Music genre revenue down, EA expects Rock Band to lose $400m in 2009

Of course its due to oversaturation.

RB2 gets 2 spots, bundle and game.

GH still sells GH2/A duel pack, GH3, Gh3 Bundle, GHWT, GHWT Bundle, GHM, and GH:DS and then more GH:DS. Then they have a spot in PS2 for a collection of 1,2, and 80's....

They just take up way too much space, the average person can't see through the crap of guitar hero.

saturation was inevitable. RB at this point lives on in DLC, of which I already have 98 tracks personally. We've so many options as to what we can play now that it isn't necessary to buy everything on the market. I could have, for example, bought GH:WT instead of all the RB DLC I've bought. But I figured that $60 would be better spent on the DLC. I'm sure many others figured the same way.

I will buy the Beatles game, but I do not feel it is a legitimate sequel to RB2 (which harmonix has never claimed it to be). Again, I think RB lives on in DLC, as should any rhythm-based game. Sometimes a new sequel is just unnecessary.

Are they actually losing the money? Are they selling the game at a loss? Did they spend more on music rights than they're getting in sales? Or are they just under their earlier predictions? If it's the latter, then they've lost nothing.

the genre's evolution is done. We went from a guitar to an entire band set. that's all you can do, unless rockband 3 is going to include a plastic string section.

If they were actually more competent at selling the damned things outside of the states, maybe they'd have a more successful product!

I guess people are only willing to buy a certain number of plastic toy guitars.

Who, who'd have thought.

My Daughter used to play both GH and RB all the time but lost interest..I don't think she has played since Feb. I always thought it was a fad myself.

The games are too expensive. $170+ in the States, let alone the outrageous pricing in places like Australia for these games is a problem. Sure, they sold millions, and they'll continue to sell, but they need to lower their prices to grab new customers, and stick to standard designs and guarantee compatibility between games (and better synchronized shipping dates for anyone not in the US).

If the genre continues shipping out more expensive bundles, new generations of games with minor changes (selling for $60 stand-alone), and peripherals with added functionality for the sake of being different, breaking compatibility between games, then we're left with the music rhythm genre market eating itself alive, with EA and Activision trying to separate their customers for the sake of winner-take-all, when in reality, they're safer sharing the field, if no one is a clear winner (or dignified loser).

There needs to be cheaper games, standards (5 buttons, strum, wah is all you need really) for future games and 3rd party companies, complete compatibility between game controllers, better outside-the-US release dates and pricing, and an iTunes type market that encourages artists to release GH/RB DLC in sync with their albums online (ie. below the "Download Album" button for an album online, you'll see a "Download X DLC for Y" button too), and let artists release DLC content by itself, or bundled with their albums even (through some kind of promo code).

Well... all i know is that i buy a psn card every week to get a few rock band songs and got rock band 1 (full bundle w.e its called special edition) and bought rock band 2 disk only and got the unlock code so i can transfer all my songs from rb1 to 2 and will NOT be buying Rb: beetles but WILL be buying the lego edition. They dont need a rock band 3 just DLC 4 evr but i would buy it if they put one out (as long as i can transfer all my 1/2 songs to that). Rock band 1 instruments all the way!!!

EA and Activision just got way too greedy too fast.

I will buy Rock Band 2 immediately when they release it on my platform (PS2) in my region (PAL) with all new Instruments.

But I guess they don't want my money...
So theres no oversaturation here. I'm more like starving, because I'm still playing Guitar Hero 3 because EA/Harmonix obviously don't give a shit...

400 million huh? how can you lose what you never had?

Hey David, EA willnot lose 400m, they think that they're going to earn 400m LESS than last year. Which is VERY different than saying that they'll lose 400m.

Please correct the article :)

So, relying on dlc isn't working? Is Guitar Hero going to post these kinds of losses? Personally I prefer Rock Band, but I can't buy new tracks every week just to make sure MTV and EA have cash on hand.

Totally agree with this, this has lost all its luster now. I hope EA comes up with a nice strategy to get over the losses.

I hope this means the bundle prices will go down that would be insnely great