Harmonix: "Maybe People Are Ready" for More Rock Band

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

Harmonix: "Maybe People Are Ready" for More Rock Band

Though nothing concrete has been announced, Harmonix's Nick Chester acknowledges that fans are always asking "Where's Rock Band 4?"

It's been just about four years since the last Rock Band retail title was released, although the series was supported by weekly downloadable content until a common inquiry [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122857-American-Pie-Marks-The-End-For-Rock-Band-DLC].

"We get this question all the time no matter what we announce... 'Hey we're making Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved!' 'Uh, where's Rock Band 4?' 'Hey we made a twin stick shooter with a team of less than 10 people!' 'Great, but where's Rock Band 4?'" According to Chester, the enthusiasm for the series has not died down; "...there are literally hundreds of thousands of unique people still playing the game monthly." In fact, at GameStop's recent manager's conference, employees of the game retailer told Chester "people are asking us about Rock Band all the time." "If people are hearing that at retail, maybe there's something going on. Maybe people are ready for it again," Chester added.

Even if Harmonix was to announce Rock Band 4 tomorrow--which it's not--there would be the tiny problem of compatibility to work out. Since 2010, three new consoles have launched, but gamers may not be thrilled about purchasing more costly, space-hogging instrument peripherals. "We'd do everything in our power to make sure there's compatibility with those instruments if we were to make another Rock Band game," Chester told Forbes. "We've already committed to building this huge library of downloadable content that we'd hope to be able to bring to another generation of consoles. We've already done that a little with Dance Central Spotlight, and we know it's possible. That thinking carries over to the instruments as well."

While the talk of Rock Band 4 is purely hypothetical at the moment, enthusiasts of the series can rejoice that Harmonix is at least thinking about it. Hold on to those plastic instruments, would-be rockers; you may have another use for them eventually.

Source: Forbes [http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/10/19/harmonix-offers-a-long-satisfying-answer-to-the-question-wheres-rock-band-4/]

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[Laser Priest]

I feel like between all of the Rock Bands, Guitar Heroes and DLCs for each of those, they've probably gone through every song. Ever.

Still though, even if they aren't the greatest of games, Rock Band was always something fun just to have as a party game.

 

[kenu12345]

I just hope that if they do bring it back that they make it more like 2. Rock Band 3 was of shockingly low quality to me. Alot of the game modes and vs modes were removed for no apparent reason and the way they had set of harmonies in comparison to Green Day: Rock Band was horrendous

 

[Braedan]

Maybe for twenty bucks. Rock band or Guitar Hero were never $60-value games. They were more akin to minigames from real games.

 

[Something Amyss]

If they could make the old instruments work (I need a new fake guitar, but my pro guitar, drums, keys and mic all work perfectly) and there was DLC compatibility, this would be an instant buy for me.

 

[Kinitawowi]

Get Bat Out Of Hell on Pro Keys and I'll buy it yesterday.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

What I'd really like to see, once the Steam Machines are finally out of beta, is them somehow getting the rights to the franchise out from under the thumb of EA and releasing a Steam edition just called Rock Band: [subtitle] that offers support for all the features that were in all three games and instead of coming with a stock lineup of songs, just comes with a voucher for like, 40 tracks and lets players build their own library. And instead of any more sequels, they can just keep it supported with patches.

 

[Vivi22]

Honestly, I feel like in a world where Rocksmith exists, Rock Band is largely obsolete. I don't think the market for it will ever be as big as it was in it's prime and, in the end, a game that helps you actually learn an instrument is cooler than one that lets you pretend to play.

 

[EyeReaper]

No, I really don't want a new Rock Band. I'd rather have a remastered Rock Band 1/2/LEGO, but for newer gens because the only console I have now is a WiiU.

Same with Guitar Hero, really. They've already burned through the classic, fun, songs. I can't see a newer version upstaging the catalogs already offered (especially considering the vast amounts of DLC.) A "Rock Band's Greatest Hits" would be fantastic.

 

[Sight Unseen]

What I'd really like to see, once the Steam Machines are finally out of beta, is them somehow getting the rights to the franchise out from under the thumb of EA and releasing a Steam edition just called Rock Band: [subtitle] that offers support for all the features that were in all three games and instead of coming with a stock lineup of songs, just comes with a voucher for like, 40 tracks and lets players build their own library. And instead of any more sequels, they can just keep it supported with patches.

EA Never owned the rights to the game, they were just the distributor of the game. MTV Games (and Viacom) were the official publishers of the game, but Harmonix has since bought itself (and I believe all of it's IPs) back from MTV since Viacom wanted out of the games industry. HMX is, IIRC almost completely self owned (there's a smallish investment firm that owns part of their company from the buyout) and still owns most if not all of its IPs.

Maybe for twenty bucks. Rock band or Guitar Hero were never $60-value games. They were more akin to minigames from real games.

Speak for yourself sir. As someone who has literally invested close to $2000 if not more into the series in the forms of games, expansions, instruments, and DLC I firmly disagree that these games are not worth a $60 price tag.

I feel like between all of the Rock Bands, Guitar Heroes and DLCs for each of those, they've probably gone through every song. Ever.

Still though, even if they aren't the greatest of games, Rock Band was always something fun just to have as a party game.

You're either severely overestimating the number of songs in Rock Band or severely underestimating the total number of songs available. Even though Rock Band managed to release over 3000 songs during its run... It's still nowhere even remotely close to having every song available. Even if you consider only the "good" songs by only the well known bands they still have only a very small fraction of the songs.

