Officials from Electronic Arts have officially announced a release date and price structure for MTV Games and Harmonix’s
Rock Band in Europe, where difficulties in manufacturing enough bespoke controllers to meet demand has so far limited its release to North America.
Due to continued stock issues, the European launch will initially be limited only to the major markets of the UK, France and Germany, with a release date of May 23rd.
Unlike North America, the game will also initially be limited to release on the Xbox 360, earning an unspecified window of exclusivity before the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 and Wii versions are released “later this summer”.
There are also considerable changes to the pricing structure of the game, with no confirmation yet of a single bundle which includes all the peripherals and software.
Instead, Electronic Arts has confirmed to Gamasutra that an “Instrument Pack” will be released containing a guitar, drum and microphone controller for £129.99/€169.99 ($256/$267).
The actual game will be bought separately for an additional £49.99/€69.99 ($98/$110). As in North America, each peripheral will be sold separately, with wireless guitar controllers selling for £59.99/€79.99 ($118/$126) and drum kit controllers for £69.99/€89.99 ($138/$141).
The European version of the game will contain new exclusive tracks not found in the North American version, with three titles aimed at the British market (Blur “Beetlebum”, Oasis “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and Muse “Hysteria”), two at the French (Les Wampas “Manu Chao” and Playmo “New Wave”) and four at the German (Die Toten Hosen “Hier Kommt Alex”, Juli “Perfekte Welle”, Tokio Hotel “Monsoon” and H-Block X “Countdown to Insanity”).
Additionally, all songs currently available for download in North American will be available immediately in Europe from May 27th. Following that date, all new Rock Band downloadable content will be available simultaneously worldwide on a weekly basis. Each new track will be priced at 160 Microsoft Points ($2).
