14 DAY TRIAL // Analysts have stated that the music genre is one of the main reasons behind the decrease in overall videogame sales in 2009 but Activision, which is the publisher of the Guitar Hero franchise, begs to differ. The company is saying that DJ Hero, the music game spinoff focused on hip hop and electronic culture, is the biggest new intellectual property of 2009, which means that it has brought in the most revenue.
The paradox is that DJ Hero did not manage to break into the videogames sales chart compiled by the NPD Group in the month of its release and is estimated to have sold about 350,000 units in North America in October and November.
By comparison, Borderlands, the first person shooter with role playing aspects created by Gearbox, sold more than 2 million units during the same time frame. DJ Hero has the advantage of price. Its regular edition, packed with a DJ peripheral, sold initially for 119.99 dollars, while a special Renegade edition was priced at 199.99. This basically means that the game only needs to have sold about half of what Borderlands manages in order to be the “biggest” in Activision's terms.
Bobby Kotick, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Activision, stated that “DJ Hero has transformed music gaming by marrying an innovative turntable controller and exhilarating gameplay with the biggest artists and incredible music from around the world. Consumers and critics agree that DJ Hero is one of the best music games ever created and further establishes Guitar Hero as the premier franchise of its kind.”
Activision has already confirmed that it is working on DJ Hero 2, which is set to arrive in time for the holidays this year. Considering the fact that the game will not be packed with another peripheral, it will need to move many more copies in order to have the same success as the first.