Music genre dead man walking…who’s to blame?
Harmonix is being sold by Viacom/MTV. The latest Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has reportedly sold less than 100,000 copies on all consoles combined. Yes, I said combined. I just read this bit of information in the latest Game Informer magazine about the sales of Warriors of Rock. Wow…less than 100,000 copies according to NPD. Is this the end of the music genre as we know it?
Do we blame the recent decline in sales to a ridiculous saturation by Activision and Harmonix? I’ve been the first to complain about how many of these titles they’ve pushed out that don’t do anything more than update a setlist. Rock Band 3 is an exception because it was actually an improvement in things beyond the songs but definitely not what we’ve been used to where music games are concerned.
How about we blame the recent interest and popularity of titles like Just Dance and Dance Central? Are we simply moving on to getting out boogie with our bodies on instead of playing instruments?
Whatever you want to blame it on it appears that the latest offering from Activision hasn’t been met with much interest. I wonder what the sales of Rock Band 3 have been. Have they been so subpar that Viacom decided to sell Harmonix before the shit really hit the fan?
Or maybe this is just one of those things that an awesome setlist in the next Guitar Hero or Rock Band game will cure. What do you think? Have consumers become tired of the same old from the music genre?
January 6th, 2011 at 11:38 am
Husker that is a great method lol. But, it still doesn’t change what the actual price is, just what you yourself contribute.
January 6th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
@PH I played GIG briefly. What I did get to fiddle with i enjoyed. Though the concept is not new I liked it. However, whilst playing it I also knew that it was coming in too late since the market was already saturated with such games. Not to mention it is one of the few games that has DMB music and I am a very hardcore stalker…i mean fan of DMB, so I will admit to a lil bias.
DMB FAN 4 LYFE™ (lol @ BPD)
January 8th, 2011 at 9:41 am
Harmonix has already been sold to their own shareholders for $50 from Viacom. This was reported late last week in the press.
Nobody can deny that the popularity of the genre is left mostly to enthusiasts at this point, but the question is, are there enough of them around to keep things going. I believe there are, based on the activity at scorehero and the rockband forums.
I feel the best thing for this genre is to take a break from releasing new titles for a year or two and just focus on the DLC library, and on innovating new features for the game.
January 9th, 2011 at 12:56 am
Yeah I saw that as well on Kotaku what a shocker. I was like, I wish I bought it! I have $50 easy! Then it brought up the massive debt haha.
Hopefully with things like Dance Central they are on the rebound. I have RB1 and love it, and Dance Central is a blast. It was useless things like Lego RB and the Green Day edition which caused people to just groan.
January 9th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
$50, really. LOL. I think Dance Central should help. One of the best Kinect Games out yet.
January 10th, 2011 at 8:53 am
SugarRy IMO it is the best one out there. It seems the most polished, fun, and long lasting.
January 10th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Agreed. I like the fact that as long as you are close to the moves it gives it to you cause honestly I have seen a video of myself when I got 100% completion on a song and I looked horrible. lol
January 11th, 2011 at 12:14 am
It’s hilarious cause 90% of the moves are things you would never actually use in like a club or something though. Great for parties though.
January 11th, 2011 at 9:26 am
Ya no kidding. Well I would never dance in a night club anyways. I am a white boy with no dancing skill what so ever.
January 12th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Well here’s the first step in the right direction! Hahaha. Dance Central tracks at $3 are too much too.