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

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 8th 2008 at 5:00PM }

Reaction to Rock Band's European pricing -- the equivalent of about $360 combined (instrument bundle and game are sold separately) -- has been swift and vocal. For example, Guitar Hero III (with guitar) costs £65, while a Rock Band game disc and single guitar will cost roughly £110. VideoGamer spoke to Rob Kay, design director at Harmonix, during the London press event today who said the price difference is caused by "a myriad of little differences that all add up."

Kay explained that VAT adds 17.5% to the total UK price, adding, "We're not trying to screw people." He believes that people who purchase the game will think it's worth the money. Great, hopefully those people will remember to take the silver spoon out of their mouth before trying to sing.

Tags: ea, europe, harmonix, mtv-games, rock-band, rockband

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

voodoo_craig @ Apr 8th 2008 5:05PM

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.

Nate @ Apr 8th 2008 5:19PM

Taking the Michael? I assume that's some wacky UK-ism. Can you explain?

voodoo_craig @ Apr 8th 2008 5:21PM

Here you go

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taking_the_mickey

Firewall @ Apr 8th 2008 9:17PM

If you are reading joystiq I'm going to assume you are pretty savvy gamers. For those PS3 owners in Europe, what is preventing you from buying the US version? Seems like you probably have a US PSN account or that it would be simple enough to setup. And then you need only wait for the inevitable release of the PSN cards to ensure you can add money to the US PSN wallet. Just a thought.

WorMzy @ Apr 9th 2008 3:05AM

@ Firewall - It's called region locking. NTSC games will not play on PAL systems, or vice versa.

Phizzy @ Apr 9th 2008 5:16AM

... PS3 is region-free, silly.

Don't know yet if the Rock Band store will let us purchase from out-of-region, though. I wouldn't really like to play on my US PSN account constantly.

lightswitchsam @ Apr 8th 2008 5:05PM

'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.

SmokestormX @ Apr 8th 2008 8:53PM

Rockband has VAT and so it's price is higher?

EVERY GAME HAS VAT! Not just Rockband, so lets just even that playingfield and how about you try to answer this question again.. and remember April Fools was last week.

£130 is just for the game & guitar .. if you were to get all the instruments your looking at around ~£180 ($360)

VAT is 17.5% , not 200%.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Apr 8th 2008 5:09PM

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.

friedgold @ Apr 8th 2008 5:28PM

Our stuff does always cost more, but not this much more. It not the difference between the US pricing and the UK pricing that annoys me, but the difference between the price of Rock Band compared to GH3. How spectacular is that Rock Band guitar that it costs £45 more

Yoshi Likes Boys @ Apr 8th 2008 5:19PM

Yeah, but EA is. Remember who's really pulling the strings here, RB has been a huge consumer screwjob from the beginning.

Demolition Elmo @ Apr 8th 2008 5:20PM

"That the price you pay for universal "free" healthcare"

The NHS is as good in the real world as Superman 64 is in the gaming world.

mr mobius @ Apr 8th 2008 5:36PM

Demolition Elmo. Seriously, you have no idea. Stop reading The Sun and Daily Mail. The health service is something you'd severely miss. Even if you could afford private healthcare, free healthcare at the point of access for everyone is a good system. Yes the NHS drains money but it has some good points. I've written about the advantages and disadvantages of the NHS and I know that the UK is better for it.

Demolition Elmo @ Apr 8th 2008 6:07PM

mr mobius, I have 2 relatives who have recently had run ins with the NHS, and didn't come out all that well. One needed stitches which were messed up due to a lack of communication and too much paper work. They are now under the skin which means she has to be opened up again just to get them removed and be stitched up again. The other went in with gash on his arm and contracted MRSA. I don't need to read the papers to see that it's become a tax money leech with little results.

ssuk @ Apr 8th 2008 6:16PM

Haha, I believe that Demolition Elmo will not be complaining when he needs a costly procedure carried out sometime in the future or as he approaches old age, will require free eye tests, hearing test, free medication, etc, etc.

LaughingTarget @ Apr 8th 2008 6:29PM

I'm happy to pay the US prices. Our survival rates are roughly double those under the universal systems. Plus, lifetime, I pay less. "Free" systems aren't free because you don't whip out the check book at the doctor's office. I take care if myself so I don't need all the piddly crap that is in abundance in a universal system. The good doctors come to the US where we pay them more and the salary goes further.

In any case, this has nothing to do with the European population's fiscal incompetence in the realm of retirement and personal care but the fact we know full well Europeans are tools that don't mind paying twice as much as everyone else for the same thing. Especially US companies with the dollar weakening. It is Christmas all year round for American companies. Charge more and get an extra exchange rate bonus.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Apr 8th 2008 6:39PM

Get your flameshield ready LT.

I've had mine up all day.

john @ Apr 8th 2008 10:50PM

If you bothered to take a medical epidemiology course, you would realize that England and the rest of Europe pay much less per capita for healthcare than the US. In fact, they generally pay 1/3 to 1/2 of what we pay per person. And they get better results. America is at the bottom of the industrialized world in neonatal mortality, a main indicator of the quality of health care. I'm a big fan of free markets, but in the case of healthcare, the European model is just cheaper.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Apr 8th 2008 11:14PM

@john

LOL. All I ever hear about england s health care is that it sucks, its slow, the service is sub-par, and half the time you STILL have to get private insurance to cover the stuff the government says you don't need.

Pay less for health care? Maybe when you're AT the doctors. But your 17% VAT and your 60% income tax say otherwise.

