Fender Squier current status & availability - IMPORTANT INFO - HMX update to OP 6/27

[skyp1e]

The best news in this thread is that this takes Harmonix by surprise too.
Again I cannot help but wonder what the contract read like if Fender can unilaterally pull out without a breach.

However, it's still the silver lining in this cloud and everyone needs to take it away with them from this thread. If HMX wasn't privy to the decision than they aren't done with a real 6 string guitar peripheral for this game.

Translation, someone else will make them for us.

[David2380]

As a counter-argument, RB3's engine can be the template for RB4, which means that little has to be done on the development side of things. That's a significant cut to costs right there, and if they re-use art assets in RB4 the way they did with RB2, the majority of money they need to concern themselves with is in licensing. All the money on new stuff was already spent on RB3; RB4 would be patching up the issues people had with RB3, plus new music.



While true that the sales are pretty far down from RB2, this chart (which, yeah, do not take as gospel) shows that it appears to still sell fairly steadily. Also, Columbus Nova is going to want return on their investment (in Harmonix). While Dance Central is no doubt helping here, I don't doubt that they'll want some sort of return from their other franchise. The low investment needed (see point 1; they can re-use a lot of what they worked on for RB3 and add a few new stages and stuff) means less of a need for stellar sales figures.



Their announcement was obviously geared towards the MOAR METAL crowd, and on that front, it probably satisfied people that are neither you nor me. I didn't care for most of those names (I only care about the Soundgarden tracks we already had and lost; Poison is fine for a couple of songs). This week's announcement, on the other hand, still contains tons of popular songs that I know I want. Live? Tubthumping? Take On Me? Those are up my alley.

Plus, you can't just ignore the stuff that's been released over the last month. Between classic bands (Ozzy, Foreigner, Loverboy, Stone Temple Pilots) and more modern ones (Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga), they're still bagging a lot of hits old and new, without MTV's influence.



Don't forget: in this very thread are people talking about how their PRE-ORDERS never got filled, which means that Fender didn't even manage to make enough guitars to fill the demand that existed before the thing ever existed. We don't know WHY Fender bailed; we just know that it DID. Maybe--and this is just hope; there's nothing suggesting this at all--they're working on a hardware revision. Maybe something happened with their electronic parts suppliers. Who knows?

Besides, the Mustang is still available if you want to play Pro Guitar.

I still see nothing suggesting that we only have half a year of DLC left. Besides which, even when official channels are exhausted, RBN still exists.

good points...thank you for taking the time to explain...hope you are right. This weeks dlc is awesome and I've never had a problem with HMX and their choice of bands and how they keep the dlc diversified and fresh. I also agree about there being a plethora of wonderful bands lately...

[Spidermaniac]

The Squier is an odd product in that it is low-end for Fender (which routinely deals in $700+ guitars) but very high-end for a music game player. Given the likely complexity of manufacture and distribution, and the gap in perception between the manufacturer and consumer, I could see it being a tough sell in a board room.

Further, the rollout for the Squier was an unmitigated disaster. It came out almost six months after the game it supported was released, was delayed a couple times, required a peripheral (the Pro Adapter) that was, for a time, completely unavailable, was exclusive to one retailer, and then when it was released, many people found the Squier in physical stores while receiving notices that their first day preorders would not ship for weeks. For those of us who did manage to get them, the amount of tinkering necessary to make the guitar work in the game was shocking. In the first day, I had to learn more about the mechanics of the Squier than I had to learn about my non-gaming guitar (a Squier Affinity) in six months. Asking a consumer to tune a guitar out of the box is no big deal (and all I had to do with my non-gaming guitar)-- asking a consumer, who more than likely is getting his first guitar, to get a truss bar adjustment, mess with pick-up height, and possibly even find and adjust pots located under the battery case is completely insane. If the reports of large numbers of returns on "defective" models are true, I would wager most of them came from people not aware of or willing to make the calibrations necessary to get it to work. Fender completely botched it on this one.

The dark side of this news is that it's one more piece of circumstantial evidence that makes me worry that Rock Band might be fading out. I'm trying not to think that way, but it seems like these little things keep adding up.

