Guitar Hero and DJ Hero won’t see releases in 2011, but will Activision be putting the brakes on the stream of downloadable content for both of its music games, too? A recent FAQ update on the official DJ Hero Web site reveals that, yes, the supporting content around both games will be coming to an end this month.
“We will release the previously announced DLC track and mix packs for February, but unfortunately, we will not be able to release new DLC packs beyond what we already have,” the FAQ response reads, as spotted by Shacknews.
== TEASER ==During its investor conference call yesterday afternoon, Activision confirmed reports that it was pulling the plug on the Guitar Hero franchise and dissolving the business unit that supported it. The publisher also stated that there would be no music game releases, or hey, even skateboarding games, in the year 2011.
The FAQ also states that all available DLC will still be available after Activision twists the valve. So, you’ll still be able to buy whatever you want, regardless of the health of the series and Activision’s decision to give both games a break. Also, the publisher will continue to provide customer support via its main line.
The one question that Activision doesn’t really answer in the FAQ is the one we’re all asking at the moment -- “Does this mean you're no longer making Guitar and DJ Hero games?” Activision answers with this:
“Over the past two years, we have seen rapid declines in the music genre, and unfortunately, based on current demand, we simply cannot continue to profitably make these games given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs.”
Makes you wonder if we’ll even see a music game from Activision in 2012, or ever again.
wow Activision is such an asshole first they screwed up the Marvel DLC now GH and DJH which both have millions of copies floating around on the market. If Activision keeps acting like this they won't be around much longer. I think they only want to make COD exclusively and stop making any other games.
They had it coming. Congratulations for milking the hell out of your franchises, Activision. See what happens? They go bloody dry. I hope you can finally learn the lesson.
" GH died because they simply flooded the market and made everyone sick, but I dig Rock Band less and less because they seem so damn insistent on piling loads of shitty metal/butt rock dlc out the door every fucking week. As it stands, I seriously can't get anyone to play these games anymore and it usually begins and ends with a glance at the setlist, full of "what the fuck is this song?", followed by a trip to the music store and then a swift exit once it becomes apparent that everything new is complete trash. "
You haven't been keeping up with the last 3-4 months of DLC huh? There has been a huge amount of classic rock and a smathering of other genres including a new Bob Marley pack released this Tuesday. While I admit there is a lot of metal on RBN, there is still a wide array of Indie, alt rock and even some hip-hop there.
Rock Band DLC is to the point now where you have to search out the music you want, much like iTunes. And really, thats a damn good position to be in if you ask me.
Ain't you quite the optimist? I cannot speak for anyone nor everyone statistically (casual, hardcore, or otherwise), but I personally vouch that Rock Band is light years ahead of the whole "rhythm/music" genre simply because of its extensive and continuous support of DLC as well as multiple complexities of multiplayer and party-play. Not to mention its rabid (and unwavering) fanbase it has acquired over the past 2 or so years (people started realizing that Rock Band can be just as challenging and rewarding as its Guitar Hero predecessors). Not to say you're not right in pointing out the limited scope of the games (the aforementioned "rainbow highway" that dominates the genre), but really I cannot see it failing in the next upcoming years. Who knows- this question could become the next "games=art" debate. "
Yeah but what does that all matter if no one is buying the games? "
Hey, people are still buying them. Just not as much as they used to a few years back. It's kinda like the 2D fighting game situation in the 90s, even though they still have a dedicated fanbase that survives to this day.
@p_p_o_d: Music games, much like fighting games, adventure games, and any other genre that's had its ups and downs, can never truly die. For as long as there's some people out there willing to buy them (and they're definitely there), the genre can still live on in one way or another.
Good riddance, Activision can only blame themselves for destroying this franchise. Hopefully the developers can find another company to work for as Acti has truly taken EAs place as The Evil One.
