MTV won Beatles rights with 'flexibility,' songs won't be Rock Band-compatible

by Ross Miller on Nov 3rd 2008 12:58PM

With such a dearth of information surrounding MTV's Beatles music game, we're trying to keep track of all the little details that have unfurled since last Thursday's revelation. According to sources close to Reuters, MTV Networks won the rights because it showed "more flexibility" than Guitar Hero World Tour publisher Activision Blizzard, whose CEO Bobby Kotick has repeatedly asserted that music publishers should be paying his company for inclusion in game.

That flexibility, we suspect, has to do with Rock Band branding, or the lack thereof. Although we've known that the Beatles game would share headlines with MTV/Harmonix's successful music series, Reuters notes rather matter-of-factly that "none of the Fab Four's songs will be available for download on the existing Rock Band franchise." (The recently-released AC-DC Track Pack allows you to transfer songs to your hard drive to play in Rock Band.) Given there's still quite a bit of time until the game's planned "holiday 2009" release, we'll hold out hope that Apple Corps changes its tune.

Source

Tags: apple-corps, beatles, beatles-game, harmonix, mtv

Reader Comments (54)

Boo.

Agree

As cool as I think the Beatles game would be.

I'm going to skip it because of this news.

I love RB but sorry Harmonix...

This won't necessarily keep me from buying it, I'm still curious to see what they do with it. But I'm disappointed.

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised.

Why be upset with HMX? You wanted playable Beatles music, this was the only way it was going to happen.

"none of the Fab Four's songs will be available for download on the existing Rock Band franchise."

They won't be available for purchase from the Rock Band Music store, but I'm not sure that's the same as saying none of the songs can be exported off of the disc to Rock Band.

Either way, I'm still interested. Aerosmith and AC/DC do not have a deep and varied enough library to get me to pay full price for a single-band game, but The Beatles do.

And it's good to see Activision getting its due. Bobby Kotick thought it would be great to get in a public bitching match with Time Warner about royalty rates, and announce that their music is nearly worthless.

Harmonix, on the other hand, has been treating both large and small artists with respect, and keeping licensing negotiations private.

Over the long term, which company will artists and music publishers want to keep doing business with?

As long as I don't have to buy new instruments I'm still interested.

I just want to cherry pick a few Beatles' songs.
Now they won't see a freaking penny from me.

I think they'll be up to their ears and eyes in pennies from the blue suburban skies.

meanwhile back...

Is this really that bad? So long as it's compatible with RB instruments, all you have to do is pop in another disc.

For a Beatles fan like myself, this will be awesome. I can play their songs without learning a real instrument. Go me!

Not that bad, but still, it's the type of game where you're like, "hey I want to play a single beatles song!", so you would never switch it over just for a single song.

That's fair. Although personally, if Master of Puppets were on GH:WT, I would have bought it for just that one song.

Indeed, Trapped Under Ice was a bizarre choice. Good song but, personally I'd far rather have played For Whom the Bell Tolls, Seek and Destroy or Master of Puppets.

When you've got a bunch of friends over and just miraculously completed Painkiller and Visions with everyone on expert, what's the chance of changing the disk and fighting your way through the interface to reconstitute the band members just because someone wants to play 'Hey Jude'?

Well that frees up another slot in my holiday 2009 shopping list. Guess I'll be picking up Halo: Recon after all.

I am the biggest Rockband fanboy around, and this is just awful, I won't buy a stupid stand alone game from ANY artist (except Iron Maiden...), it was a stupid idea when Activision did it and it's stupid when Harmonix/MTV does it. This is being set up to fail and will have repercussions for Rockband and future deals when it does. Horrible decision.

I hate apple music, they are one of the many examples of why the music industry is self destructing.

Apparently you don't think its such a stupid idea...as you'd be willing to buy an Iron Maiden exclusive disc.

So really, it's not so much that you don't like the idea as much as it is you don't like this specific band getting those rights.

No, I hate the idea, I would make an exception for Iron Maiden simply because they are one of my favorite bands, that doesn't make the idea any better, just means I'm stupid when it comes to certain things just like everyone else alive.

This is why some people would buy a Beatles lunchbox when they NEVER take lunch anywhere, a lunchbox would be useless to that person, but slap a band they really like on there and suddenly its a must buy.

