When will Rock Band 3 be Exportable?

[jibjqrkl]

The point it, the new export could open up more achievements, and the money they earn from the exports could go towards making a new Rock Band, even if that means another track pack. Or maybe even another band based game. The Beatles Rock Band and Green Day Rock Band were both huge successes. Guitar Hero did Aerosmith, Metallica. Those are all big bands, but if Rock Band did a band like Pink Floyd or another over requested band that has never had a song in Rock Band or Guitar Hero, let alone have pro mode in it, they would simply conquer all music and rhythm games out there.

Think about it guys, it could open up a whole new door and start something huge. Agree to disagree?

band-based games don't sell as well as you might think.
also, there might be a very good reason why we don't have any pink floyd, let alone an entire game for them

[ThatAuthoringGroup]

I'm a big a Rock Band fan as you're going to find. I'll be with the franchise until the end (which I hope never comes, but honestly at this point?)

I'd love for there to be a Rock Band 4. Really I would. Nothing would make me happier.

But let's face facts. Rock Band 3 didn't sell anywhere near what was hoped it would. The fan base has dwindled to probably less than 20,000 at this point. It costs a LOT to manufacture the plastic instruments, and retailers have been burned once by the big kits cluttering up their stores when the bottom fell out of the genre. So getting them to stock the big band kits again is going to be a huge hurdle to overcome.

Now Harmonix hasn't came out and said no there will not be a Rock Band 4, BUT they never said no there's not going to be anymore Beatles DLC but I think we all know at this point there's not going to be anymore Beatles DLC.

I think Blitz was a way for them to get a new Rock Band title out there without the HUGE risk of putting out a retail title with instruments and then it possibly bombs. Because I can't imagine the millions of dollars it would cost to get the instruments, discs, distribution, etc, and if that fails...it could mean the end of Harmonix.

So I would LOVE to be proved wrong. Really I would. But realistically at this point in the franchise, where things are at in the genre, I don't see another retail RB title unless the genre comes back like the fighting genre did (and that took almost 15 years of it being on the fringes).

The thing I hope for is that when the new consoles come out at the very least RB3 will work with them (there's a digital copy on the 360, AND according to what we've heard dlc and purchases will carry over with your gamer tag to the new consoles), or they'll put out a 'shell' Rock Band arcade title on the new consoles that will have updated graphics and venues, that allows you to 'import' your existing DLC to the new machines, and hopefully ups the maximum song limit. However even if that happens we still have the problem of instruments. They're getting scarce now, and in another year they're going to be like spotting bigfoot riding a pegasus. More and more instruments are just going to fail over time, and with no plans for new stock, then...well how can there be a new Rock Band title to continue the franchise if the very thing you use to play the games can't be purchased anywhere?

BUT I digress, and even if Rock Band ends with this current console generation then honestly it's been a hell of a ride, and I doubt that the accomplishments that Harmonix has made with Rock Band just in the DLC department alone will ever be repeated. And at the very least Rock Band 3 and all our DLC will still work with our current consoles and there's enough music there to keep us busy for a very long time.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

The Beatles Rock Band and Green Day Rock Band were both huge successes.

Uh....what?

Beatles did really really well, yes, but Green Day did horribly.

[Revhallow]

...BUT I digress, and even if Rock Band ends with this current console generation then honestly it's been a hell of a ride, and I doubt that the accomplishments that Harmonix has made with Rock Band just in the DLC department alone will ever be repeated. And at the very least Rock Band 3 and all our DLC will still work with our current consoles and there's enough music there to keep us busy for a very long time.

Wow. Reading your post made me feel like I did while watching the ending to Toy Story 3... Almost made me tear up. (your post... Toy Story 3 did in fact make me... tear up... lol)

EDIT: Oh, I forgot what I was even going to post: Until seeing this thread, I didn't even realize that the RB3 songs aren't available in Blitz, lmao.

[Logan812]

Its not like Blitz is hurting for a larger song library. :P

No, but it is hurting for Primus. :P

[Dragonclaw]

In all honesty if *I* were at HMX we'd see a RB4, but as long as MS and Sony are letting downloaded purchases carry over to the next systems I'd shoot for RB4 being a launch title the day the new Xbox drops. We know the countdown is on for our current systems to be abandoned, it makes more sense to launch on the next system where they can push DLC with the newer crowd than a system people will be transitioning out of.

Hopefully we'll see exports of RB3 and maybe (dare I hope) The Beatles, that will work with RB4 and Blitz.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

In all honesty if *I* were at HMX we'd see a RB4

You can't say that. That's like saying some foreign policy decision you'd make if you were the President. You don't have the information necessary to reach such a conclusion.

HMX might know fully well that a new retail release for RB would utterly freaking ruin them. (I don't know either, I don't have the information either)

[TubaDude49]

Uh....what?

Beatles did really really well, yes, but Green Day did horribly.

Both did well. The Beatles sold a lot more, but also had a much higher liscencing cost.

[SvenBro]

I doubt we'll get RB4 but I've said it years ago and I'll say it again: make it real instruments only. The tracklist would just be the old RB tracklists but with real instruments. Keep the visuals essentially the same. The guitar/bass would be like Rocksmith, the drums basically pro drums but with hit-hat/multiple crash/flam/double kick/etc toggles, keys would be pro two-handed, vocals stay the same or also register between octaves. Decrease legacy DLC production, increase convertion of all legacy DLC, ideally chronologically. Get the game sold in music stores as a gamefied teacher to learn 150-4k songs on a real instrument. Include a trainer mode that increasingly hides notes as the person continues to play well to ensure better memorization and a lowered reliance on the visual notechart. For real musicians throw in a tools option to record and play your own music locally and integrate with RBN to release the songs just by playing them ingame.

Maybe switch to a subscription model that requires you to be online to play. Pay $x/month for access to the entire library, licensed by paying the artist $y every time Z song is played.

Not going to happen, I know. It would be amazing though.

[fuzzy510]

I think Blitz was a way for them to get a new Rock Band title out there without the HUGE risk of putting out a retail title with instruments and then it possibly bombs. Because I can't imagine the millions of dollars it would cost to get the instruments, discs, distribution, etc, and if that fails...it could mean the end of Harmonix.

I think it's probably more likely that the Harmonix guys realized that there wasn't a market for another full retail Rock Band title for this console generation, had some time on their hands, and came up with Rock Band Blitz. Remember, Rock Band 3 was released nearly two years ago, and it'll probably be another year before new console hardware is announced. That's a LONG time to sit around waiting while only devoting resources to Dance Central.

If the tech is such that controllers from the previous generation carry over, as does DLC and downloadable games, I think there's a very good chance we see a Rock Band 4. If it takes a whole new set of hardware, however, along with a commitment to build a music library from scratch again, I'd imagine that Harmonix calls it a franchise. Asking people to buy in for another $60 for the game is one matter. Asking them to buy in for $200 for the full suite of controllers, plus countless more for DLC, is another matter altogether.