You are probably aware of the fact that Activision said it plans to discontinue the Guitar Hero series of music games (and the latest True Crime game), and that it plans to cut 500 employees from its workforce as a result. The company also plans to close at least one studio, but won't publicly say which one is shutting down..
However, what you may not have known is that DLC for games such as DJ Hero and Guitar Hero will soon end as well.
According to a ShackNews report - citing an update to the "Guitar Hero Franchise Update FAQ" - the future of music game DLC is grim. In answer to the question "Are you still going to make new DLC for Guitar/DJ Hero?," the FAQ reads:
"We will release the previously announced DLC track and mix packs for February, but--unfortunately--we will not be able to release new DLC packs beyond what we already have."
The FAQ goes on to say that the decline in music game sales over the last two years have overshadowed everything else.
"Unfortunately, based on current demand, we simply cannot continue to profitably make these games given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs."
The FAQ adds that the company will continue to provide customer support for these games and they will continue to be sold at retail. DLC for both titles will continue to be available, but no new DLC will be released.
Comments
Re: Report: No More DLC Releases for Activision Music Games
Hey, so long as Rock Band keeps coming.
Re: Report: No More DLC Releases for Activision Music Games
Whilst there is no doubt that the music industry milked this new money making venture for all it's worth, I doubt that licensing fees brought around the demise of the genre. It's an excuse from Activision so that they don't take any blame for their poor stragety over the franchise.
In 2009 Activision released around 5 GH titles in a period of about 6 months, literally a new title was coming out each month, (talk about milking the genre). There were warnings then that it was simply too much and this excluded the couple of Rock Band titles that saw release in that period too. The market became too saturated with titles (that didn't really change much over the various iterations).
Also I think that it's pretty obvious that if they've sacked all their developers that there won't be anymore DLC.
Thankfully Activision have learnt their lesson, because it's not like their going to milk their other key franchises to their death like Call of Duty
.
Re: Report: No More DLC Releases for Activision Music Games
I'm still upset that Bobby Kotick, who is directly responsible for running the music genre into the ground, will still have a job while people working on his overabundance of GH games get the axe.
Overzealous, non-gaming businessmen and MBAs are the primary cause for idiot decisions that led to the 1983 industry crash. Kotick is the modern day Ray Kassar.
Re: Report: No More DLC Releases for Activision Music Games
The fall of GH is not primarily Kotick's doing. There is a lot of blame to place on the music industry itself for its insane increases in the cost of licensing music for these games. Activision even listed that as one of the primary reasons to get out of the music game scene.
E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
Re: Report: No More DLC Releases for Activision Music Games
Ah, thank you. I was sitting here scratching my head at them saying they weren't making money, when they sell tons of copies of every new iteration of the series. I had forgotten about liscensing fees.
Re: Report: No More DLC Releases for Activision Music Games
They haven't been selling tons of copies with every iteration, it's been going downhill fast. GH3 managed to sell 1.4 million copies in its first 5 days, which wasn't bad - if I remember right it was the best selling game of the year by a respectable margin. Then World Tour and GH5 both only sold 500,000 in their first weeks, and most recently Warriors of Rock pretty much fell flat with 86,000 copies in the same time. The entire series in 2010 sold less than half what it did in 2009, and in 2009 they were already talking about how much sales had declined.
And that's raw sales, before getting to the growing costs.
Re: Report: No More DLC Releases for Activision Music Games
I could care less about Gutair Hero but it really sucks that DJ Hero got the axe as well. I really enjoy being a dj, im gonna miss it.
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