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Originally Posted by Bront20

I doubt that, if only because pro guitar has much more popular songs to purchase.

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There are lots of factors at play here. Guitar is the most popular, but Pro guitar is one of the least popular. Drums has a major following and all you need to play 2x songs is a RB2 or later kit.

The 360 has 2x songs and 'more popular songs' for Pro upgrades. The question becomes is the PS3 audience for 2x songs significant in comparison. I would expect to see at least one person complain about being 'forced' to buy songs again and/or complain about the 'cluttered' library. There may also be a complaint about how 2x is only available for Expert.

However, it doesn't seem too far fetched to believe that 2x will have a higher level of interest on the PS3 than Pro guitar. Most drummers have the drums so they just need a pedal. Pro guitar requires that extra purchase, period.

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Originally Posted by Santa Claustrophobia

There are lots of factors at play here. Guitar is the most popular, but Pro guitar is one of the least popular. Drums has a major following and all you need to play 2x songs is a RB2 or later kit.

The 360 has 2x songs and 'more popular songs' for Pro upgrades. The question becomes is the PS3 audience for 2x songs significant in comparison. I would expect to see at least one person complain about being 'forced' to buy songs again and/or complain about the 'cluttered' library. There may also be a complaint about how 2x is only available for Expert.

However, it doesn't seem too far fetched to believe that 2x will have a higher level of interest on the PS3 than Pro guitar. Most drummers have the drums so they just need a pedal. Pro guitar requires that extra purchase, period.

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Well considering most people i run into only have about 30 or 40 RBN songs ( i have all but 30 or so.. i just love RBN.. good to find new bands!)
i don't think this will do so well. Most don't have any RBN2.0 songs either (and if so .. it's seether.)

I think this has the likelihood of doing about as well as RBN for the Wii. If stuff on the PS3 sells about half as well as the 360, then this kind of output is really niche of a niche.

If the base of metal drums players for the PS3 is sizable and if they actually care enough to check out RBN, then maybe it matches the same general pace on the 360.

The thing that Bront20 brings up is more that people who buy DLC just about automatically dismiss RBN anyway. If they're lucky, they break even on the cost.

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Originally Posted by Santa Claustrophobia

The thing that Bront20 brings up is more that people who buy DLC just about automatically dismiss RBN anyway. If they're lucky, they break even on the cost.

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I wouldn't say dismiss as much as admit few popular songs go though it, and that's what sells. Doesn't help previews are broken (yes, I know the fix, but most folks don't, and some folks actually use that setting), so you're bound to get fewer sales anyway. Now, throw in that you're selling 5 songs into the market, 2 of which have been out for at least a week prior, and you're asking a lot.

RBN on the PS3 had only 9 songs with 100 new scores on Rock Band Scores last week. Meanwhile there were 161 regular DLC songs that at least 100 new scores (10 had more than 500 new scores). Now that's not 100% perfect, but I think it's at least a look at how things sell.

I think the lack of previews is overestimated on how much it affects sales. It would have to be dwarfed by those who simply don't know or care that RBN exists. Sales on the 360 aren't significantly better than the PS3 in relative terms.

If anything, its a form of choice paralysis on the 360. There's simply so much that people won't buy what's there. I've seen people argue that they won't spend points for XBLIG content just because they don't want to make a 'special trip' to buy points when something comes out that they really want (read: officially released through Microsoft).

The prices of RBN songs are more or less the same, but they aren't 'real' and eighty or ninety percent of it is stuff they've never heard of anyway. Music is pretty polarising and most listeners just stick to what they like. The stuff that's safe for them. You've spend time in the weekly DLC discussion threads...those are the people who aren't buying RBN either.

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Originally Posted by Santa Claustrophobia

I think the lack of previews is overestimated on how much it affects sales.

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I don't know how much it effects sales, but it does. Folks buy songs they like to listen to. Folks may try listening to songs they don't know. The lack of an ability to do just that costs a few sales easily. How many? I have no clue.

I'm not blaming anyone, I understand why it's an issue, and both Sony and HMX really can't do much about it. It's unfortunate, but it's what we have to deal with.

The way I see it the whole point of RBN is for people to discover music that they otherwise wouldn't. These are the people who probably buy the majority of tracks from there, those who are looking for something else. Just because something isn't mainstream doesn't mean there isn't an audience for it.

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Originally Posted by dansolo

The way I see it the whole point of RBN is for people to discover music that they otherwise wouldn't. These are the people who probably buy the majority of tracks from there, those who are looking for something else. Just because something isn't mainstream doesn't mean there isn't an audience for it.

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That also doesn't mean it's worth the time and effort to do it. That's what this experiment is about.