GameStop listings suggest Activision is testing premium price points with Guitar Hero spin-offs; Modern Warfare 2 gets $80 special edition.
In Activision Blizzard's pre-E3 investors conference call, CEO Bobby Kotick set a goal to get gamers who might have spent $50 on the company's products in the last console generation to spend $500 on them this time around. Recent product listings on Amazon.com and GameStop's online store suggest a few ways the company is trying to reach that goal.
The gaming retailer is currently accepting preorders for DJ Hero (complete with turntable peripheral) for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 2 with a $119.99 price tag attached. There is some dissension on the PS2 edition of the game, as Amazon.com currently offers the turntable bundle of the game for $99.99. While Guitar Hero gamers have become accustomed to a price break on the Wii editions of the franchise, no such benefit will be extended on DJ Hero if the retailers' listings prove accurate. It's worth noting that Activision's other title sporting a brand-new peripheral this year, the skateboard-equipped Tony Hawk: Ride, is also listed for $119.99 on both GameStop and Amazon.
Even some of the company's tried-and-true peripheral-based products are seeing a price hike. While prices on Guitar Hero 5 are comparable to those of last year's Guitar Hero World Tour, GameStop's product pages for the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii Band Hero bundles--which include a drum kit, guitar, and microphone along with the game--all carry a $199.99 price point. (Amazon only lists the stand-alone version of the game at present.) When it came out, the World Tour bundle included the same basic components and a $189.99 price point.
Finally, GameStop and Amazon indicate that Activision is planning a collector's edition of the much-anticipated Infinity Ward shooter Modern Warfare 2. Releasing on November 10 alongside the standard editions of the game, Modern Warfare 2 Collector's Edition for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 carries a list price of $79.99. Unfortunately, the product page contains no information about what gamers will be getting for the extra $20 above and beyond the standard edition's $59.99 price point.
Please note that though retailer listings frequently jump the gun on publishers' product announcements, they should not be taken as final confirmation of a game's existence, and the absence of a listing should not be considered as proof that a game isn't coming to a given platform.
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