ROCKBAND to be released "EXCLUSIVELY" on xbox 360 in Europe

[Reasonable]

starcraft said:

Reasonable said:

 

Actually they're using their money to deny other gamers access to a game only for their own advantage.

OT I think this is pretty silly move. With high price of RB I believe it will see steady adoption but not be front loaded - which means a timed exclusive will not really help MS much. Rather in the way of many US companies who mess up their perception outside US with such tactics in Europe this could easily generate negative view of 360 with non-owners (owners won't care) rather than encourage them to buy 360 to get RB.

PS3 is too strong in most of Europe now for such tactics to have much chance I believe, and MS would do better to focus on better marketing/brand perception activities than this type of approach.

 

No doubt they will market the fact that Rock Band is exclusive to their platform.

Do you call it "using their money to deny other gamers access to a game only for their own advantage" with regard to Sony moneyhatting Ubisoft for Haze or Epic for UT3?

Or do you call that Sony doing the best they can for their customers? 

 

Unless I'm misreading the situation (and someone tell me if I am) this is in no way a paid exclusive.  I should note I don't like the idea of paid exclusives anyway whether Sony or MS do it.  However I can accept its part of the industry.  So MS pay for Bioshock and Sony pay for Haze.

But those games wre not released anywhere when the deals were struck and once they became exclusive (or timed) then everyone knew that.  They were made exclusive (or timed exclusive like UT3) and launched that way.

From my point of view Rockband is a multiplatform release and MS has stepped in after the game is finished to dely launching for certain platforms in a specific region - assuming the rumour is true obviously.  That's not a timed exclusive - in my view it crosses the line from acceptable exclusives to unacceptable tampering with the market.  I know this seems like splitting hairs but to me there is a difference in paying for an exclusive and paying to alter launch schedules late in the day for certain regions.

Mind you, I won't be getting it (or at least I doubt I will) so I'm not personally affected - but the simple fact is MS is impacting European console owners for a game that has always been multi-platform so far as I know, and I don't think that's an acceptable move.

I'd feel just the same way if Sony had paid to delay the 360 launch of a multi-platform title in Europe as well.