14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that video game developer Harmonix is currently working on plans to bring back two of its biggest franchises, Rock Band and Dance Central, by launching content associated with them during the current console cycle.
Alex Rigopulos, who is the chief executive officer of the company, is quoted by Gamespot as saying during a panel at PAX East that, “The Rock Band and Dance Central franchises are near and dear to our hearts and our minds. And we have grand plans to bring back both of them with guns blazing at some point in the coming console cycle.”
The CEO had said that currently there are no plans to officially announce any new titles associated with the two series and that he is unwilling to confirm that new games are actually in development at Harmonix.
The fact that Harmonix is referring to the current console cycle probably means that the company is planning to create new Rock Band and Dance Central content for the Xbox One from Microsoft, the PlayStation 4 from Sony and probably the Wii U from Nintendo.
The studio might be planning to simply re-package older releases with some new hardware and some innovative features in order to bring them to an entirely new audience.
It’s also possible that Dance Central and Rock Band will return using an entirely new business model and probably even new mechanics.
The two series might drop the need for instruments and might rely on Kinect or on virtual reality to simulate music.
Harmonix has previously teased new Rock Band related titles, but the company seems to be in the first stages of video game development.
At the moment, the studio is busy with the new Fantasia: Music Evolved, which is being created in collaboration with Disney and will be offered on the Xbox One and the 360.
It is also working on its own Chroma, a first-person shooter that will be offered using a free-to-play model and which also uses rhythm-based mechanics.
A new mobile title from Harmonix, called Record Run, is set to be launched on mobiles and will mix music with the endless runner genre.
Rock Band has been dormant since the third full title was launched in 2010 and Dance Central has not received new content since 2012.
Activision has also recently teased that it might revive the Guitar Hero franchise for the next generation of home consoles from Sony and Microsoft.