Rock Band “Bundle Only” until 2008

During a recent 20 minute conversation with a Harmonix PR rep., The BPPS confirmed a circulating rumor regarding Rock Band’s availability outside the bundle:

When Rock Band ships this November it will only be available in one flavor, bundled. Done. Confirmed. Although there are a few reasons for this the main seems to be based on retail. Firstly, the components in the bundle are not cheap and thus creating a bundle and three other separate packages (guitar, drums and vocals) would increase costs which could lead to less bundles available at ship. Lastly, although retail partners are confident the title will be successful they are appreciative of the fact that they won’t have to display four reasonably-sized packages in each of their stores. When is Harmonix looking to ship the separate components? Early 2008 is the general goal, so EB/GameStop’s leak was correct.

For many this will come as disappointing news. I for one was still undecided on whether to purchase the bundle or not. With news of Rock Band’s official pricing being less than originally thought, I was leaning towards the bundle anyway (pending funds). Let’s hope this news only affects the individually sold instruments and not the game disc itself. Why would owning the game disc by itself be useful? Say you already have a guitar controller that is compatible with Rock Band and you want to practice solo. Or perhaps you just can’t cough up the $160 yet. There are a multitude of reasons why people will want the stuff individually.

Looks like it’s bundle or bust this holiday.

Via The BBPS