Once again we get stiffed in europe on pricing. It disgusts me. There doesn't appear to be the mention of buying the microphone on it's own so people like myself who have 2 guitar hero guitars can't simply buy the solus game, a drum kit and a seperate mic.

Wow - Thats a lot. But would it look so much if we didn't know the price of the US version?

@ Hot toddy

What is that supposed to mean?

Nitch is right, we've been shafted again, like always.

Shafted as ever.. but then what do we expect from EA?

Boycott I say.. if no one buys it when its released they will have to change the bundles and pricing.

Failing that its a case of importing it for the ps3 which is region free.. but then you'll loose home teritory online modes. At the price for the complete bundle you could almost fly to the U.S on a cheap flight and pick up a U.S version...

wow. thats unbelievable, double the price of the US version, its ridiculous, at that price i really doubt im gonna bother buying it, i want it, but that price is just insane. Might aswell buy a ps3 and import it.

I will unleash my FURIOUS NERD RAGE against EA... This is just ridiculous! They think I will pay double price compared to US? Just because I've waited for this like christmas doesn't mean I willingly take "it" dry in my behind...

Do the Guitar Hero guitars work with Rock Band? Didn't Activision threaten legal action if the patch was released? Or did that all get resolved quietly?

I just realised that at those prices, it's £110 to even just play guitar on Rock Band. That's £45 (the price of a game) more than Guitar Hero 3...

The minimum route in (except maybe if they release the microphones for £10) costs over £100! And they can't argue that people will share the cost with friends. How can you practice at home so you can play well with friends?

Buy a brand new PS3, a copy of this game with all the bells and whistles and you've spent enough money to equip a real band with real instruments!

What are EA thinking?

If you come to the US and do some shopping, you'll see that a lot of items are *much* cheaper here. Our retailers are much more competitive, so they mark up the items sold far less. We also don't have VAT, which is typically 17% to 20% of the price you pay. [American sales taxes, much lower than that, are on top of the retail prices you mention, so it's apples and oranges to compare them directly.] Finally, transportation costs of an item as big as Rock Band are a big part of the cost. Transport to Europe is much more expensive, and transport within Europe (from warehouses to stores) is two to three times as expensive as for a similar length trip in the US.

All of this adds costs - think of it as part of the price you pay for the social welfare system you love.

Love the sound of FURIOUS NERD RAGE. More of that on MCV please.

NERD RAGE FTW!

I find it amusing that people are getting upset about the price of a pretend set of drums and guitars.

Just don't buy it.

If people are clever about this and hold off for a bit, then EA will have to reduce the price.

Anyone who hands over the full amount for this on launch day is getting the price they deserve.

Other comparators missing above are the cost of the complete set pretty much equates to a Wii or X360 Arcade console. Dont think the price of Rockband will be pushing console sales to a significant degree.

........and yet despite the comments above, Rockband will still sell.

Mmmmm £180!

Its kinda like they've taken the U.S price added the cost of shipping it from the states and decided that they'll charge that much for it.

It seems quite expensive to me. If you compare it to the price of comparable product the price breaks down as follows

(Guitar Hero 3 price) Game + 1 Guitar £70
(G.H3 Bundle - solus game cost) Extra Guitar £25
(Singstar Mics) Mics £20
Meaning the drums are costing ........ £65

....certainly a premium price.

The crazy thing is however many copies I as a retailer manage to get, will sell. But as usual EA are taking the Piss.

Arent they a little late for April fools? Oh, its not a joke. *crosses off list*

you can buy a Nintendo Wii for the price of one game....lol what a joke! i would have DEFINATLY bought it if it was £100 or less...anything over that is an outrage tbh! don't think they're gonna sell many of these!

When I was in Florida in February 2008, Walmart were selling the complete package for $167.98.

That's a massive difference compared to the new Euro price!

I want this game but every game that I have purchased of EAs has cracked from the middle out & I dont use the central holder clip in the games cases since NFS most wanted came out, they are not sympathetic they just want to charge me another £10 pounds even within the 90 days warranty. I have quite a few games & its only EAs games that this has ever happend to so I am very unsure about the purchase.

The price well to be honest did you really think EA wouldnt jump on the wagon with everyone ripping off the European Market, its the way of our world. The Americans just will not stand for it, you simply have to look after the american market the europeans put up with continually being dumped on, its down to us to do something & you can be sure we will not do a thing. I should add apart from not purchasing the consoles & games what can we do?.

@9

Can someone look into where the product is actually manufactured? Is Mike suggesting that Rock Band is being shipped to us from the states?

I would be more inclined to think it would be winging its way to Europe from China?

Anyone?

As far as I'm concerned, shipping is not the issue and neither is VAT. The issue is, companies like EA take the p**s out of the UK market because they CAN.

fin.

@9

Mike as a retailer I assure you within this industry atleast, the relative expense of product in the U.K is not down to excessive retail margin.

Their is no retail margin on most products in this industry!

I work in a games store so i get stuff at cost and i will still be importing a drumkit, guitar kit and mic kit from the us and just buying the game from work.

Still works out cheaper!

Seems to me like the OFT needs to start getting involved in this pricing lark. Europeans are getting ripped off at every opportunity and it's about time somwthing was done about it.

It's not just EA either, Adobe recently released Director 11 for $999 in the US, it was £870 in the UK... and we're talking a downloadable version here, no shipping, no CD, no manual.