Music Game Genre On the Decline

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday July 22, 2009 @05:01AM from the wait-until-theremin-hero-comes-out-for-natal dept.

After enjoying several years of popularity, music games seem to be drawing less and less interest from gamers lately. Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles have been conspicuously absent from a list of the 20 best-selling software titles in the past two months, and one report estimates that revenue from those games has dropped by almost half. Analyst Jesse Divnich suggests that there's no longer much room for dramatic improvements in game play, saying, "it would be erroneous to assume that any franchise or brand can grow unless it brings something new to the table. After a while, utility to the gamer will diminish and he/she will surely move on." Nevertheless, the companies are happy to continue to rely on DLC sales while working on new releases. Harmonix is showing off a trailer and a partial set list for The Beatles: Rock Band, and Neversoft has detailed a number of new features and tracks for Guitar Hero 5.

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Re:Bagpipe Hero? by Freetardo+Jones · 2009-07-22 05:32 · Score: 4, Informative

Way to rip off The Onion.
Juris-my-diction? Read the article. by tepples · 2009-07-22 05:42 · Score: 4, Informative

In the article, Matt Matthews at Gamasutra wrote:

Gamasutra has discovered that U.S. Guitar Hero/Rock Band revenues are down 49% year on year, as discounted hardware and over 20 SKUs flood the market.
Anonymous Coward wrote:

America isn't the only country.
The article is about sales in the United States.