14 DAY TRIAL // The Beatles: Rock Band surpassed Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman's expectations regarding sales, performing “better than expected.” The game was developed by the MTV Games subsidiary Harmonix and proved to be quite the hit on this select market. It succeed in making an impression not only with the gamers but also with the critics, being considered one of the best music titles to date.
A vicious, little, spoiled kid as it is, Activision responded to this statement in less than 24 four hours. With its Guitar Hero 5 as a direct competitor in the rhythm-game genre, Activison's CEO and President of the Guitar Hero label boldly stated its supremacy on the market. Dan Rosenweig came at the lead of the Guitar Hero franchise this March to replace RedOctane Founder Charles Huang, but has no problem accommodating to the success of the series and letting himself be empowered by it.
"It did not affect our sales," Rosensweig stated in the Financial Times about The Beatles: Rock Band. Not only do hits from the competition glance off Activision's armor, but so do the hits coming from internal problems. The Neversoft-developed band-game has seen its share of troubles, including lawsuit threats by the late Kurt Cobain's wife, Courtney Love. These threats revolving around the game's use of Nirvana's late guitarist and singer's image don't seem to be that serious, since they were made by Ms. Love over Twitter.
Rosensweig takes the opportunity of the public statement to crush and intimidate the company's competitors, declaring sales four times bigger over the U.S. market, while the ratio being that of 9 to 1 in other markets in Guitar Hero's 5 favor. Buyers that will purchase this game in December will also get the Guitar Hero: Van Halen for free.
Even if this year has shown a 46-percent decrease in the music-game genre as apposed to the last, Activision seems to know no fear and announces that it has in development another rhythm game. This version of Guitar Hero 5 is said to bypass consoles altogether, according to CEO Bob Kotick.