Trying to be positive, this could open the door to a different manufacturer creating a new pro guitar controller that is more sustainable by being readily available and novice-friendly out of the box. And, it may not even be a "guitar" company, but a company that is better able to work within the margins and distribution model of the gaming industry.

[ChodTheWacko]

Well I believe they will continue to support Pro mode, my concern falls more in line with why did Fender do this? Are they creating a newer version? will this be the only "real deal" left (why you still can find them)? If this it for Fender then I will keep it, if they are going back to the drawing board I may return and wait again.

Assuming they are indeed discontinuing the Squier, there's only one logical reason : it's not profitable. We can only guess why. Quality issues and rate of return is a factor. Perhaps their method of manufacturing is too slow and unreliable. We can only speculate.

Every product is followed up by dreams of a newer better product. Fender bailing out on this so soon tells me they are cutting their losses and this is it for Fender. I wouldn't expect another stringed pro guitar anytime soon from them.

[conejita_diabla]

Email I just received from Fender:

"Thanks for writing in. The Rock Band controller has actually been discontinued. We will not be shipping any more to any dealers. They are only available for warranty replacement purposes. Let us know if you have any other questions.

Best Regards,

<employee's name>

Fender Musical Instruments Corporation
Consumer Relations Department
8860 E. Chaparral Rd. Suite 100
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
480-596-7195
consumerrelations@fender.com"

[conejita_diabla]

Does NewEgg deliver to Canada? Because if so, NewEgg.com; type "Squier" in the search box and it's your only result. $280, new. PM me if you need any help, bro; sorry for your trouble. Good luck.

-Tim

Nope - no international shipping options at this time. *sigh* Thanks, though!

I'm really torn - I could get one shipped to someone else and then get them to send it up here, etc...but as soon as you introduce third parties into the mix you have a potential nightmare re: return/warranty issues. And from what I've read, that could very much be a concern.

[gambit444]

I think you are mistaken, I just got an email from my sales rep at Sweetwater Music, he knows I've been considering buying the RB Fender and they will now carry them.

Sweetwater is an awesome company and would not start to offer them if they were discontinued.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/StratRB3BK/

LOL, that site says "No Longer Available". bad news indeed. I hope they drop it & are planning to support the peripherral that allos you to attach any guitar. would love to use my les paul.

[Boioioing]

I don't get why support for this product is sliding so much. There is clearly a demographic that is very excited and passionate about this type of gameplay, and still many many people who haven't even been able to try the Squier yet.

Sure, popular support for the genre is declining. That only reflects that the genre's overall hysteria factor is gone. It doesn't change the fact that those who genuinely enjoy the game are STILL here, and aren't going away any time soon.

Perhaps if HMX recognized this, they would react accordingly. I thought the whole overall goal of HMX's project, way back when, was to create an interactive guitar playing system. Don't they have that now? Did they expect it to be something along the same lines as Call of Duty, back then?

I think they were hit with too much popularity too quickly, and seem to be losing the vision they had for the technology in the first place. It's supposed to be niche. It's supposed to be unique. It's supposed to be innovative and complex. It's supposed to be misunderstood by the gaming community. It's so much more than just gaming.

[mikeyts]

i went ahead and ordered one of these from Buy.com, though it will be a financial hardship . It was a 50 cent upgrade to 2-day shipping so if they ship tomorrow I should have it Tuesday.

I got notice that this shipped last night at 10 PM, though the Fedex facility in Bloomington didn't get it in time to get it on a truck to San Diego. (Also it was 2 business day service which probably held it back--I'd have ordered standard ground shipping if I'd known their warehouse was so close and probably would have had it today ). It should be here on Monday.

So, Buy.com has them, or at least they did yesterday.

[skyp1e]

LOL, that site says "No Longer Available". bad news indeed. I hope they drop it & are planning to support the peripherral that allos you to attach any guitar. would love to use my les paul.

That would be a step backwards. I don't care how good the AD/DA conversion is. Sensors in the fretboard is still superior.