Ain't you quite the optimist? I cannot speak for anyone nor everyone statistically (casual, hardcore, or otherwise), but I personally vouch that Rock Band is light years ahead of the whole "rhythm/music" genre simply because of its extensive and continuous support of DLC as well as multiple complexities of multiplayer and party-play. Not to mention its rabid (and unwavering) fanbase it has acquired over the past 2 or so years (people started realizing that Rock Band can be just as challenging and rewarding as its Guitar Hero predecessors). Not to say you're not right in pointing out the limited scope of the games (the aforementioned "rainbow highway" that dominates the genre), but really I cannot see it failing in the next upcoming years. Who knows- this question could become the next "games=art" debate. "
Yeah but what does that all matter if no one is buying the games? "
Hey, people are still buying them. Just not as much as they used to a few years back. It's kinda like the 2D fighting game situation in the 90s, even though they still have a dedicated fanbase that survives to this day. "
2D fighting games don't have to pay ridiculous licensing fees so they can survive selling fewer copies. So it's not "kinda like the 2D fighting game situation" at all. The economics are entirely different. Guitar Hero is no more and Harmonix was sold for $50 and all its debt.
So yeah, what does that all matter if no one is buying the games (in enough quantities to make the games profitable and therefore viable) indeed.
" GH died because they simply flooded the market and made everyone sick, but I dig Rock Band less and less because they seem so damn insistent on piling loads of shitty metal/butt rock dlc out the door every fucking week. As it stands, I seriously can't get anyone to play these games anymore and it usually begins and ends with a glance at the setlist, full of "what the fuck is this song?", followed by a trip to the music store and then a swift exit once it becomes apparent that everything new is complete trash. "
You haven't been keeping up with the last 3-4 months of DLC huh? There has been a huge amount of classic rock and a smathering of other genres including a new Bob Marley pack released this Tuesday. While I admit there is a lot of metal on RBN, there is still a wide array of Indie, alt rock and even some hip-hop there. Rock Band DLC is to the point now where you have to search out the music you want, much like iTunes. And really, thats a damn good position to be in if you ask me. "
Classic Rock is another thing that there's way too much of. I'm not even saying this out of personal preference, but none of the people I ever played RB with (mostly girls 20-23) want to play fucking Allman Brothers Band songs. I'LL play Ramblin' Man all day and night, but no one else will. And they put out like 10 songs for one artist/band and it's like "OK, well Johnny Cash is pretty cool, but the only song everyone knows is Ring of Fire and it's not even there...so great. We'll get Walk the Line and call it a day". I'd rather see them do 5 or 6 songs from different artists/genres every week than to see them put out 8 songs from Bob Marley that are all boring as hell. And again, not even that I don't like Bob Marley, but who wants to play that many Bob Marley songs unless you're a huge fan of Bob Marley? They need to work on getting those fun songs people just like to play and have fun with, stuff like Walking on Sunshine isn't terribly fun to play, but everyone knows it and you can get into it and have fun with it despite the fact that it isn't the greatest song ever. Those are the kinds of songs they need to work on getting out there more. I'm not going to be able to get a group of supremely casual players into jamming on the entire London Calling album, you know what I'm saying?
And again, this isn't out of personal preference. I don't play Rock Band alone, I always ALWAYS play it with a large (5-10) group of people and I'm often the one who drags it around to people's houses and more and more people couldn't give less of a shit, specifically because of the track list. I thought I could at least pull a solid month out of Rock Band 3 thanks to the brand new track list, but it hardly lasted a week. Too much focus put in the wrong places. Music snobs and people who take these games way too f*cking seriously.
" Harmonix should buy the *Hero names from Activision. "
Why? "
Because the "*Hero" name is still a bigger commercial draw than Rock Band and Harmonix is the only company left doing serious work in that area. Until they announce that they're shutting Rock Band down later this year or next year, obviously.
