EU Rock Band Pricing Teeters On The Edge Of Absurdity ($378 USD!)

Submitted by Webmaster on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 08:55.

EA has announced that Europeans will not get a "special edition" Rock Band bundle like the one that is so popular in North America. Instead, in their infinite wisdom, EA is only offering the game and instruments separately.

You might want to sit down before reading on...

EU Rock Band Game (Disc only): EUR 69.99
EU Rock Band Instruments (Mic, Guitar, Drums): EUR 169
EU Guitar Only: EUR 79.99
EU Drums Only: EUR 89.99

So to clarify...

Cost of Mic, Drums, Guitar, Game in North America: $169, or 107 Euros.
Cost of Mic, Drums, Guitar, Game in Europe: $378, or 240 Euros.

Even given the strong Euro and sagging US Dollar, this announced EU pricing is asinine.

Euro Currency
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Re: EU Rock Band Pricing Teeters On The Edge Of Absurdity ($378

Submitted by Webmaster on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 09:47.

Its worth noting that Guitar Hero III can be had for less than 80 Euros at several retailers across Europe. I'm not a game sales analyst by any means, but I think its safe to say that the cost of Rock Band is going to drive the popularity (and sales) of Guitar Hero even higher in Europe.

Their decision to release the EU version for XBox in May but the PS2/PS3 version "later this summer" makes equally bad business sense. Here are the total EU console sales to date according to VGChartz.com:

40,302,492 Playstation 2's (81.6%)
4,701,145 XBox 360's (9.51%)
4,383,386 Playstation 3's (8.87%)

90.5% of potential EU Rock Band purchasers have been shunned indefinitely. When you throw the 7+ million EU Wii owners into the mix it makes no sense at all.