DJ Hero Dev: "F*cking Mad" to Call Game a Failure

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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DJ Hero Dev: "F*cking Mad" to Call Game a Failure



As slow-burning rhythm game DJ Hero steams towards 2 million units sold, the title's creative director thinks anyone who calls it a failure is "f*cking mad."

Last fall, DJ Hero saw a sell over a million units [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/96108-Brutal-Legend-DJ-Hero-Ring-Up-Disappointing-Sales].

With sales of the title now steadily creeping towards two million, developer FreeStyleGames' creative director Jamie Jackson thinks that they've had the last laugh. Speaking with Videogamer [http://www.videogamer.com/news/f_king_mad_to_call_dj_hero_a_failure_says_dev.html], Jackson gave his opinion on the game's perceived failure in no uncertain terms.

"We're at over 1.6 [million], pushing towards 2 [million] now, which is cool," he said. "If anyone had said me to me when I was starting my career in the industry that you'd work on a game that sells that many copies and it would be considered a failure I'd have said 'are you f*cking mad?' And I still probably stand by that now."

A common criticism of DJ Hero that Jackson does agree with involves the game's price point. The initial launch price of $120 was much too high, he thinks, and sales of the game rose whenever the price was slashed. "We definitely had spikes around when there were price drops," he admitted. "My own personal opinion is that it was too expensive when it was first released, and we're addressing that this year - it's going to be cheaper when it comes out this year."

It didn't help, of course, that the economic recession was in full swing during the game's launch. "So, you know, people were suddenly watching their pennies and then the game came out and 1) it was new and 2) it was expensive."

Given that DJ Hero was generally well-received by critics (including yours truly) and most everyone who actually played it, I think that Jackson is well within his rights to be frustrated that people think his game was a failure, don't you?

DJ Hero 2 is slated for release October 22nd with a fairly awesome-looking lineup of musicians [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102083-A-Whopping-108-Artist-Strong-List-Revealed-for-DJ-Hero-2] under its belt.

(Videogamer [http://www.videogamer.com/news/f_king_mad_to_call_dj_hero_a_failure_says_dev.html])

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Cherry Cola

Your daddy, your Rock'n'Rolla
Jun 26, 2009
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I'll stop calling it a failure when he includes Run DMC to the game.

It doesn't matter how much money you make, if your turntable rhythm game doesn't have Run DMC I will never regard it as a success!

[sub]Though the game does have Grandmaster Flash, so it deserves a little love at least[/sub]

EDIT: This thread needs more awesome!

 

robandall

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Jan 25, 2010
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Great game but I won't be buying the second unless I hear that the turntable has been made more reliable (I'm on my second and it's playing up).
 

sketch_zeppelin

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Jan 22, 2010
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well i'm glad to see the game sold well enough to warent a sequal. I haven't played the thing my self but its nice to see them continue the hero franchise into other genres and while i'm not a big fan of hip-hop or rap, i do enjoy techno so i may one day pick this up.
 

Kapol

Watch the spinning tails...
May 2, 2010
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I really enjoyed DJ Hero, and thought it was something fresh compared to Guitar Hero 51. The music was interesting and new and the game is challanging without making you feel bad about playing it. I personally hope they keep the no failing thing in the next one.
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Dosnt help its hip hop...wont touch that with a barge poll!
 

GodKlown

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Dec 16, 2009
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I find it surprising at all that they want to continue to make newer versions of these instrument games. I would have thought by now that everyone had their fill of them and it isn't like they are bringing anything new to the forefront to encourage people to want to re-invest in the game/equipment.
Really, I think the only thing that DJ Hero really has going for it from a marketing standpoint is that there isn't a clone of it out there yet. As long as they learned their lesson about pricing it to match interest, then the second game should do as well as the first one.
 

shogunblade

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Apr 13, 2009
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The game wasn't too bad, actually, playing "Another One Bites The Funk" (Queen and Daft Punk) at Wal-Mart wasn't too bad, and it certainly felt less embarrassing playing a giant record player in public than a guitar (I don't know why, considering I am a guitarist in real life).

Oh well, I would have put down money for it if I had the cash. I still might.
 

Sixties Spidey

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Jan 24, 2008
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Niche or not niche, it was actually fun. That's the difference. I considered it Guitar Hero without skill, but playing more of it, well it's deeper than that. it's more about technique than anything, and I enjoyed the novelty of it. I would be interested in getting the second one and trying out the dual turn table idea.
 

SenseOfTumour

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Jul 11, 2008
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IT's not so much about Dj's being niche, more that pretty much everyone who's heard rock music has air guitared along to it, whereas DJ stuff, it just doesn't have the mass appeal, there's not the 'front man of the band' thing.

However, for the 1.6 million who could get past that, I'm pleased to hear how much fun it is, if they'd released for PS2 I'd have bought it, but I can't justify a new console for it.

EDIT: before I'm lept on and people go 'lol PS2 why would they waste their time', it's got a far larger user base than the 3 current consoles, music games aren't really stretching the hardware, and so many of the more recent PS2 sales have been to buy games like GH and Singstar, Buzz, and other party games, so I think it would have sold well for this ancient format.
 

Digikid

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Dec 29, 2007
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Sorry devs....but ANY of the "Hero" games are horrible. May as well just kill the franchise.

I have seen a friend try DJ Hero at his house. It was bad....REALLY bad.