Most notably absent is anything at all by Led Zeppelin, U2 or Pink Floyd.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

I would gladly buy a new set of fake instruments, I still have a wall on which my current ones hang. The biggest issue on going next gen for me would be parting with my 500+ song collection which would DEFINITELY not carry over. Call me crazy but I hope the next RB comes as a streaming service that provides everyone with ALL available songs.....I would pay monthly for it.

Also I hope they don't play favorites with Microsoft like they did with previous incarnations, because I haven't got an XBone.

 

[Sight Unseen]

I would gladly buy a new set of fake instruments, I still have a wall on which my current ones hang. The biggest issue on going next gen for me would be parting with my 500+ song collection which would DEFINITELY not carry over. Call me crazy but I hope the next RB comes as a streaming service that provides everyone with ALL available songs.....I would pay monthly for it.

Also I hope they don't play favorites with Microsoft like they did with previous incarnations, because I haven't got an XBone.

I would also be bummed if my 800 song collection didn't transfer, but they have said that they'll try their best to make sure your collections can come over if its at all possible. I've said it before though and I stand by it that the only way that Microsoft will ever get my money for an Xbox One was if Rock Band 4 came out and the previous songs somehow carried over to the next gen (and it wasn't possible to transfer my song licenses to a PS4 which I also don't own yet but will eventually get for HMX's other game Amplitude)

And I don't think that they deliberately played favorites with Microsoft so much as that Xbox provided better tools to do what they wanted than the Playstation. The Rock Band Network wouldn't have been possible without the framework that Microsoft had set up. The infrastructure wasn't there on the PS3 to do the same thing.

If Rock Band 4 is a thing though, then I'll be all over it. I'm not too worried about instrument compatibility since I mainly play drums and have an ION kit which I think should work with either platform without too much trouble (may need to buy an adapter of some kind)

 

[smithy_2045]

Honestly, I feel like in a world where Rocksmith exists, Rock Band is largely obsolete. I don't think the market for it will ever be as big as it was in it's prime and, in the end, a game that helps you actually learn an instrument is cooler than one that lets you pretend to play.

Rock Band 3, which came out 12-24 months before Rocksmith depending on where you live, had that functionality in pro mode.

 

[She-Pudding]

This was always a go-to activity for just hanging out with my friends. We all discover new music, we all learn to tolerate each other's crappy music, and I get my shy-ass friends to sing. But at a certain point, no matter what new songs are released, it all felt a little old. I don't know if I'd buy a 'Rock Band 4' if it's just Rock Band 3 with new costumes and a few new songs. I've played that game.

 

[Scrythe]

If there's only one thing I can thank Harmonix for, is that the old USB Guitar Hero controllers allow me to play Frets on Fire without having to hold my keyboard like a complete fool.

Honestly though, the Rock Band games still makes a hell of a party game, and those mics were nicer than they had any right to be.

I've actually considered getting an interface so I can use my RB3 keytar as a MIDI controller, as my Axion was stolen and I can't afford to drop $300 on another one.

 

[Vivi22]

Honestly, I feel like in a world where Rocksmith exists, Rock Band is largely obsolete. I don't think the market for it will ever be as big as it was in it's prime and, in the end, a game that helps you actually learn an instrument is cooler than one that lets you pretend to play.

Rock Band 3, which came out 12-24 months before Rocksmith depending on where you live, had that functionality in pro mode.

True, but having your only choices be buying a controller that uses buttons instead of fretting actual strings, or buying a specific Squier strat to interface with the game isn't nearly as good, or as versatile, as being able to plug in any guitar. I know guys with larger hands like mine can have trouble fretting notes with the thinner Fender style necks, so being able to plug in my Ibanez or a Les Paul style guitar is a god send. It also means players aren't compromising the guitar they want to play the game.

And even still, I find Rocksmith just does a great job at providing useful lessons, minigames, etc, to get you playing guitar well. I'm not sure what Rock Band could really add. They could certainly probably come up with some different stuff to help you practice, I'm just not sure they could do it any better. Not to say I'm necessarily 100% right. Maybe they can find a niche to fill there, but I'm not sure what it'd be.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

What I'd really like to see, once the Steam Machines are finally out of beta, is them somehow getting the rights to the franchise out from under the thumb of EA and releasing a Steam edition just called Rock Band: [subtitle] that offers support for all the features that were in all three games and instead of coming with a stock lineup of songs, just comes with a voucher for like, 40 tracks and lets players build their own library. And instead of any more sequels, they can just keep it supported with patches.

Yes, please, Rock Band: Steam Edition. I kinda gave up on buying more new rhythm games like that when Rock Band came out because I didn't want to invest more in instruments and DLC songs that would be tied to a specific console. That's what I've always hoped for but don't ever really expect to see. It would be much more compatible with my setup (and with my lack of any current plans to ever get any new consoles).

 

[shogunblade]

I really want some Electric Light Orchestra in my Rock Band Library, that's what I want, if we have to have a Rock Band 4, I'll pay money for some Electric Light Orchestra, that's all I want. Make is a ELO Rock Band standalone, I'll take it!

 

[CaitSeith]

I love to sit down and smash those fake drums and stomp in that plastic pedal all day (and I haven't played since Rock Band 2). In other words: my ass is ready!