You’ll need to have rock-star money to afford new iOS rhythm game Guitar Hero Live.
That’s because, in a break from previous titles in the hard-rocking series, this one features a $49.99 in-app purchase for the full version, which includes well over 40 tracks.
Yep, to paraphrase This Is Spinal Tap, this price goes to 11!
Not every country can access Guitar Hero Live, which was released today by Activision Blizzard. So far, it’s available in North America, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and a few other places — although Europeans like myself (I’m based in the U.K.) will have to wait a bit longer to get our hands on it.
Gamers who can download it don’t have to get the premium version; there’s a free version that essentially amounts to a demo with two trial songs.
Personally, I’m a bit torn on the whole price-point issue. I’ve long argued that I’d rather have premium games on iOS than ones clogged with ads or demanding micropayments every time you want to do something. With that said … $49.99? That’s around $25 more than I would ideally like to spend.
The game does look pretty sweet, though. Check out the trailer below.
Source: iTunes
Via: Pocket Gamer
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
6 responses to “What the rock? Guitar Hero Live features $50 in-app purchase”
When I bought a $50 game for my Playstation 3 I was confident that I would be able to play that game on my console for the entire life of the hardware. I am not aware of any system updates that killed any old games.
Lately some iOS games have simply stopped working after OS updates (like Bioshock). What guarantee do we have that this $50 iOS game will continue to work after future OS updates?
Simple. Don’t buy games on mobile. No matter how hard analysts try to tell you that’s where the future of gaming is, it’ll never amount to more than Angry Birds, Candy Crush, and other flavor of the month games.
I don’t agree with that. If I buy a game for $1-$3 I’m sure I can get more than my money’s worth in the time it continues to work (assuming it stops working some day). $50 is a lot different.
The future of video games is not found within games that cost $1-$3 dollars. You don’t gain a following of fans willing to stick with a series out of admiration and respect with free to play models. Apple and Google tout how people love to play on their mobile devices, but when a game shows up that’s more than $15, those people retreat from it. And that’s what separates has beens like Angry Birds from the Mario Bros.
I think there’s room for both. I may be wrong, but it seems like there are more casual, mobile games being played than there are PC or console games.
What do you think the “future of gaming” is?
Not saying there isn’t room for both. Mobile games do just fine entertaining people who are not willing to spend money on games because they don’t care much for them. Just like how McDonald’s is enough to cater to people who aren’t willing to spend more than $8 on a meal. You can have a McDonald’s in the same reality as any successful 5 star restaurant. Just don’t expect that you’ll find the future of cuisine to be found in Ronald McDonald’s playhouse just because there’s a line out the door at lunch time.