Rock Band European Tour Delayed

Don't expect to be rocking out to this music game for a while still.

For months music game fans in the US have argued over which of the two big titles out recently, Rock Band or Guitar Hero, is the better game. Both were reviewed well at their respective releases last year and each of the two games has built a rabid fanbase.

Rock Band, which was also developed by Guitar Hero creator Harmonix, now at MTV, was released in late November in the US and has been one of the most popular games there since then.

Differences in the timing of game releases have come down dramatically when compared with the situation just five years ago. But for whatever reason, things have been different for Rock Band.

In a conference call to discuss its third-quarter financial results this week, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, EA hinted that it is still months away from releasing the Rock Band in Europe.

Speaking during the call, EA's Warren Jenson said that "we now expect Rock Band to ship in Europe in Q109", which would put the release of the game sometime between April and June. Until now EA had suggested that the game would be out by the end of March.

A release during the spring would put Rock Band up against what many are considering the biggest game of 2008 - Grand Theft Auto IV. Rockstar recently confirmed that its new game would be out worldwide on 29 April.

Is the delay of Rock Band in Europe down to hardware? The package sold in stores includes not only the game and a guitar but also a microphone and an electronic drum kit. There have been reports of broken guitars in the US, but EA's John Riccitiello said that the defect rate was in the "single digits".

Riccitiello did not directly address a question from an analyst during the conference call that the delay in Europe was down to the problems seen in the US. Representatives for the company contacted for this story did not offer any comments.

In recent months, EA has also turned its attention to other versions of the game. A PlayStation 2 edition was added to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions in November, and this week the company said that it was working on a fourth version, this one for the Wii.

Even as Europeans wait, though, Americans continue to support the game. By January the game had sold more than a million copies in the US and EA said that it had also sold more than 2.5 million individual songs as downloadable extras. Jenson said that EA was still seeing "significant demand" for Rock Band in the US.

EA is clearly intent on keeping this momentum going. In addition to the new platforms, the company has also recently said that it would start selling guitars and drum kits as loose accessories starting in February.

For Europeans, though, there's still some time to go until this Rock Band starts playing.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo