When Rock Band at last hits European stores later in May, the price tag you'll have to pay for the whole game and instruments package may seem high. Harmonix has recently said that the recommended price to retailers is of 240 Euros for the package, that contains the game, microphone, drums and guitar. The price in Euro for the American release containing the same items is only about 107 Euros. So, the European Rock Band release is more than double in price when compared with the United States package.

Many people quickly accused Harmonix of trying to make a hefty profit by over-pricing a highly anticipated game. But Rob Kay of Harmonix quickly responded by saying: "We're not trying to rip anybody off." He then went on to cite the European VAT tax and the rising price of electronic components in general as being the main culprits of the high price of the game bundle. He could not detail the pricing structure anymore declaring: "I can't talk to the explicit pricing - how it gets split down between retailers and distributors and the whole chain - because I don't actually know that much about it," but he seemed to be sure that at least some of the retailers that will carry the game in Europe will try and slash their prices to make the game more appealing.

It seems that this is already happening. Play.com was the first to make a price cut move that's sure to please potential buyers of the Rock band and instruments bundle. It is offering the instrument pack at 99 pounds, which is about 130 Euro and the Rock Band game at a price of 40 pounds. The price of the whole package is lowered by about 23% percent with this offer and it's very likely that more cuts like this will be revealed by other retailers.

Rock Band is launching in Europe for the Xbox 360 game console on May 23. There are plans to release the PlayStation 3, Wii and PlayStation 2 versions sometime during summer. Will you buy the game, taking the inflated price into account or not? Drop us a comment and let us know.