Bring Rock Band Blitz to PC!

[Mashley]

Harmonix is missing out on a huge opportunity by not releasing their upcoming game on PC. The PC market has been booming in recent years due to digital distribution services like Steam, but there's a severe lack of good commercial rhythm action games. It's understandable that previous games in the Rock Band franchise have been console exclusive due to the need for special controllers but for this one there's no reason not to port it to PC; Blitz would play fine with a keyboard or a USB controller. There's definitely a huge gap in the market and it's silly for Harmonix not to fill it.
Plus I want to play it too. :P

[skyp1e]

Harmonix is missing out on a huge opportunity by not releasing their upcoming game on PC. The PC market has been booming in recent years due to digital distribution services like Steam, but there's a severe lack of good commercial rhythm action games. It's understandable that previous games in the Rock Band franchise have been console exclusive due to the need for special controllers but for this one there's no reason not to port it to PC; Blitz would play fine with a keyboard or a USB controller. There's definitely a huge gap in the market and it's silly for Harmonix not to fill it.
Plus I want to play it too. :P

The controllers aren't why there's not RB on PC. It's the piracy. This hasn't really changed, I'm afraid.

[Mashley]

Don't be ridiculous. Piracy exists on PC, yes, but that doesn't affect it's profitability. If developers make the game accessible and convenient to customers without them having to jump through hoops they are much more likely to buy a product, and this is why the PC market is increasing so rapidly; because it is becoming more and more convenient for people to purchase the games they want. Just look at the numbers and you'll see PC gaming is growing extremely fast. Piracy is a very very small minority.

[APackofRabidSquirrels]

Don't be ridiculous. Piracy exists on PC, yes, but that doesn't affect it's profitability. If developers make the game accessible and convenient to customers without them having to jump through hoops they are much more likely to buy a product, and this is why the PC market is increasing so rapidly; because it is becoming more and more convenient for people to purchase the games they want. Just look at the numbers and you'll see PC gaming is growing extremely fast. Piracy is a very very small minority.

IIRC, it has more to do with pirates stealing the stems, not the tunes themselves.
It's a record company issue.

[LoopyChew]

Don't be ridiculous. Piracy exists on PC, yes, but that doesn't affect it's profitability. If developers make the game accessible and convenient to customers without them having to jump through hoops they are much more likely to buy a product, and this is why the PC market is increasing so rapidly; because it is becoming more and more convenient for people to purchase the games they want. Just look at the numbers and you'll see PC gaming is growing extremely fast. Piracy is a very very small minority.

The problem isn't the game piracy, it's the music piracy. Rock Band's primary selling point is as a music platform; Blitz's 25 songs (and each RB release's on-disc songs) are there as a gateway to purchasing more songs through DLC. The problem comes when pirates determine a way to crack Rock Band song files and pirate THOSE.

The music industry is touchy enough about usage rights, and their eyebrows tend to twitch at the very thought of music being distributed on PC. I would presume that, should Harmonix look at PCs as a potential gaming platform, labels would be more likely to significantly increase the licensing costs to cover a perceived potential loss of sales due to piracy, regardless of whether or not materials are actually pirated.

As is, if the music files are pirated, Harmonix loses out both ways--they'll have paid extra for the licensing of the tracks, and they receive no revenue from pirated DLC. And seeing as DLC is the primary income source of the Rock Band platform, that becomes An Issue.

ETA:

IIRC, it has more to do with pirates stealing the stems, not the tunes themselves.

That, too.

[topdrawer]

IIRC, it has more to do with pirates stealing the stems, not the tunes themselves.
It's a record company issue.

but that's just silly since the console stems are already being pirated. what difference does it make on PC?

[krisko]

Copyright issues aside, the other main problem is DLC value. Since Rock Band is not available on PC, the value for DLC decreases on PC because it could only be used in one game. They would have to port Rock Band 3 over to PC as well in order to justify bringing over Blitz, and that's just not going to happen. PC gamers do not like to play split-screen multiplayer, and Guitar Hero on PC was a complete flop due to this reason.

That said, I would still like to see SOMETHING available to play on PC. It would be a nice competitor to Audiosurf, even though the two games play nothing alike. I wouldn't mind seeing RB:B as a Facebook game with credits used to buy new songs at reduced prices compared to the console versions.

[Mashley]

DLC would sell, just integrate it with steam and bingo. Maybe a little discount would help to get the DLC purchasers flowing, idk, but the market is definitely there. The gap is there for a leading PC rhythm title and with RBB Harmonix is in a good position to fill it.

[ThatAuthoringGroup]

Record labels would NEVER go for it.

Why do you think there hasn't been any RB games on PC so far?

[FujiSkunk]

but that's just silly since the console stems are already being pirated. what difference does it make on PC?

PC games have a reputation for being much more easily cracked and pirated than console games. Whether that reputation is deserved is debatable, but it's not a debate the music labels feel like investing in.