Its only a matter of time...

[jonfitzsimon]

This genre of video game is obviously a hot commodity. I believe both the Guitar Hero franchise and the Rock Band franchise are here to stay. That being said, i think exclusive deals/rights are right around the corner. It could even be as soon as the next round of games. Both companies know that they will be in huge competition with each other, so they are going to do what they can to get those awesome bands and keep them. This is nothing new. EA started it with purchasing the rights to the NFL. That being said, with EA backing Rock Band, i think it is even more likely that this is going to happen.

Of course, there are some good and bad sides to this. One is that certain gamers will miss out on some of their favorite bands or songs because they don't have the compatible instruments for whichever game they purchase. Or another con (for us RB fans) would be having your all time favorite song or band sign with Guitar Hero and never get the chance to sing or drum any of their songs.

However, i believe the pros outshine the cons because with this sort of one-upsmanship of trying to get the rights to certain bands, i think the big bands will be available sooner. Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Doors and many other bands that have yet been seen in any game will be sought after so the companies can have their exclusive rights.

I personally don't have a problem with this because I believe, in this case, the competition will be good for the consumer. If the situation was reversed and the two franchises merged, we would be forced to play whatever they gave us. But with this major competition, i think we, the consumer, are going to win because each company is going to want to get that one awesome song/band on their game so everyone will buy their game.

Stairway to Heaven here we come.



Any thoughts or comments?

[cuddie]

I don't agree. Let's take your own example. EA purchased the rights to the NFL, making Madden the one and only NFL game out there. Ever since then, Madden has been declining in quality.
I have always been an opposer to exclusives, either way its a loss for the consumer, forcing us to buy both products in this example if we want to play our favorite songs should they be purchased by the rival companies. This is just personal opinion, but I would say Rock Band is far superior to Guitar Hero and I have no plans to purchase GH. In fact, I think it's already happening. While Im not positive on this, I think Tom Morello and Slash's appearance on GHIII may have contributed to the absences of RATM and Guns n Roses on Rock Band.
I'm in full support of competition to make a better game. But a competition to see which company can get the most exclusive artists is nothing but bad news for the consumer.

[jonfitzsimon]

I understand what you are saying, but i am most likely going to buy both games no matter what. So the fact that each company is now going to have to try harder to get those awesome songs, its going to make it that much better and quicker to get those awesome songs/bands to us.

I dont think the Madden reference really works here. Say GH gets the rights to every Led Zeppelin song, they arent going to start making the note charts worse and start slacking on the material that they have paid for. They are going to make the note charts up to par with everything else they have been making and will most likely try and release as many songs from that artist because they might as well get their money worth.

[Blickety]

Exclusive rights to songs/albums/bands/labels etc will do nothing but bad things. The consumer always loses when choices are being made for them. The above poster is spot on with the Madden franchise... EA sat back and made their money without doing anything innovative.

While this situation is a little different as there aren't any worthwhile football leagues outside of the NFL to make a game about, but the end result will be the same. Basing your buying decisions on what content can be available due to differing contracts and other legal issues takes away your ability to purchase RB, GH or both based on their actual game mechanics.

This is the main reason I haven't (and for the foreseeable future will not) purchase a satellite radio service. Like two sports and want to listen to games from both? Too bad! I will spend my money elsewhere.

Exclusive rights will cripple the genre IMO.

[SoKGiX]

blickety's got it. besides artists should stay open with the possibility of making money from both franshises. lets home they're intelligent enough to see that though.. a big pile of cash for the rights to your music on a game they may never play.... well u don't look a gift horse in the mouth...

[cuddie]

That's the thing: the vast majority of us do not want to spend $270 on what are essentially the same games. I picked Rock Band over Guitar Hero because in my opinion, RB was basically Guitar Hero bundled with Drum Hero and Karaoke Revolution, more value for the money. And the one of the cons you pointed out far outweighs the pros imo. I don't want GH players to miss out on great songs, nor do I want RB players to do the same. And even if you were to purchase both games, should GH buy the rights to a band or song, like you said, you will never get the opportunity to play said song on drums or sing it. I'm perfectly fine with companies trying to get more songs in their games...i encourage it. They already are pushing to get the songs in order to tip the scale in their favor. That's good. But to try to make it exclusive is just bad for the consumer.

And I believe both companies are trying to make their game better than the other at this point to try to get better sales than the other. Exclusives won't change or add to the gameplay refinement. If anything, it's going to take attention away from the actual note charts and put attention on grabbing the rights to every artist out there.

[SoKGiX]

wait a sec. this has already started. MTV/RB has the exclusive rights to content from Metallica's next album...

[jonfitzsimon]

I hear yall. I just think with both games having huge companies backing them (EA and Actiblizzard), it is only a matter of time before it happens. Especially with EA's track record.

[jonfitzsimon]

wait a sec. this has already started. MTV/RB has the exclusive rights to content from Metallica's next album...

it has begun....

[Rock_Starman]

Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Doors and many other bands that have yet been seen in any game will be sought after so the companies can have their exclusive rights.

