14 DAY TRIAL // Initial performance for DJ Hero, the most recent music game spin off from Activision, seems rather weak, with the title just breaking into the United Kingdom top 20 sales charts and with North American customers not flocking to pick it up, despite the fact that most reviewers praised it for the way it simulates the act disk jockeying.
Colin Sebastian, who is an analyst of the videogames market with Lazard Capital Markets, stated that “In general, our checks suggest ongoing concern at retail for software price points $100 when many consumers are still showing price sensitivity.”
He predicts that before the end of the year, DJ Hero will sell about 1 million copies. At the moment, a normal copy of the game is going for 119.99 dollars and Activision is pushing hard to promote the Renegade Edition, which comes with exclusive tracks from Jay-Z and Eminem and with a better controller, which costs 199.99 dollars.
Another argument against picking up DJ Hero might be the price of the DLC that Activision and developer FreeStyleGames are charging for the tracks delivered as downloadable content. Citing the cost of licensing two tracks and getting a professional DJ to then mix them up, the companies are offering the David Guetta pack for the price of 7.99 dollars or the equivalent in Microsoft Points.
There's also the potential problem of DJ Hero being more of a single player experience rather than the social element that both Guitar Hero and Rock Band can offer because of the band-related play.
Still, Activision seems to be pretty convinced of the success of DJ Hero as it is already in talks with artists for a 2010 sequel. Given the fact that the controller is a big part of the cost, it just might be that Activision is planning on losing money on the first release in order to establish a franchise.