Ordeith @ Apr 8th 2008 11:28PM

John:

The US uses the standards set by the WHO to calculate infant mortality rates. The UK, and much of Europe, don't. If they used the same criteria as the US their rates would be an order of magnitude higher.

Typical socialist response right? We can't pass the test so we change the questions.

t_m @ Apr 9th 2008 9:44AM

Wow. I didn't know that the NHS was funded by Harmonix. Weird. I thought it was our taxes that paid for the NHS.

I guess I'll take your word for it, cos I can't see any other reason why we'd have to pay 17.5% vat, income tax AND pay 75% harmonix tax.

Jevanzz @ Apr 8th 2008 5:16PM

BULLSHIT!

copa @ Apr 8th 2008 5:17PM

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.

Yoshi Likes Boys @ Apr 8th 2008 5:22PM

By strongly promoted, I'm assuming you mean "released a version of the PS3 game to market without Les Paul support and planned to 'fix in post,' which allowed Activision to step in and block the patch."

How about shipping a game with a line of patently defective peripherals? And how about it being APRIL 08 and you can only NOW buy standalone guitars for the PS3? The only way to play 4 player PS3 RB prior to this would have been to buy 2 $170 bundles (so roughly what it will cost in Europe).

copa @ Apr 8th 2008 5:34PM

The first time Harmonix got their hands on a final PS3 GH3 guitar was a week before they went gold. At that point, they had the option of delaying the PS3 launch, or adding in well-tested support in the form of a patch after launch.

If they had chosen to delay the launch, miserable whiners like you would have complained anyway.

As you well know, Harmonix submitted the patch to Sony and Sony refused at the last minute to release the patch. Yet still, people like you will find some way to blame Harmonix for this, rather than Sony/Activision.

As for the peripherals, I will just note that their warranty replacement has been incredibly generous. Even though they claim a 90-day warranty on the instruments, to this day they will take a launch day return, no questions asked, and get you a free replacement while paying for shipping both ways.

Jevanzz @ Apr 8th 2008 5:37PM

Sorry Copa, but when you've been made to wait 6 months and then be told a ridiculous price - which let's face it is extortionate - I think you have the right to be a 'miserable whiner'.

copa @ Apr 8th 2008 6:11PM

I agree, Jevanzz, I wasn't referring to Europeans as miserable whiners.

I was referring to Yoshi Likes Boys, who is an American PS3 user.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Apr 8th 2008 7:17PM

It sucks but what can you really do? Oh wait, not buy it and watch the price drop. But that's crazy talk and will never work.

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Apr 8th 2008 8:19PM

Sheppy, the concept of "free market" is lost on a great number of Europeans.

Markusdragon @ Apr 8th 2008 5:27PM

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

allwrighte @ Apr 8th 2008 5:51PM

well played mate, glad someone can count lol. Harmonix should try hiring you

Tiptup300 @ Apr 8th 2008 10:26PM

alcohol, lots and lots of alcohol

Varone @ Apr 8th 2008 5:28PM

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."

Fadobo @ Apr 8th 2008 5:32PM

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!!

ssuk @ Apr 8th 2008 6:21PM

Why not? The game industry has fucked Europe, Australia and Korea so hard since... Forever. Why would they change now?

Fadobo @ Apr 8th 2008 7:51PM

yeah, we're used to wait longer, pay more (usually the dollar-price in euro) and some games dont come out here. I'm ok with that. But suddenly stepping up and double the price without any real reason? I think this goes beyond the usual buttrape.

Duoae @ Apr 8th 2008 5:32PM

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.

Canebi @ Apr 8th 2008 5:36PM

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.

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Apr 8th 2008 5:39PM

Why the fuck would I bother doing that?

Duoae @ Apr 8th 2008 6:02PM

As far as i can tell, MTV doesn't exactly have much of a gaming caliber so they would focus more on getting the correct licenses to the correct markets - hence the differences (out of the box) between the Euro and US versions. EA will control price of the box at least to some degree because they're the publisher and so control marketing money as well as production numbers etc. Things that actually affect the income of the company to a greater degree. This is not to say that Harmonix and MTV have no say over the pricing but more that they will suggest a minimum price that will bring them a return from their investment. EA needs a return from their investment as well.

Somewhere someone is being greedy and it could be impossible to tell who it is (if it's not both parties)....

Either way the point stands. Harmonix doesn't control the brand. Somebody else does.

Schmobu @ Apr 8th 2008 5:39PM

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

jonatho @ Apr 11th 2008 9:47PM

Ha, 120$? That's nothing! Here in Denmark we pay 150. Probably, mostly because our sales tax is at 25%.

umm....hello??? @ Apr 8th 2008 5:44PM

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!!

Jevanzz @ Apr 8th 2008 5:46PM

If you want to make up the difference so everyone here can pay the same price as Americans, well then I'll sure suck it up.

ssuk @ Apr 8th 2008 6:23PM

Yeah, THAT makes sense, it's not like Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band are designed to be very similar video games, despite who they're published by... Oh wait...

umm....hello??? @ Apr 8th 2008 11:08PM

well, if you think our lifestyle is sooo much better over here, feel free to emigrate over here and pay our prices!!

Captain Blaggers @ Apr 9th 2008 5:50AM

Yes, because. that's a cost effective way of getting Rock Band at a decent price, you fucking moron. Suck it up? We've been sucking it up for decades, and we're sick of it. We've come to terms with the fact that games and consoles cost more here, but for fucks sake, there are more pounds than dollars in the prices! When the difference in worth between the two currencies is as large as it is, that is a sure sign of wallet raping.