with them.

I'm sorry but Harmonix really are taking the michael and there is no way i will be buying this game until it's price drops in line with Guitar Hero.

You're stuff always costs more. That the price you pay for universal "free" healthcare, among other social programs you have that the US doesn't. So you can have cheap consumer goods, or cheap healthcare, or both and astronomically high income tax.

Knowing Harmonix, they are probably charging the absolute minimum they can and still remain profitable. I don't know the line item breakdown, and neither do you, but Harmonix is not known for screwing the consumers.

BULLSHIT!

I know this is easy to say when I'm living in the USA, but I really tend to give Harmonix the benefit of the doubt here.

So far, at every opportunity they've had to screw us over on cost, they've done what's best for the consumer.

They unbundled DLC packs so that you can always buy only the single tracks you want.

They have strongly promoted interoperability of third-party instruments with their game, instead of taking the Activision approach of trying to force you to buy their instruments.

They originally announced 40 licensed songs on the disc, but bumped it up to 45 when they got some more licenses they really wanted.

Retailers were told to expect a $200 price point in the US, but they took it down to $170 at launch, which is a very aggressive price for the full bundle.

I suspect they are still having trouble getting enough peripherals manufactured, which is why they are doing a console exclusive launch in Europe, and why they are giving retailers a higher recommended price to work with.

Already, we are seeing some European retailers offer the instrument bundle at significantly below EUR 169, which suggests that there is a bit of play in the final pricing.

well that accounts for 20% of the price difference, what about the other 80%?

Crono the price I pay for a practically laughable NHS healthcare service is part of the tax that takes a third of my pay every month, and it's so bad that I had to pay extra to put my mother through a private hospital because the junior doctors kept screwing up her medication.

Value added tax is different and additional to the tax taken from my pay and is 17.5%, which doesn't come close to making up the price difference between US and UK versions of the game. They expect people to pay such a huge cost for what is still just one game? Why are they even selling the game on its own anyway?! You can't play all aspects of it with a controller.

Why will it be worth it? At almost double the price the US market pays? When you buy a car you dont see dealerships doubling the price after a few people buy a certain model and then turn to you and say "Yeah but it's a good car, you'll pay it whatever I charge."

I gotta say that the people saying, "Oh i trust Harmonix" are living in a fantasy world. EA controls this brand - not Harmonix. EA does what is best for EA and if they think they can get away with charging more for a product then they'll damn well charge as much as they want.

I feel sorry for this guy since he has to make up crap to try and partially justify the massive % increase.

The packs are only going to be initially available in three countries anyway (UK, France and Germany i think) and by unbundling the products they can make as much money as possible. It's the same argument as the Arcade Xbox. Buying the HDD and extra stuff costs the consumer way more and benefits MS as well. But not selling a SKU that has the stuff bundled in they make more money on purpose! Shock horror.

I just can't believe they have the gall to come out and say it's down to tax because, frankly, unless they're shipping them to America first and then back to Europe then the trip is shorter and should at least cost the same.

The taxes are a stupid argument. Every state in the US has different amounts of tax. So they put out one price that it variable from state to state. Well, guess what? The tax amounts are different from country to country in the EU too... but what do they do? They stick one price for all those countries. That's not ripping people off is it?

... Incredible.

I really hope the game totally bombs here in europe, just to show EA they cant do anything they whant. A few plastic instruments more expensive than a xbox 360? Sorry to be so rude, but go F**K yourself EA!!

I love the people who think they know everything about everything. EA doesn't own Harmonix, MTV does. MTV alonig with Harmonix decides the pricing, EA gets the discs made and advertises and supports the funding for the game and gets revenue from that.

Maybe you guys should actually KNOW what the fuck you're talking about before typing it.

and I thought NZ prices were bad, $120 for any new release, and at a 75c NZ for $1 US that's NZ standard 1 road per side highway robbery

ummm.....so you're comparing GH3 (Activision published) to RockBand (EA published)...THAT makes sense. of course, if you assume GH3 was the same price as GH2 (EA published) then that's fine.

suck it up, UK!!

More likely, they saw sales and priced accordingly.

"Kay explained that VAT adds 17.5% to the total UK price, adding, "We're not trying to screw people.""

And yet, he didn't bother to explain where the other 82.5% in the doubled price comes from.

Isn't it the publisher who sets the price, not the developer?