Harmonix Sued Over Rock Band

24 Nov 2008 at 13:35:02 by Andy Alderson

Harmonix, EA, MTV and Viacom have all been hit with a class action lawsuit over Rock Band's bass drum pedal. 

With many users reporting pedal breakages, Harmonix et al extended the 60 day warranty period for the peripherals until 1 October 2008.

However, according to Gamercyte, Kansas resident Monte Morgan believes the companies involved conspired in a scheme "designed to deliberately cheat large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money".

While the first complaint in the lawsuit is that the pedal is defective, breaking under "ordinary and expected usage", Morgan also claims the timing of the warranty extension indicates the companies' attempt to exploit the design fault with the release of Rock Band 2.

"On June 30 2008, only four days after defendants announced that consumers who purchased defective Rock Band drum pedals would not receive replacements unless a warranty claim was made during the 60 Day Express Warranty Period, Defendants announced that the encore to Rock Band - called Rock Band 2- would be released in September 2008," reads the complaint.

"The announcement noted, among other things, that Rock Band 2 would be accompanied by "new and improved drum and guitar peripherals, enhanced funcionality and innovative new designs.""

"According to Defendant's website, the updates and improvements to the Rock Band 2 drum kit include, among other things, an "improved kick pedal with metalplate.""

Read the full complaint here.

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