14 DAY TRIAL // Music games are huge. A genre that begun by offering gamers a chance to play old hits on fake plastic instruments has evolved, in quite a short time, to the point where we are getting a music game tracking the career of The Beatles and bands like Metallica and AC DC have their music featured in exclusive music titles.
The two big contenders are the Guitar Hero franchise, which is being published by Activision, and the Rock Band franchise, from Harmonix and MTV Games.
Last year, the genre as a whole might have seen overall sales numbers slip, despite the release of Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour, but one videogame industry analyst, Doug Creutz from the Cowen Group, says that music games are “here to stay” and that, in 2009, Activision and its Guitar Hero will dominate the market.
He stated that “We believe music genre sales for the company will be driven by an expansion of the release slate in 2009, which should broaden sales to core consumers.” In other words, Activision will release more games bearing that name in an effort to attract a wider array of players to the series. The growth is expected to take place mostly outside of North America.
In 2009, Harmonix and MTV Games are set to release a Rock Band game featuring The Beatles, but Creutz believes that the title will not have a huge impact, partly due to the fact that the special edition will cost 250 dollars, which could drive off some customers because of the recession.
The fact that the music genre is successful might also attract new players to the market. Microsoft’s Lips is a more casual game exclusive to the Xbox 360 and Karaoke Revolution should be released by Konami in 2009. Still, they are not expected to make an impact on the battle between Rock Band and Guitar Hero.