Well, that doesn't rule out that you won't be able to export the songs to the hard drive so you can play them in Rock Band 2. Still disappointing though.

Do not want!

Okay, so then..

DO NOT BUY!

You know, I was mad about this at first, but now, I don't care. I'm just so happy that I'll get to play a bunch of Beatles songs...unless they force me to use the RB guitar. If that's the case, then screw it.

I think this is really stupid. Sure, it's the Beatles, but god, they don't have to be such dicks about it.
granted, it might get more sales by not being branded to any one franchise. I just hope it plays the same as RB and is compatible with all the instruments we already have.

I just think it's going to be rather annoying swapping discs every time I want to play a Beatles song. I'd rather have them with the rest of my music, and not play only Beatles for as long as the disc is in.

bleh. jerks. still good news, but it shouldn't have to be this way.

Day one purchase if the songs were importable into Rock Band. Since they are not, day never purchase. Sorry. Plus, the Beatles are amazing artists, but I do not need an entire game for just them (same with Aerosmith, AC/DC, Metallica, and others). A few songs as DLC would be fine. In that case they would get some cash. Now, though, no. Sorry.

If you want to play one Beatles song in first place,you'll probably end up playing more anyway because they're addicting.Now get off your lazy ass and switch that bloody disc.

Gamers have it to easy with all those Blu-Rays and Installs nowadays...

PS: The internet really makes me cry sometimes.On Lady Madonna Youtube Video, retarded twelve-year-olds are arguing that Jonas Brothers are better then Beatles :(

The world would really be a better place if you had to pass an IQ test before entering cyberspace...

EXCATLY. The types of people who would only want to "play one or two Beatles songs" are not the target audience for this product anyway, as they are likely the same people who wouldn't buy this (or AC/DC) as an exportable disc because they don't want the full content.

While this is starting to sound more and more like GH:A with each annoucement, that game for me was at least a solid rental. I'm less likely to purchase this now that I know it'll never find its way into Rock Band, but I'll still give it a rent to play through some Beatles tunes.

Surviving the internet, step 1: Do not give heed to the opinions of the uninformed, biased, oblivious, or just plain stupid; you'll be less likely to be bothered by the plethora of moron who make their idiotic thoughts heard by shouting them over the crowd.

You would think all the retards would be arguing on the 'Ob-la-di Ob-la-da' video threads.

Hold up. So you're telling me it's idiotic to not buy something that should have been included in the main game, and yet it's smart to buy a stand alone rock band title(Oh I'm sorry, it totally doesn't have the Rock band name. That means it's going to be a different game amirite??) like a bunch of fucking sheep simply because it's The Beatles?

What kind of fucked up world do you live in?

Perhaps you should learn the difference between then and than before you start insulting people on thier IQ level.

I really do not understand how people can mix up these words. It's not like your/you're. Then and than have a completely different pronunciation.

It would be kind of like mixing up it and at.

this is awesome...the Beatles are worth a stand alone game... everyone quit your sniffling

They aren't compatible with my dollars then either.

Go piss up a rope, MTV Games.

(to be fair, I don't really like the Beatles much anyway, but I would have bought a few songs I'm sure)

I'm sure that after the money starts pouring in from the sales of the beatles game we'll see beatles songs available in Rock Band as well. People are always unsure about video-games until they give them a chance, it will be the same for the Beatles peeps. We'll also see way more than 45 songs. It might not be until "The Beatles, The Game 2" but their whole catalog, starting with the quarymen will come and it will be available in rock band (how much moving them to rock band will cost... that's another story).

"(The recently-released AC-DC Track Pack allows you to transfer songs to your hard drive to play in Rock Band.) "

Has this come out already? Or did you mean the recently announced soon to be released?

The AC/DC track pack was released yesterday, Nov. 2nd. It is only available at Walmart (and Sam's Clubs if you have those). $39.88 at Walmart and $35.77 at Sam's Clubs.

Some stores have decided not to sell it yet though, a friend of mine went to his local store and they wouldn't sell it to him, claiming the ads all over the store had the wrong date and it didn't actually come out till Tuesday. So, YMMV.

