TB:RB Outselling GH:5 with VH Bonus

[vcalzone]

Dan Rosensweig, head of the Guitar Hero division at Activision, told the Financial Times it had seen no impact from the heavily-marketed Beatles game. "It did not affect our sales". He added that Guitar Hero outsold Rock Band by four to one in the US and nine to one in other markets.
Industry executives hope the Beatles game will expand the market for music-themed games by bringing in older players and more women. Up to the end of August, music game sales were down 46 per cent on the previous year, according to the NPD research firm.
Mr Rosensweig said DJ Hero was the more likely product to expand the market, highlighting Activision's next launch as a means of bringing in people interested in dance music and other genres to a market so far dominated by rock bands.
Mr Rosensweig emphasised the "value proposition" in a tough consumer spending climate of a $99 product offering 85 songs and a guitar controller. He added that Activision, part owned by Vivendi, would remain focused on keeping market share.

There ya go. I read it as all Guitar Hero products EVER outselling all Rock Band products EVER by that margin. But even though most of it is completely unmeasurable nonsense, he was kind enough to offer one thing we can actually track, his prediction that DJ Hero will be a huge best-seller.

[liaminh]

http://www.pushsquare.com/6486/shock...-sales-charts/

Excuse us while we pick up our jaw. We knew the contest between The Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 was going to be kinda tight but we totally misjudged this. Especially in The Beatles’ homeland. Not only was the Fab Four’s foray into video games stomped by Guitar Hero 5, but it was also pipped at the post by (the admittedly excellent) Colin McRae: DiRT 2 and weeks old Batman: Arkham Asylum.

We’re actually dumb-founded — perhaps we under-estimated the pull of the Guitar Hero brand but… c’mon… we expected The Beatles: Rock Band to sell through the roof — to both a new breed of gamers (i.e. Mum & Dad players) and to those who already own a set of instruments.

Still there it is, The Beatles: Rock Band debuts at number 4 in the official British sales charts. Mull over it all you will. We’re going to have a lie down.

[vcalzone]

As for music games being down by 50% YOY, if GH has been outselling RB for... ever, and now it suddenly isn't, that's a pretty big drop. Rock Band is selling approximately 1.2million for its non-exportable, one-off product. Since no game of that sort has EVER outsold a platform and RB2 only sold 2 million as of February, Harmonix is doing its part to help the music game industry. Only one company is flatlining.

[vcalzone]

Still there it is, The Beatles: Rock Band debuts at number 4 in the official British sales charts. Mull over it all you will. We’re going to have a lie down.

I know, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight? Guess the UK video game market isn't the bellwether for the rest of the world that it used to be.

[PleasePleaseMeat]

RB is INCREDIBLY underpublicised in the UK. I have seen a ton of GH5 ads, and some GHWT ones when it came out. I have seen one RB ad on TV, and that was for the damn AC/DC track pack.

HMX need to capitalise on the fact that the Beatles were a British band. They got MBEs! (Lennon sent his back, but meh.) They performed for the Queen! They put Liverpool on the map as a legendary city!

At least TB:RB's in the charts, but Guitar Hero 5 just irritates me. Even typing the words Guitar Hero brings me pain.

Beatles: Rock Band, bringing back Beatlemania to Britain.

MAKE IT HAPPEN.

[ktmason]

After reading all of this, I conclude the following:
1) Ok, in the UK TB:RB is outsold. So.....according to all the other charts, GH and its big money machine got stomped. Activision MUST be quaking in their boots. They even GAVE away a game to do that....wow. It did NOT work.

2) EVEN IF the "9 to 1" statement included ALL the GH games, this does NOT bode well for Activision if, after alllllll those games and all this time, and giving away a game on top of it, they are sinking.

If I worked for them, I would be revising my resume right now.

[mva5580]

Where are the delusional fools from this message board who stated "Financial Disaster" for HMX this year? The guy who really went crazy about it, his username was coecastle. I want him back here now so I can feed on his tears/justifications for why this is happening, or most likely his response of "those sales numbers aren't accurate."

I love it.

[aspiring]

But mate its getting trounced in every region but (possibly) the US! He would feed of off that.

[vcalzone]

GH won't be going anywhere. As has been said, its international presence is huge. This is probably a big sign for them that they need to rethink their business model, though.

[aspiring]

Thats right. here in Australia and every other PAL land shops dont want to know about Rock Band, and either do the people, after the mess that was RB1 with its overpriced instruments and constant delays, and the fact we got it after RB2 was released. GH has PAL land wrapped up and the UK sales for The Beatles prove this. Shame. HMX really screwed this market up.

The funniest thing was, not many shops here sold The Beatles bundles, just the game, and in all the brochures and in store they had big signs stating, "works with Guitar Hero". The fact that they had to sell them telling people they can use there GH stuff shows how bad HMX screwed up.