The Doors have been in Burnout and NFS.
AC/DC was in THPS 4.
Led Zeppelin...well there's a knock off of the Immigrant Song in Fire Pro R. :rolleyes:

[Paradox]

I think the crux is that many bands don't seem like they would agree to one game or the other as an exclusive deal. Maybe one song or Metallica's one album but I highly doubt that Metallica would stay with Rock Band forever and that be the end of it(even though they have never appeared on Guitar Hero..at least that I can remember)


Anyway, in the end, there is only one way to make the music and so it can ever be a declining franchise in that sense. The features can slack but that would just make the game not sell as long as there is one similiar out there.

Whats weird is if Activision started making drums, too...then it would be a real competition. As it stands, I think the full experienceness(I made that up) of Rock Band pushes it far ahead. Why JUST buy a guitar when you can have everything else, too?

[Kylekillgannon]

The Doors have been in Burnout and NFS.
AC/DC was in THPS 4.
Led Zeppelin...well there's a knock off of the Immigrant Song in Fire Pro R. :rolleyes:

This is a different game world though....

[jonfitzsimon]

I dont know man, money talks. If a company offers a certain band a whole lot of money, they might sign the exclusivity rights. Oh, and i meant none of those bands (Zep, AcDc or Doors) have been in any GH or RB game before. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Senkoy]

Competition is good but i think in this case it would be bad. I'd be pissed if GH got exclusives to music i want because RB makes GH obsolete. There is no reason to get GH when you have RB. So i wont be able to get songs i want on the game i want.

[ibender]

GH should just die and all music ever produced should be released for RB.

;)

[WiseOldUnicorn]

It's probably inevitable, but man, I really hope not. Honestly, after playing both GH3 and RB...between the crappy job Activision did with GH3 and the whole "Why just play guitar when you can play guitar, drums, AND sing?" thing, I seriously don't know if I would buy GH4. But if it had exclusive songs I wanted (the soundtrack was the one thing about GH3 I really loved), I'd probably cave. And I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one, and I'm sure Activision knows this.

In general, I think the competition is good because it gives both companies incentive to make the games the best they can be, and therefore the consumers profit. But the idea of exclusive bands/songs/albums/whatever...not so good.

[polishdog90]

If this happens Harmonix/MTV better put out the big bucks and buy all the good bands.

[WiseOldUnicorn]

If this happens Harmonix/MTV better put out the big bucks and buy all the good bands.

Heh, I would laugh hysterically if something like this happened:

Harmonix: We have exclusive Metallica, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin!
Activision: Oh yeah?! Well we have...FALL OUT BOY! TAKE THAT!
Gamers: ... -flock to Rock Band-

[Fortheloveofgod]

Heh, I would laugh hysterically if something like this happened:

Harmonix: We have exclusive Metallica, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin!
Activision: Oh yeah?! Well we have...FALL OUT BOY! TAKE THAT!
Gamers: ... -flock to Rock Band-

That would be the other way round, wouldn't it?

Since FOB are already in Rock Band....:D

[Magnet]

To clear up a few things...


That being said, i think exclusive deals/rights are right around the corner. It could even be as soon as the next round of games.

The exclusive deals are as soon as THIS round of games. They've already happened. Activision securing deals with record companies about Guns N Roses and RATM are the reason we're not seeing them in Rock Band...


According to Brosius, there were only one or two instances where “Rock Band” couldn’t get a song due to “Guitar Hero III.” “There were cases where if one company did a special deal where an artist was a spokesperson for their game, it would be inappropriate for them to be in the other game,” he said, without naming specifics. “There was a case early on [involving] a deal with a record label where a song was exclusive to one game or the other. But of all the songs, there were only like two cases, and it’s a resolved thing."


wait a sec. this has already started. MTV/RB has the exclusive rights to content from Metallica's next album....

This is not true. Actually, "[Metallica] reserved the right to give us their first single from their new album for the game." This says nothing about the content being exclusive to RB.

In fact, Harmonix has openly been against exclusive artists/songs for some time now.

Harmonix employee about exclusive songs/artists...


"It doesn’t really happen any more, and that’s how we want it. We don’t want to close things off and try to take control of something. As long as the bands are cool with having their song on both games, we’re cool with it too.”

Metallica quote: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164578
Harmonix quotes: http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2007/11/05/rock-band-audio-director-on-master-tapes-bumping-into-guitar-hero-iii-and-dlc-part-2-of-2/#more-1520

[jonfitzsimon]

Well, the main point of my post is that i believe we are going to get the big bands a lot sooner rather than later. Hopefully, the soundtracks are going to keep getting better and better!

[SoKGiX]

i'll b f'n pissed if we don't see any rage for RB...

[ixFatalDeathxi]

Yea but EA has a service activision can not supply and that's to send out DLC every week.:D

[ManOwaR]

As long as there isn't an "i love the 80's" rock band edition I will never go back to GH.

[AVC808]

As long as there isn't an "i love the 80's" rock band edition I will never go back to GH.

nothing wrong with the 80s. just the other game had a horrible track list.