I wish we could take credit for this one, as it seems that EA has finally come to its senses and MAY be in the process of setting forth a price reduction for the EU version of Rock Band for the 360.
Get the details, after the jump!
Looks like the implied threat of punishment for price fixing, either real or imagined, along with the chorus of bad press, may have led EA to do the right thing. According to a Spanish Newspaper in, well, Spain,
“EA will be reducing Rock Band Europe’s projected price to 169 € (down from 240 €)—a metric that would offer a 1:1ish dollar to euro conversion to ease the purchase a bit.”
According to Kotaku, the simple explanation is,
“In other words, Europeans would no longer be paying the equivalent of $378 (USD), but something closer to $267 (USD) instead. We have no clue whether or not this is true, but we do know that it’s a good idea, regardless.”
There’s no word on whether the reduction was with regard to the Rock Band bundle, the Rock Band bundle that didn’t include the actual game (WTF?), or the Rock Band game itself. If we hear anything else about this breaking story, we’ll let you know.
So, put away your boycott banners and your Molotov cocktails, you European hooligans. Crisis averted. You’ll be playing all of the Boston songs you’ve so desperately missed in no time, and for a moderately reduced price!
Now, all I have to do is tell Doc. He’s gonna be heart broken that we’ll have to scrap our new parody song…
Somebody put that cat back into the bag!
Source: Kotaku
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22 responses so far ↓
1 slik_1000 // Apr 15, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I’m starting to think that EA are giving out crappy press, with the intention of looking like the guys who listen to the community.
2 Doc // Apr 15, 2008 at 1:13 pm
if so that owuld be a nightmarish idea. There are still people that don’t know the boycott of Bad company is over. Its a lot harder to spread good news than bad. I think they know that.
3 OkayOctane // Apr 15, 2008 at 1:52 pm
So this is confirmed by EA? If it is true I don’t think it will be because “pressure” from the community or anything, I reckon it is just because EA realised that people aren’t being difficult, they just can’t afford it. Lowering it a bit means more people can afford it, more people buy it, more money for EA.
4 Uzi // Apr 15, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Xib is going to be happy about this.
On the other hand it means he can’t rant like an angry bafoon
5 nick // Apr 15, 2008 at 2:12 pm
169.00 EUR = 135.983 GBP
play.com price = 140 (100+40)
not much of a change, SG europe needs your help to get the cost down to £100, please
6 xibxang // Apr 15, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Bloody hell. This is amazing.
7 Kiltman67 // Apr 15, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I don’t know if anybody else heard last weeks Game Scoop podcast but they claimed that EA were actually making a loss on Rock Band in North America and suggested that Europe was getting overcharged in an attempt to balance it out
8 Chexd // Apr 15, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Knowing my luck the song will be to the tune of Rockstar by Nickleback. There goes a wasted afternoon with my friend lol
Hope this turns out to be true though
9 Questionmarc // Apr 15, 2008 at 4:05 pm
not a very good change unlles this is the one that includes the game otherwise its just ea trying to make themselves look good by doing nothing
10 Youlikeyams // Apr 15, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Still good news, regardless of whether or not the game is included. I think EA are starting to feel the pressure with this kind of thing going on (including the Bad Company boycott).
Next stop, Tibet?
11 irish boy90 // Apr 15, 2008 at 4:40 pm
wow, I still don’t want it. *hugs guitar hero controller*
12 RK1 FaMiCuS // Apr 15, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Guitar Hero, who still plays that. *hugs drums while staring at guitar and yelling into microphone* How’s that DLC coming?
At least this is some good for UK’ers, some is better than non right?
13 Insubordination // Apr 15, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Nevertheless, that is STILL $100 more than we had to pay over here in the U.S.!! That’s pretty ridiculous, and I think that they purposely started the initial price very high, then decide to bring it down…just so the people would feel that they weren’t getting ripped off!
14 Sean "Rothbart" Workman // Apr 15, 2008 at 6:18 pm
@Insubordination: I wish I could laugh at your suggestion due to it’s unlikeliness… but I can’t. It reeks of plausibility…
That would mean that everyone cheering over this has _still_ been played…
15 TR0Y J // Apr 15, 2008 at 7:06 pm
@ Doc - Maybe they should dress it us as bad news to get the word around:
EA once again breaks the hearts of stockholders. - In a foolish idea which is sure to see the stock of EA hold at $50.88 the company today announced it will offer the Rock Band bundle in the UK at the same price it is available in the US.
With the price originally to be set at a 111% price increase over the US in an attempt to get the stock of EA back up to the May 05 high of $67.75. This change of heart could not have come at a worse time for stockholders as their last initiative to raise revenue thru micro-transactions was squashed due to non-stockholders outcry.
Stock holders are now considering legal action. If EA fail in their bid to take over Take Two Interactive a spill of the board is very likely.
EA’s last chance to make some real money off the first release of their new franchise will be in September this year when the game is released in Australia/New Zealand, a territory which has always had a 50% markup on all software and hardware.
16 Chromatism // Apr 15, 2008 at 7:17 pm
As a matter of fact, I actually managed to pre-order this from Play.com (one of the UK’s top mail order stores) for the princely sum of £100, which was a tasty reduction from the new RRP of £130.
Either way, kudos for not being ripped a new one! Looking forward to it muchly.
17 xibxang // Apr 15, 2008 at 8:50 pm
It’s not like the Rock Band online store isn’t a little pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow for EA/Harmonix.
My (naive) view is that they should be concentrating on putting the hardware in living rooms at whatever the cost to them and focusing on making the money from the online store.
18 Lono // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:13 pm
That’s a good point xibxang, it’s nice of you to come out of your drunken stupor to contribute…
19 » Was ist teurer als ne Konsole… SpareTimeLounge: look, listen and play // Apr 16, 2008 at 12:48 am
[...] Quelle: “Power to the People, again?” by Sarcasticgamer [...]
20 G404 // Apr 16, 2008 at 2:00 am
If it’s £140 RRP and retailers start a good old fashion price war I’ll be buying it. As much as the european prices points suck, I guess we should be used to it by now. *Sigh*
21 The Cod In The Pocket // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:37 am
@rothbart
EA make Rock Band, right?
And isn’t it true that they made Bad Company too?
So extra cost…protests… then less cost… and everyone is happy.
But it has happened twice now.
What game is coming out next from EA? Madden NFL ‘09? Extra charge for helmets and kits? Charge for online play?
Who knows… But it has happened twice now.
22 Chris B // Apr 23, 2008 at 2:44 pm
It might be true in Spain, but not in the UK. Game (rip-off retailer) is listing the instruments at 129.99, the same price they always were. The European Commission (EU/Government body) are getting quite hot on price fixing at the moment, they fined Microsoft nearly 1bn Euros recently, but this is far from confirmed.
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