Analysis Details Massive Failure For Music Games

[Tom Goldman]

Analysis Details Massive Failure For Music Games

Music game sales definitely aren't what they used to be, but exactly how bad are they doing?

The sales of franchises like Guitar Hero [http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Band-3-Xbox-360/dp/B003RS8HG6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1290263873&sr=8-4] once propped the industry up by over a billion dollars in 2008, but for some reason music games have taken a massive hit in years since. A detailed analysis of music game sales from 2008-2010 shows us that consumers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars less than they once were just two years ago, despite the regular release of products in the genre.

Gamasutra analyst Matt Matthews reports that music game sales have dropped by more than a factor of five since 2008. After worldwide sales of music games in 2008 hit $1.6 billion, that number dropped to $870 million in 2009. The holiday shopping season of 2010 will likely have an effect on the current year's sales, but Matthews thinks the genre will need a miracle to go above $400 million.

Neither Guitar Hero nor Rock Band have had much success this year, with Guitar Hero's early sales being up for sale [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104868-Harmonix-Rock-Band-3-Might-Have-Stolen-Guitar-Heros-Thunder] after a similar reception to Rock Band. A possible cause of this huge turn was oversaturation.

Since 2008, the market has seen no less than 14 music game releases from the two primary series alone on various platforms from handheld to console. It doesn't help that other studios jumped in with poorly received [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105472-Staff-Cuts-Decimate-Power-Gig-Studio] products of their own, either. Music games have been everywhere, and their peripherals have been filling up people's homes.

At the core, I personally don't see a huge difference between Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, two games released five years apart, so I can understand why consumers aren't out in force to purchase each new version. In the defense of music game creators, it is a bit of a nightmare to figure out how to distribute a new game that requires a set of peripherals that consumers may or may not already have, but if you ask me the music game genre was terribly mismanaged and this is why a large segment of the audience that was once there just doesn't care anymore.

Source: Gamasutra [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/31641/Analysis_US_Music_Game_Sales_Have_Dropped_Fivefold_Annually_Since_2008.php]


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[sms_117b]

I think the concept was just a phase, phase is now over.

Updating compusory perhiperals (spelling??!?!?!) so you have to buy them aswell just doesn't go down well in a casual market

 

[gl1koz3]

The games of 2008 are totally unplayable now and must be re-bought... jeesh... two years old... man, that's broken on so many levels.

Seriously, real instruments FTW.

 

[Embright]

There is Power Gig, maybe it is the next generation?

 

[tehroc]

I dunno I still have fun playing drums and vocals on Rock Band (at least I'm learning real skills on that those instruments). They definitely had the superior model of DLC over Guitar Hero multiple releases a year. It's a shame the genre didn't have staying power. Rock Band has been one of the few games that has kept my interest over this many years, as it combines two of my favorite past times. Maybe WBI can pick up the Rock Band franchise and revitalize it with their awesome music library.

 

[mattttherman3]

Well, the only game that you can release multiple times without changing it has to have the word Madden in it. Rock band honestly should not have come out with Rock Band 2 and Beatles, should have waited until they did their realistic guitar.

 

[Sneaklemming]

"for some reason" - really? It would be that they over-saturated the market with what was a gimmick to begin with?

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

So essentially, Guitar Hero/Activision are to blame for the apparent death of the music game genre.
Move over, Atari, Activision is on its way!

 

[Irridium]

This is what happens when you put out the same damn product multiple times year after year.

People can take only so much shit. Be it plastic crap or otherwise.

 

[Atros81]

Your comment about Atari is telling... as it seems like it's precisely the the thing that killed Atari 25+ years ago, over-saturating the market. Let's just hope it stays limited to the 'Music' games rather then carry out into other portions of the market (like, oh... FPS for example?).

 

[Loonerinoes]

The one thing I don't get is...why does this suddenly begin to suck big time while things like EA Sports, essentially the same formula as seen here (same crap over and over again), keep doing relatively well? I mean...wherein lies the difference? The marketing approach? The business deals? or merely the music fan audience being more bored easily than the sports one?

 

[JoJo]

I think music games were mainly just a gimmic which a lots of people bought one of, had some fun with and then moved on to other games. Simply adding new songs is unlikely to bring many players who have otherwise had their fill back. Plus requiring expensise extras to play a game is never really helpful for sales.

 

[Outlaw Torn]

Of those 14 games released since 2008, 300 of them were from Activision. The genre took a huge dive because it was being milked harder than a succulent cow, so gamers' plastic gee-tars weren't even cold yet before the next iteration came out without anything worthwhile added to it except a slightly different controller and different songs.

I imagine that more money would have been made if they had produced fewer standalone games and focussed on DLC to add new songs in to existing games. Obviously a new game would be needed to beef up the graphics and add new features, but you don't need to do that more than once a year and become your own competition.

 

[XT inc]

Because all the songs I want cost so much to play. Like for 9 songs I can buy an entire game off steam or used at block buster.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Well, yeah. Market over-saturation. What did you expect, publishers?

Sad to see that the games keep getting better, but, since the songlists are obviously not, that's a dead end.

I like the rhythm game genre and am sad to see it so full of stuff, but, that's what was going to happen anyway.

 

[Jumplion]

I don't know where the sudden hate for the music genre came from, didn't we already get over the "Play a real instrument! Gosh!" phase of these games?

I personally love playing Rock Band with my friends, it's always a great time and occasionally we buy a new song or two off the RBNetwork of 2,000+ songs and we always have a great time.

I highly doubt that the music genre is all of a sudden going to COLLAPSE just because it's making a little less money from the big boom when it came out. Lose prominence in the industry? Sure. Complete and utter destruction? Well, how's Dance Central doing?

 

[Atmos Duality]

This was bound to happen.
The licensing fees alone must have skyrocketed once the record companies realized the gold mine they were sitting on, and really, most of the best songs (for the genre) were absorbed by Guitar Heroes 1, 2 and 3.

Combine that with the general stagnation of the genre, and you have a proverbial runaway train destined for destruction.

I mean, it's not like these games are difficult to make/code otherwise.

 

[Tim Latshaw]

The one thing I don't get is...why does this suddenly begin to suck big time while things like EA Sports, essentially the same formula as seen here (same crap over and over again), keep doing relatively well? I mean...wherein lies the difference? The marketing approach? The business deals? or merely the music fan audience being more bored easily than the sports one?

I think the main reason lies in the mindsets and motivations of the audiences. Many sports fans are dedicated to one or several teams in a sport and engage in a yearly cycle with them. This, of course, is timed with the releases of Madden or other sports titles, which have updated rosters, among other things. Buying the newest sports game ensures a fan has his or her own little, up-to-date version of their favorite team(s).

Music fans, on the other hand, don't necessarily want the newest and latest. Most are happy to play old favorites from their beloved bands, and even if they didn't, there are simply too many acts out there to keep a significant number of people happy each year. That's my take, anyway.