Guitar Hero II (360) DLC
For the five of you who haven't already heard, the first set of downloadable songs for Guitar Hero II on the 360 are on the Marketplace. They come in packs of three, and there are three packs available. They cost 500 per pack, which works out to $6.25 per pack.Why exactly are we paying $2.08 a song? The full Guitar Hero for the PS2, which includes 30 songs plus bonus songs, can be purchased (without guitar) for $39.95.
Yes, the price is too high, but it's marginally less high than it seems, because the downloadable songs now have a co-op mode. That's a nice addition.
Here's the real question, though, and I haven't seen anyone able to answer it yet: what is everyone else's cut? So if these packs are $6.25, what is Microsoft's share, and what are the licensing costs to re-license the songs?
The smart way to price these would have been $2.99 per three-pack. Everyone would have been in for every single song. Then, if you wanted to add new songs not featured in either game, charge $4.49 for a three-pack.
Here's another reason you price it that way: everyone talks about the songs instead of the price of the songs.
Look, Activision is clearly going to bleed us dry with this franchise. I'd be willing to be that when Guitar Hero 3 comes out on the PS3, that the first two games still won't be made backwards-compatible. Instead, the songs will be downloadable as "packs" from the online store, and Activision is going to argue (with a straight face) that it gives us more flexibility. No, what gives people more flexibility is if you make the games backwards-compatible and sell the songs separately in packs. That's flexibility.
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