Harmonix makes light of RB's European pricing with UK bandana accessory

by Dustin Burg { Sep 18th 2008 at 11:15AM }

We love a developer who can make fun of themselves and heated situations, just as Harmonix has done in Rock Band 2 by offering up a crazy expensive "UK Bandana" in the Rock Shop. You know, because anything RB in Europe is way overpriced.

As the story goes, after releasing Rock Band to Europe (which was about a year after its North American release), the gaming community slammed Harmonix with criticism regarding the unnaturally high price of the game bundle. Some felt Harmonix was being greedy, a label they admittedly denied by blaming the high bundle cost on European import taxes and distribution. We guess those same taxes and distribution fees affect bandanas from the UK. Who knew?

[Thanks, RK1 FaMiCuS]

Tags: ea, harmonix, mtv-games, rock-band, rock-band-2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

LuckyEMS @ Sep 18th 2008 11:22AM

and yet Rock Band 2 will come out at the same price

Doug @ Sep 18th 2008 11:50AM

Don't Europeans pay higher taxes because they get things like affordable mass transit, universal healthcare, financial assistance in the event of a job loss, inexpensive universities...

We get: Rock Band 2 at $189.

King of Fun UK @ Sep 18th 2008 12:00PM

Affordable mass transit? Nope. Inexpensive universities? Are you taking the piss? :p

Doll @ Sep 18th 2008 12:11PM

Someone knows shit about Uni's.

Doug @ Sep 18th 2008 12:32PM

whiners ;)

Cal @ Sep 18th 2008 1:26PM

What about Scotland? Them Scots get free uni... =(

Vagrant @ Sep 18th 2008 1:43PM

Actually, we only get 4 years of Higher Education paid for us.

John @ Sep 18th 2008 2:55PM

actually i'm pretty sure uni in the states is significantly more expensive than in the uk, like hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases

soul7963 @ Sep 18th 2008 12:06PM

Value Added Tax Tax sounds great!!

They could at least check what the abbreviation means before they publish it in a game.

Deezul @ Sep 18th 2008 12:33PM

Right, and you've NEVER said "PIN Number" either, right, and correct people all the time when they do?

Doll @ Sep 18th 2008 12:11PM

Haha. That is funny. Though I agree with them regarding how expensive it is to send things over there nowadays.

Next we should get an Australian bandanna that appears in the shop, but you can't actually purchase it.

ap0c @ Sep 18th 2008 12:24PM

VAT tax eh? Thats a new one one one me! Never knew there was a tax on value added tax, these Americans never miss a trick!

mattclarkie @ Sep 18th 2008 12:53PM

I guess you have never bought Petrol. You get taxed on the tax on the tax on the tax.

By the time you have finished working out the tax Gordon has probably invented a new tax.

mattclarkie @ Sep 18th 2008 12:54PM

If there are three of these posts I apologies, but the comment system is well and truly F'd in the A.

I guess you have never bought Petrol. You get taxed on the tax on the tax on the tax.

By the time you have finished working out the tax Gordon has probably invented a new tax.

webster1990 @ Sep 18th 2008 12:32PM

I just hope that Harmonix doesn't screw us over again with Rock Band 2. Maybe the release of GH:WT may force them to price it more competitively

P.S @ Doug:
Yeah, I start Uni in the UK next week, and let me tell you, it aint cheap. Over £3000 a year in tuition fees.

minasodaboy @ Sep 18th 2008 8:47PM

3000GBP a year? that's nothing. try over $16000 a year in the us. plus our textbooks cost at least twice as much.

Tucker @ Sep 18th 2008 2:53PM

$16k? That's nothing... my school was a good $30k+ when I was going there; now it's more than $40k. I really do love it when I hear about "expensive" higher education in the UK. I studied in London for a half year, and most of my friends there were GETTING money from the government to go to school in the form of grants, etc. Even if you're paying 6k pounds, even after exchange rates, etc., it's still cheaper than most US state universities - forget private schools.

monkeywithnoeyes @ Sep 18th 2008 3:39PM

Who cares about school? look where schools got you people!.. none of your can spell, or have any concept of grammer.

Give the UK Rockband at a reasonable price..there was no excuse for the £180/£140 price tag..twice the cost of the american version. The price went way over the standard 17.5% VAT charge.

What really annoys me is that Microsoft charge us more for digitial distributed media also... such as xbox live, themes, and dlc. Consider that the value of gamer points is higher here then its a complete piss take that say a map pack would be 800points in the uk, and 600points in the states. Last time i checked theres no shipping costs in digital downloads..and vat is already covered in the price of each point.

cowbrain @ Sep 19th 2008 7:44AM

If you're going to complain about spelling and grammar the least you
could do is ensure that yours is correct!

In fact, I would go as far as to say that yours is among the worst in
this comments thread.

Or were you playing for the irony?

monkeywithnoeyes @ Sep 19th 2008 4:56PM

you know what they say about americans and irony..

monkeywithnoeyes @ Sep 18th 2008 3:40PM

Also..if they cant deliver RB2 cheaper then they should make it region free so we have the choice to import. You could of saved £80 right there by importing the ps3 version if you owned sonys console.

Novak UK @ Sep 19th 2008 2:29PM

I think Harmonix may have got this one wrong. The way that the accessory is worded could be viewed as harmonix taking the piss out of a segment of their consumer base. The pricing of the whole Rock Band package was & potentially still is a bone of contention with some consumers in the UK.