Waiting to die

[kraven]

So I asked in another thread about Rockband 4 threads, and got a not gonna happen response. It's felt like Harmonix was waiting to die since GH closed shop. Is that pretty much confirmed? Is there an official burial date?

[samjjones]

HMX continues to publish weekly DLC supporting a title that is now in its 6th year. That would seem to be evidence that HMX continues to support the franchise.

Lack of a new disk title doesn't necessarily mean the end of the world.

[kraven]

HMX continues to publish weekly DLC supporting a title that is now in its 6th year. That would seem to be evidence that HMX continues to support the franchise.

Lack of a new disk title doesn't necessarily mean the end of the world.

Yes they continue to release weekly DLC. Which has gone from entire albums or 8 packs to 3 a week. They also have cancelled things like Pearl Jam and done nothing to keep attention on the product since GH died.

[www1221]

Yup Rock Band is dead. All the dead franchises keep releasing DLC weekly. RIP Rock Band

[SirDavidTLynch]

If they've been waiting to die ever since Guitar Hero quit, why didn't they close up shop then?

[kraven]

Nevermind. I'm crazy. Nothing has changed.

[tnevaker]

[philosophical]we're all waiting to die from the moment that we're born.[/philosophical]

[hmxhenry]

Nevermind. I'm crazy. Nothing has changed.

I think it's clear that, yes, things have changed... but "changing to adapt to the size of the community and state of the gaming industry" and "waiting to die" are very different things.

Releasing weekly DLC, releasing RB Blitz (our first downloadable title), releasing RB World to support Blitz with weekly Goals, maintaining a robust UGC pipeline with RBN, staging regular DLC giveaways, hosting weekly DLC previews on the livestream, growing our social media presence, improving server performance on 5+ year old titles, maintaining support on all RB releases, updating RockBand.com with regular web content from devs and fans... it may not be a brand new RB disc release, or a new batch of instruments or the full album DLC you're hoping for, but it's hardly waiting to die. We love RB just as much as you do and we've done a lot in the last year to keep the community engaged.

[kraven]

I think it's clear that, yes, things have changed... but "changing to adapt to the size of the community and state of the gaming industry" and "waiting to die" are very different things.

Releasing weekly DLC, releasing RB Blitz (our first downloadable title), releasing RB World to support Blitz with weekly Goals, maintaining a robust UGC pipeline with RBN, staging regular DLC giveaways, hosting weekly DLC previews on the livestream, growing our social media presence, improving server performance on 5+ year old titles, maintaining support on all RB releases, updating RockBand.com with regular web content from devs and fans... it may not be a brand new RB disc release, or a new batch of instruments or the full album DLC you're hoping for, but it's hardly waiting to die. We love RB just as much as you do and we've done a lot in the last year to keep the community engaged.

Don't you think Rockband 4's impact and presence would trump all of that stuff(most of which is insignificant)? RB and GH were flooding the market for sure, but does that mean you have to go in the opposite direction?

[hmxhenry]

Don't you think Rockband 4's impact and presence would trump all of that stuff(most of which is insignificant)?

Maybe, in a perfect world. I don't think "release another game" is the solution to your problem and I don't think slapping a 4 at the end of a title is going to reinvigorate a genre that isn't as popular as it was 2-3 years ago.

And again, I don't think the lack of an RB4 means we're "waiting to die" as you've said. As I've listed, we've done a lot in the last year to support RB, certainly more than any other music game has done in 2012. You may feel like a lot of those efforts are insignificant to you and that's totally fair. That just means you don't like what we're doing, not that we're doing nothing. It's insignificant to everyone else. If it was, we wouldn't be seeing Blitz on Best of 2012 lists, or seeing new bands join RBN, or seeing numbers go up on our livestream or social accounts or giveaways.

I'd be curious to hear what you think a core RB sequel would change. What would be different, what would you like to see that past titles didn't offer, why do you need to see a core title to feel engaged, etc.