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As a huge GH (but really Rock Band 1/2, which hit the sweet spot for me) fan, thanks! If your open to answering questions, I want to know (in your opinion) why

by zheng 14y ago

As a huge GH (but really Rock Band 1/2, which hit the sweet spot for me) fan, thanks! If your open to answering questions, I want to know (in your opinion) why the genre's appeal has more or less worn off now?

dfan 14y ago
The answer everyone always gives is oversaturation, but I dunno about that. Personally I think that the novelty of the experience just wore off, and given the investment that people had to make, not just in plastic instruments but in living room space, it became harder to keep them coming back for more (especially buying a new version of the software every year). The recession hitting in 2008 certainly didn't help, especially given that the games are expensive; fall 2008 (RB2, GHWT) turned on in retrospect to be about the peak of the genre. Our hope at Harmonix was that before that curve of interest fell off, we'd latch onto another curve by making Rock Band be a core way that people experienced rock music in general; you would expect that your favorite group would release a Rock Band version of their new single, and they'd expect that they'd have to do it to satisfy their fans, and it would become sort of self-sustaining. That was one big idea behind Rock Band Network. In retrospect it failed to accomplish that, but I think it was a really good try to keep the genre sustainable for more than a few years. Note that we still make money from selling downloadable content; there are thousands of downloadable songs available, and of course sales have gone down some since the good old days, but they're still a money-maker. So people are still playing it.
- zheng 14y ago
  I know this is very late, but thanks a ton for the answer, very insightful! I know I've bought a ton of DLC for RB2, and it is still one of the best activities for the holidays with my younger brother and wife. So thanks again for the many, many hours of entertainment!

by zheng 14y ago

dfan 14y ago

The answer everyone always gives is oversaturation, but I dunno about that. Personally I think that the novelty of the experience just wore off, and given the investment that people had to make, not just in plastic instruments but in living room space, it became harder to keep them coming back for more (especially buying a new version of the software every year). The recession hitting in 2008 certainly didn't help, especially given that the games are expensive; fall 2008 (RB2, GHWT) turned on in retrospect to be about the peak of the genre. Our hope at Harmonix was that before that curve of interest fell off, we'd latch onto another curve by making Rock Band be a core way that people experienced rock music in general; you would expect that your favorite group would release a Rock Band version of their new single, and they'd expect that they'd have to do it to satisfy their fans, and it would become sort of self-sustaining. That was one big idea behind Rock Band Network. In retrospect it failed to accomplish that, but I think it was a really good try to keep the genre sustainable for more than a few years. Note that we still make money from selling downloadable content; there are thousands of downloadable songs available, and of course sales have gone down some since the good old days, but they're still a money-maker. So people are still playing it.

zheng 14y ago
I know this is very late, but thanks a ton for the answer, very insightful! I know I've bought a ton of DLC for RB2, and it is still one of the best activities for the holidays with my younger brother and wife. So thanks again for the many, many hours of entertainment!