On Wednesday, Activision announced that there were going to be no more Guitar Hero games. A couple items come to mind as I think this over...
First, although it's no secret, the music game industry isn't selling as well as it did at it's peak a year or so ago. There certainly is an element of novelty with these games, and there isn't always a compelling reason to buy the latest and greatest iteration of the game, if you already have it. The big problem with Guitar Hero is that they were churning out a couple of games every year... it was just way too much.
Second, this is good news for Rock Band and fans of Rock Band, in the end. Although they still have to deal with the general downturn in interest in their genre, they now have de facto free reign over the best music out there. As someone who placed his bets on the Rock Band side of things, I'm pretty excited about what this could bring in terms of content in the next little while.
Having two companies making basically the same game over the last few years has definitely spurred on innovation. First, it was the addition of drums and vocals, then vocal harmonies, then keyboards and real guitars. We may not have gotten to this point without the competition. But how much further do we want the genre to progress? In terms of instruments, I think they've maxed out. No real value will be added with a sousaphone.
I say important things of importance
I'd definately take issue with this statement of yours.
ReplyDelete"Having two companies making basically the same game over the last few years has definitely spurred on innovation. First, it was the addition of drums and vocals, then vocal harmonies, then keyboards and real guitars. We may not have gotten to this point without the competition."
Harmonix introduced the drums and vocals with Rock Band and it took about 2 iterations for Guitar Hero to finally catch up. And all of the other things you're talking about were introduced by Rock Band in a gradual way that allowed the music to come first instead of throwing gimmicky crap like demon rock stars and such.
Of course, you are right that Activision killed the genre by churning out sequel after sequel. It saturated the market and wore everyone out.
You are aware that Harmonix has been let go from EA/MTV and Viacom and has basically struck out on their own now. At least there is enough good will backing them up and they haven't been shut down like what happened with the Activision studios.
I say good riddance to Guitar Hero and it's a shame it was able to cut the ground out from under Harmonix. Hopefully things will lie quiet for a year or two and we'll see a proper continuation of Rock Band that is as thoughtful as everything else they've put out.
It's too bad DJ Hero got the axe though. It was a great game, but yearly sequels aren't needed.
You have a good point. For sure Harmonix drove all the innovation in the genre. I don't doubt that, by themselves, they would have come up with all the features that they have now. I just think that by being forced to differentiate themselves from their former game may have quickened the evolution. But I certainly don't know that for a fact.
ReplyDeleteI did hear about Harmonix going alone. While a bit concerning, I'm fairly certain that they'll be able to continue along fine. Like you said, lay quiet for a year or two and let the market cool a bit and when they do bring about Rock Band 4, make it with reasons for people to upgrade.