14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Harmonix is announcing that it is planning to introduce synchronous online multiplayer to Rock Band 4 before the end of the year during the recent PAX East 2016 event, drawing cheers from the crowd of fans that were attending the panel.
The feature has been requested by the player community since the game was launched, and the studio initially said that it was too hard for the feature to be created from a technical standpoint, although it seems to have solved them.
Josh Harrison, the community lead working on Rock Band 4, is quoted by Gamespot as saying that the synchronous online multiplayer element for the game is designed to be part of a first expansion, which will also add the ability to filter songs by genre and to then rate them.
Harmonix is saying that there are other big features that will be part of the coming content drop that will arrive before the end of the year and that more information will be revealed during the coming E3 2016 event.
The studio says that it has drawn inspiration from the way expansion packs tweak the core mechanics of the likes of World of Warcraft or Destiny.
Until then gamers will be able to pick up three new songs: The Romantics - What I Like About You, Lamb of God - Redneck, and Weezer - Dope Nose.
Rock Band 4 is bringing Ion drums to the Xbox One version
PDP is working on a special adapter that will allow for the drum kit to be used with the Microsoft home console, but it will only be launched alongside the expansion in the fall.
Battleborn DLC is also coming to Rock Band 4 at some point in May, and the game will also get a double kick feature although no date has been mentioned by Harmonix.
The developers are also planning to add a new practice mode, another long-asked-for feature, during June, with gamers able to slow down the game and get hints about how they can improve their performance.
Harmonix has also teased the songs that are coming to Rock Band 4 before the end of the year, saying that it will feature some big bands, and also ruled out the delivery of any kind of support for Kinect, which some fans were asking for so that they can dance while also playing the best tracks the music simulation has to offer.