Ain't you quite the optimist? I cannot speak for anyone nor everyone statistically (casual, hardcore, or otherwise), but I personally vouch that Rock Band is light years ahead of the whole "rhythm/music" genre simply because of its extensive and continuous support of DLC as well as multiple complexities of multiplayer and party-play. Not to mention its rabid (and unwavering) fanbase it has acquired over the past 2 or so years (people started realizing that Rock Band can be just as challenging and rewarding as its Guitar Hero predecessors). Not to say you're not right in pointing out the limited scope of the games (the aforementioned "rainbow highway" that dominates the genre), but really I cannot see it failing in the next upcoming years. Who knows- this question could become the next "games=art" debate. "
Yeah but what does that all matter if no one is buying the games? "
Hey, people are still buying them. Just not as much as they used to a few years back. It's kinda like the 2D fighting game situation in the 90s, even though they still have a dedicated fanbase that survives to this day. "
2D fighting games don't have to pay ridiculous licensing fees so they can survive selling fewer copies. So it's not "kinda like the 2D fighting game situation" at all. The economics are entirely different. Guitar Hero is no more and Harmonix was sold for $50 and all its debt. So yeah, what does that all matter if no one is buying the games (in enough quantities to make the games profitable and therefore viable) indeed. "
In the end, there's still people buying the games. It's simply not as high as it was before.
" Harmonix should buy the *Hero names from Activision. "
Why? "
Because the "*Hero" name is still a bigger commercial draw than Rock Band and Harmonix is the only company left doing serious work in that area. Until they announce that they're shutting Rock Band down later this year or next year, obviously. "
Ohk, so with doing this, you're saying they'll generate lots of money, or some sort of money? Have you considered they would actually have to BUY the "*Hero" name (which if Activision were told about this, they'd make them pay up), then, they have to rebrand everything, lots of average people won't know about this change, actual GH fans (the ones that have really dumb excuses for liking it) will get annoyed, and with saying that average people won't know about the change, they'll have to spend money to advertise the change.
So long story short, they'd be fucking stupid to buy the "*Hero" name.
In the end, there's still people buying the games. It's simply not as high as it was before. "
That's not really a great argument. Someone's always going to buy something if you put it on a shelf. The fact of the matter is they lost money making and selling Rock Band 3, so no matter how much they sold, it wasn't enough to be worth it. Music games can't make anyone money, which is the ultimate goal of any commercial video game. So yeah it's a pretty dead genre, financially. It costs a lot of money to make a music game like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, and if they don't sell, why bother making them? It'll just result in Harmonix closing it's doors for good. I'd rather see it try and recover.
In the end, there's still people buying the games. It's simply not as high as it was before. "
That's not really a great argument. Someone's always going to buy something if you put it on a shelf. The fact of the matter is they lost money making and selling Rock Band 3, so no matter how much they sold, it wasn't enough to be worth it. Music games can't make anyone money, which is the ultimate goal of any commercial video game. So yeah it's a pretty dead genre, financially. It costs a lot of money to make a music game like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, and if they don't sell, why bother making them? It'll just result in Harmonix closing it's doors for good. I'd rather see it try and recover. "
In the end, there's still people buying the games. It's simply not as high as it was before. "
That's not really a great argument. Someone's always going to buy something if you put it on a shelf. The fact of the matter is they lost money making and selling Rock Band 3, so no matter how much they sold, it wasn't enough to be worth it. Music games can't make anyone money, which is the ultimate goal of any commercial video game. So yeah it's a pretty dead genre, financially. It costs a lot of money to make a music game like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, and if they don't sell, why bother making them? It'll just result in Harmonix closing it's doors for good. I'd rather see it try and recover. "
Hmm, you know, those are good points. I probably should have thought this out more. Well in any case, I'm just hoping HMX survives long enough to get something out of this.
@Nettacki: Harmonix are really talented developers and it'd be a bummer to see their own market collapse on them. Music games will come back through. I mean if they (being the industry) can pump out as many shooters as they do annually, we will eventually see a renaissance. It's not like there's an infinite amount of game genres out there, eventually a comeback has to happen.
I'm still waiting for free-roaming space trading and combat games to become popular again, though that's... a genuine lost cause I'm afraid. A relic from the glory days of PC gaming.
As long as they do not pull the existing DLC for Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, I'm fine with this. With regards to Tony Hawk also meeting the axe: I would kill for an HD remake of the first 3-4 Tony Hawk games on XBLA/PSN.
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