Harmonix, the developer behind Rock Band, has said that the music genre hasn’t peaked and that the future of rhythm-action games lies with user created content.
In an interview with UK magazine Edge, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said:
"Of course, 2009 was a tough year with the recession, which especially affects music games given the relatively high price point of instrument bundles. But in the long term, people's passion for music isn't going away, and rhythm gaming will continue to provide people with a deeper level of engagement with the music they love. So, yes, I do think that future music games will exceed the sales success of the last generation."
"User-generated content will be absolutely critical to the ongoing success of the genre, I think. To be clear, though, when I talk about 'users' in this context, I don't necessarily mean end-users or players. I'm talking about a huge community of power-users - skilled music creators - providing their music to the audience. The launch of the Rock Band Network will be our next 'defining moment'."
Brian Bright, the project director of the Guitar Hero series at Neversoft agrees that user created content is the next step forward, but also believes that the success of Guitar Hero III will never be surpassed.
"As far as sales exceeding GHIII's in the future, only time will tell, but it's a tall order," he said. "I think user-created content is key to the evolution. If you can't create or edit licensed music due to copyright laws then you're limited to pretending to play someone else's music. I think the key is to create music, but make it compelling to create, so the game is in the creation, not the playback."
Personally, we think that rhythm-action games need to take a rest for a while. Either that, or bring back Parapper the Rapper, just to liven thing up.
In an interview with UK magazine Edge, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said:
"Of course, 2009 was a tough year with the recession, which especially affects music games given the relatively high price point of instrument bundles. But in the long term, people's passion for music isn't going away, and rhythm gaming will continue to provide people with a deeper level of engagement with the music they love. So, yes, I do think that future music games will exceed the sales success of the last generation."
"User-generated content will be absolutely critical to the ongoing success of the genre, I think. To be clear, though, when I talk about 'users' in this context, I don't necessarily mean end-users or players. I'm talking about a huge community of power-users - skilled music creators - providing their music to the audience. The launch of the Rock Band Network will be our next 'defining moment'."
Brian Bright, the project director of the Guitar Hero series at Neversoft agrees that user created content is the next step forward, but also believes that the success of Guitar Hero III will never be surpassed.
"As far as sales exceeding GHIII's in the future, only time will tell, but it's a tall order," he said. "I think user-created content is key to the evolution. If you can't create or edit licensed music due to copyright laws then you're limited to pretending to play someone else's music. I think the key is to create music, but make it compelling to create, so the game is in the creation, not the playback."
Personally, we think that rhythm-action games need to take a rest for a while. Either that, or bring back Parapper the Rapper, just to liven thing up.
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