Rock Band in 2013 and beyond

[DragoonXD]

People keep saying "if instruments hold up" ..... that's a HEYOOOOGE "if." Mustangs are dirt cheap right now (at least compared to what they were at launch), around $50 for all three consoles. It's unlikely you're gonna find a 5-button guitar for less than double that. And there's no reason to believe the situation will ever get better on that front.

I'm still running on two 3 year old guitars because I either can't find a new guitar, or can't pay the ridiculous prices. I don't know how they still work at all. Fortunately, I drum just as much as I guitar, and I've got an e-kit that can easily be fixed up when necessary. Definitely going to miss playing guitar though, when that time comes.

[Santa Claustrophobia]

Welp, guess it's time to close down the forums.

Yeah. Because that's what I was saying. Good job, internet!

[SheSaidSheSaid]

You said "Rock Band is dead."

Um.....nope. Demonstratably false. You know who *is* dead? These guys. That's how you know a franchise is dead.

[ThatAuthoringGroup]

Well since Rock Band is dead the only thing left...

Zombie Rock Band.

It'll never die.

But it might turn on you when you least expect it >_____>

[DragoonXD]

You said "Rock Band is dead."

Um.....nope. Demonstratably false. You know who *is* dead? These guys. That's how you know a franchise is dead.

Considering I just played that last weekend, it's not quite dead. Still the only place I can play Reel Big Fish on a plastic guitar.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

Well if that's what you go by then nothing's ever dead. Video games are immortal!!!

[GameMaster439]

Considering I just played that last weekend, it's not quite dead. Still the only place I can play Reel Big Fish on a plastic guitar.

Wasn't that DLC pack only up for maybe a 1 or 2 hours before it was pulled?

[Santa Claustrophobia]

Considering I just played that last weekend, it's not quite dead. Still the only place I can play Reel Big Fish on a plastic guitar.

An effective demonstration of my point if ever there was one. Power Gig won't see a sequel. Rock Revolution won't see a sequel. Guitar Hero...is undetermined...but probably won't see a sequel. Any other non-dance, music-rhythm games out there? Yeah, no sequels coming. But they're still 'alive' because people still play them. Somewhere.

So what about Rock Band? We're getting a Rock Band 4 because...why? It's been two years. The market is dwindling. New consumer support is laughable, at best. The release of RB3 was plagued with missteps. Peripheral supplies just two years ago were difficult enough. But at least we have weekly DLC...at a lower rate than at the game's height of popularity and with an increasing reliance on upper-tier artists to generate sales.

And how's RBN doing? Numbers on the decline? No major label support? Only a few, dedicated charting groups remaining? Whatever is going on there isn't going to pick up the so-called slack that 'official' DLC has left behind.

SheSaid, if you wish to play a dumb semantics game, then you'll win because you'll be playing by yourself. But I did say that the only way that Rock Band survives is with a new infusion of instruments. And that isn't going to happen without a RB4. And we have no real indication that that is happening either.

And even then, the market may still not support it.

I will not be surprised to see a sequel to Blitz before RB4. Harmonix? They're doing fine. Rock Band? Not so much. Truth may be unpleasant sometimes, but it doesn't make it any less true.

So, Rock Band in the future? Well, we'll still have the old games to play. And hey, they may even release RB4 for all the new consoles. But so what? Niche titles struggle enough as it is. Niche titles with an extra $100+ investment? Yeah. That screams long term viability.

Still active and still viable are two different things. Don't conflate the two.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

I must have missed the part where HMX stopped releasing weekly DLC for this 'dead' franchise. If it didn't make business sense to do it, they wouldn't.

Past its prime and dead in the ground are two different things. Don't conflate the two.

[SirDavidTLynch]

If Rock Band was dead, we wouldn't have weekly DLC. Or even monthly DLC or sporadic DLC. And we probably wouldn't have had a new game a few months ago or a Facebook app that gets updated every week.