So those of you paying close attention to the Xbox-360 forums yesterday may have noticed the bad news in regards to Guitar Hero: World Tour.
The price has increased substantially to a new RRP of R3,299
That’s more than a Xbox 360 premium which kind of puts it into perspective.
There are apparently 3 different reasons contributing to this and according to the email that was sent to retailers they areÂ
1. Activision has upped the cost
2. Rand/Dollar  exchange rate
3. Air freight now required
Now obviously the gamers of this fine country are going ballistic and you really can’t expect anything different as this price has now put the game out of most people’s grasp.
It’s always fun to blame people and Megarom being the local face of Activision is taking the full heat of the blast here, however in all honesty it’s not like they have full control over any of those options and we know it.
I don’t buy the currency excuse though, it gets dished about way to often and is just a cheap way of calling us a third world market.. our currency hasn’t been wildly fluctuating like it did in 2002 and can easily be catered for.
The fact that Megarom is flying in some bundles is to be applauded and obviously adds a huge amount onto the price… they have said though that the second shipment is arriving by boat after Christmas and will be cheaper… but we don’t know how much cheaper.
As for Activision increasing the costs… well there is no way to prove that but since the International price hasn’t budged I would have to call bull on that one… or Activision is just picking on the smaller markets only.
The current pre-order price worldwide is about R2300 including taxes… so who has the other grand?Â
So to summarise, don’t torch Megarom their bottom line is the one that is going to suffer through this and if they could get it to us at R2300 I promise you they would. They may have jumped the gun by releasing the price to early and now have to face the consequences though.
My recommendation is wait until after the silly season and then pick up the game when it is cheaper.
Apparently we are going to be getting a PR later to confirm this ‘rumour’, if that sheds any more light on the matter I will update.
Last Updated: September 30, 2008
Werner
September 30, 2008 at 08:41
Will you only be able to buy the game as a whole set?
A lot of people already have guitars and will only need to buy the game, drums & mic.
Milesh Bhana
September 30, 2008 at 08:55
All the retailers were taking pre-orders at 1799. It’s almost double!
Arc316
September 30, 2008 at 09:31
Kalahari’s pre-order price yesterday was R1799.
Today its “Was R 3166.95 Now R 2850.26” 😥
Messiah
September 30, 2008 at 09:39
I had already ordered and paid, now I need to pay the same amount again 🙁
CHase
September 30, 2008 at 10:10
bit of a joke really, i draw the line paying R3000 + for a game
evilgrinningmonkey
September 30, 2008 at 11:13
This is just way to much to pay for a game. I can buy a motorbike for that price.
Flameboy
September 30, 2008 at 11:32
That is R500 less than what I paid for my Rockband incl shipping. LOL
Vamp
September 30, 2008 at 11:56
The stand-alone game is going for around R540 at TakeTwo.
The kit seems to be sold as a complete bundle only on
there. But ja, they should seriously think about selling
the instruments seperately. I’m sure they will at some stage.
PillsburyDeeBoy
September 30, 2008 at 12:21
Thank heavens I could not care less about Guitar Hero.
DarkOcean
September 30, 2008 at 12:28
Well the airfreight is so it arrives here before Christmass due to production constraints and not being able to ship by sea as originally planned. If by sea you would have seen a much reduced price but this was not achievable due to production not having stock in time for us. Otherwise product will only Launch Next year 🙁 There will be an official press release out soon explaining the reasons.
Milesh Bhana
September 30, 2008 at 17:11
Lazy, is Oz affected by a price increase ? I know you guys are getting Rock Band 1 on 7 November at a reasonable price.
LazySAGamer
September 30, 2008 at 22:06
Not that I am aware off..
The latest price from EBGames.com.au is AUD$329 or R2133.
but that doesn’t mean they just haven’t updated the price yet with the bad news.
Gaz
December 1, 2008 at 11:45
Just a question… do you guys know if the price is likely to come down in the new year when the “extended lead time” bundles arrive? ie when the “air freight excuse” wont factor
LazySAGamer
December 1, 2008 at 12:21
At the time of writing the original article I was told the price will be coming down.
I haven’t been told different yet but with the economic collapse of the world at the moment I think anything could happen… Lets hope it is cheaper though.
Gaz
December 4, 2008 at 11:56
Mate of mine in singapore says its retailing for about R1700…pity its such a huge/heavy bastard (he’d never be able to get it past customs without declaring let alone be allowed on the plane due to weight restrictions)
“No Sir I promise I came into your beautiful country with this plastic guitar and electronic drum kit, promise!”