“Up Yours Europe!” Says Harmonix

Earlier today, Harmonix lead product developer ‘Greg’ posted an asinine, and frankly insulting list of reasons for the insane price of Rock Band in the UK, and the rest of Europe.

Citing the costs of shipping, packaging and taxes as the main reasons, ‘Greg’ attempts to explain, in his own opinion, why the game is so expensive. EA, and HMX bosses have not authorised these opinions so he states they are his own, and simply that, opinions.

 

“The European SRP incorporates the VAT tax, but AFAIK, there aren’t any further taxes piled on at retail. In the US, the SRP doesn’t include state and local sales taxes. These vary from state to state, (and don’t exist at all in a few states), but a reasonable rule of thumb is that US customers are paying an additional 5% on top of the SRP. So the appropriate full-bundle US price to compare against isn’t $169.00, but more like $177.50.”

Ok, while i understand this as a legitimate point, you can colour me unimpressed for the reasons behind mentioning it. In the UK we pay 17.5% VAT on basicly everything, so telling us that most US citizens only pay 5% is just rubbing salt in the wound, not justifying your price point.

“Another key distinction between the US and Europe: games generally sell for the SRP at all retail outlets in the US. Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Gamestop, etc all charge the SRP for games, with rare exceptions.”

“It is my understanding that European SRP incorporates a hefty retail markup, but that European retailers are free to discount if they so choose.”

Here’s a pointer for you Greg. Contrary to what you may have seen on discount online stores, things work exactly the same way here in the UK. A large majority of stores will sell highly anticipated games (Of which Rock Band is most definately one) at full retail price. Including the big stores such as Asda, Tesco, Game, Gamestation, Woolworths etc. While some may offer discounts on not so anticipated titles, it is very rarely ever more than 10 – 15% But as i stated, the point is moot as the title is so highly anticipated that virtually all stores will likely be charging the full SRP.

Greg goes on to cite shipping costs from China being more expensive to Europe than to the US. Which as most of you i’m sure can work out for yourselves, is complete rubbish, especially as the boxes are coming from china complete and ready for store shelves according to Greg’s other comment. Because of localization issues to do with game manuals, and expensive production costs inside Europe, EA’s only understandable decision was to split the game from the peripherals. But this is a way of saving money, not something that should increase the cost of the game.

“we’re not gouging you, primarily because doing so doesn’t serve our interests. We can only build our franchise if you buy our games. You may conclude that Rock Band isn’t worth the price charged, and that is your prerogative. But it’s not magically going to get cheaper because you wish it to be so.”

This comment is perhaps a little more condescending and arrogant than it need be. That last sentence especially has no right being there and serves only to infuriate and insult European customers even moreso than they already have been.

We ‘may’ conclude that Rock Band is not worth the price, that’s true. But for a large percentage of us, we don’t even get that far into the decision. It’s simply NOT affordable AT ALL to a lot of it’s intended audience. But even if it were worth the asking price, that doesn’t mean we can all magically afford it because EA wishes it to be so.

While i can completely understand that releasing games in Europe has always dented the wallets of many big companies, I completely fail to understand Greg’s math. 17.5% VAT + Extra Shipping Costs does NOT equal a 150% markup per unit.

It’s clear as day what is happening here, at least in my own opinion. Given the problems Rock Band suffered upon release in the US with faulty peripherals, EA must have lost a lot of money replacing and redesigning them. I surmise that they are trying to recoup some of that loss by gouging Europe with a big fat pointy stick, and leaving the retailers to bear the brunt of reducing the cost to actually sell this monstrosity.

A number of people have already stated that they will be boycotting the game, whether this will bring about a change of heart for EA and Harmonix remains to be seen, but for now I think we can all agree that when a single game costs more than the console it is for, something has gone hideously wrong somewhere along the lines.