They better make the game really really Beatlesy to justify their own game - unless they make the whole thing look like Yellow Submarine, it seems like a show of arrogance on The Beatles' part and a waste of time on mine.

RE: all the bitching about non-interactivity with the RB platform... It's THE BEATLES. Hasn't their status as the most influential and arguably best band in the history of ever entitled them to some arrogance about how they get to have their tunes represented in the market?

(Inevitable reply: "But what have they done for me LATELY?")

would it be nice if you could export into rock band? yes.

Is it a big deal? Not nearly as big a one as tards are making it out to be.

if you want to play the game, you pop it in and play it. When you're done, if you want to play RB2, you put that in and play it, just like you would with ANY two other games. It's not a Rock Band game, add-on or track pack. It's A Beatles video game.

and yes, they deserve to have a game about their music done on their terms. EVeryone seems to think that because they want it their way, they should have it their way, but people are stupid. This is why we have people voting for the guy who is promising to give them the most free shit.

'This is why we have people voting for the guy who is promising to give them the most free shit.'

Yeah because that's the only reason to vote for Obama - "free shit". What a dumb thing to say; go back into your hole and live in your imaginary world where the economy is full of sunshine and rainbows 24/7 and there are no wars, just hugs and chocolate chip cookies.

"It's not a Rock Band game, add-on or track pack. It's A Beatles video game."

Do you honestly believe that Harmonix are really going to change the gameplay that much that it warrants another game and not keep it the same knowing full well that people would buy it?
hahahhahhahahahhaah!!!

Do you really believe everything game developers tell you?

I'll never understand the Beatles appeal. I'll listen to their music and I have their #1s CD, but other than that, I don't get this fascination with the Beatles. *shrug*

Or Elvis either, can't forget to lump him in there also. =P

Harmonix have proven themselves at coming up with great, original music games.

They're pretty much announcing a new franchise/IP and you're all bitching?

FUCK THE BEATLES. If Rock Band compatibles, bow to the Beatles.

I hope this works out for Harmonix, but I'll have a hard time justifying bothering with a second disc. I prefer it all be in one platform. This is not and I'm not into disc swapping. I play RB only as a party title and parties grind to a halt when you disc swap.

Email the responsible parties: jeff.castaneda@mtvstaff.com, mariana.agathoklis@mtvstaff.com, mhanks@shorefire.com, bgilmartin@shorefire.com

I just sent them this message:

Hello,

I buy nearly every Rock Band and Guitar Hero game and am very excited about playing Beatles music. But Rock Band is such a great party tool that I have no inclination to change disks anymore. Rock Band is a platform, which has better gameplay features than any GH title and a growing library of songs to integrate into a continuous songlist, which makes it far more fun and useful to play than Guitar Hero's marketing strategy. If the Beatles' "game" is a separate game from Rock Band, if I have to change disks to play them instead of mixing Beatles' songs into my Rock Band experience, I will not buy it. Not until it's worth $15 in the bargain bin, anyway.

Thank you,

my name

Dude, they need to "clear the pennies from their eyes".

I'm not even going to be nice about this. Anyone who reads this and still thinks this is a great idea and are going to buy this first day because DURRR HURRR IT'S TEH BEATLES, congratulations you are the perfect type of person that Harmonix wishes to sell this game to. Tools. It was annoying when Activision did it with Aerosmith(and soon Metallica) and it's going to be annoying when Harmonix has their own brand of games that focuses on a specific band. What makes it even worse is the fact that Harmonix initially promised that they were going to make Rock Band a platform. And yet Rock Band 2 came sooner than expected, and now we're getting this shit.
The only way Harmonix can truly justify the existance of this game is if the gameplay is so radically different from Rock Band that it warrents a new game entirely(which they won't since it would be stupid to change the game mechanics). Or if it's between the $25-30.

"available for download on the existing Rock Band franchise."

What better way to get you to buy Rock Band 3 next Xmas? Rock Band 3 doesn't exist yet.

If you can't export the disc to RB I can't imagine it selling well. I know that why I and especially my gf would play Beatles, we sure aren't playing ONLY Beatles.

And to think that for every game sold, half the money goes to Michael Jackson.

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MTV won Beatles rights with 'flexibility,' songs won't be Rock Band-compatible

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