Rock Band
Rock Band | |
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Genre(s) | |
Developer(s) |
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Publisher(s) | |
Platform(s) | iOS, Oculus Rift |
First release | Rock Band November 20, 2007 |
Latest release | Rock Band VR March 23, 2017 |
Rock Band is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero series, the main Rock Band games has players use game controllers modeled after musical instruments and microphones to perform the lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums and vocal parts of numerous licensed songs across a wide range of genres though mostly focusing on rock music by matching scrolling musical notes patterns shown on screen. Certain games support the use of "Pro" instruments that require special controllers that more closely mimic the playing of real instruments, providing a higher challenge to players. Players score points for hitting notes successfully, but may fail a song if they miss too many notes. The series has featured numerous game modes, and supports both local and online multiplayer modes where up to four players in most modes can perform together.
Harmonix had worked with
To date, there have been four main games in the series, two band-specific spin-offs (including The Beatles: Rock Band), and several additional spin-off titles and Track Packs. Harmonix has continued to supported Rock Band through a persistent DLC model through January 2024, with routine releases of new songs on a weekly basis as well as the ability for players to import songs from previous games into newer ones, and as of January 2024, the latest title Rock Band 4 supports over 3000 songs from this approach. Harmonix had also offered the Rock Band Network to allow bands and labels to publish their songs as Rock Band tracks that can be purchased by players, though the service has since been discontinued; at the height of this service, over 4,000 tracks from 1,200 artists were available for Rock Band players.[1][2]
By 2009, over 13 million copies of Rock Band titles have been sold,
History
2007 | Rock Band |
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2008 | Rock Band 2 |
2009 | Rock Band Unplugged |
The Beatles: Rock Band | |
Rock Band Mobile | |
Rock Band (iOS) | |
Lego Rock Band | |
2010 | Green Day: Rock Band |
Rock Band 3 | |
Rock Band Reloaded | |
2011 | |
2012 | Rock Band Blitz |
2013 | |
2014 | |
2015 | Rock Band 4 |
2016 | |
2017 | Rock Band VR |
Transition from Guitar Hero (2005–2008)
Prior to
Harmonix was approached by RedOctane to help develop the software for the
As the success of the Guitar Hero series grew, Harmonix and RedOctane were purchased by
With MTV Games, a subsidiary of
Rhythm game saturation and decline (2009–2014)
By 2009, the market for
Though Viacom continued to support the series throughout 2010, it announced that it was seeking a buyer for Harmonix, citing the series' continued profit losses and Viacom's inexperience at being a video game publisher.[19][20][21] Harmonix was eventually sold at the end of 2010 to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC, an affiliate of investment firm Columbus Nova, LLC that included Harmonix shareholders.[22] Though the net liability of the sale was valued at nearly $200 million, including existing unsold inventory and ongoing music license fees, analysts believe that Harmonix-SBE paid only $50 for the company, taking on the total financial liability that Viacom was able to write off in their books.[23] The MTV Games division at Viacom was later closed.[24]
As a shareholder-held company, Harmonix retained the rights to the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises, and continued to support and develop the games.[25][26] The company still faced some fallout from the sale, laying off about 15% of its staff in February 2011.[27] In the same month, Activision announced that it abandoned ongoing development of planned Guitar Hero titles, which many journalists considered to signal the end of peripheral-based rhythm games.[28] Though Harmonix considered the closure of Guitar Hero as "discouraging", they affirmed that they would continue to develop Rock Band and Dance Central and support their downloadable content for the immediate future.[29] Other journalists believed that without competition, Harmonix no longer needed to develop under the same pressure, allowing them to polish and innovate for future titles in the series, bringing a likely future resurgence of the market.[30]
In March 2012, Harmonix affirmed that it had no plans for a fourth major release title within the year, but was still strongly supporting the game through downloadable content through the year.[31] By early 2013, the company stated that while they may come back to Rock Band at a future time, they were shifting resources to develop new titles, and later announced that it would discontinue its regular downloadable content for the series after providing over 275 continuous weeks of such content.[32]
Reintroduction for eighth-generation consoles (2015–current)
Rigopulos stated at his keynote at the 2014
Rock Band 4 was officially announced in March 2015, for release later in October 2015 on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Rock Band 4 supported nearly all previous content released for the series, including imports from the Rock Band 3 and all prior official DLC.[36] Initially Rock Band 4 was released in partnership with Mad Catz for production of the instrument peripherals and co-publishing, but the game did not sell as well as expected leading to a US$11 million loss for Mad Katz, who subsequently terminated the agreement by June 2016 and temporarily had entered a period of bankruptcy.[37] Harmonix switched to Performance Designed Products (PDP) to continue hardware manufacturing and co-publishing with the release of the "Rivals" expansion for Rock Band 4.[38][39] Harmonix attempted to crowdfund the development of Rock Band 4 for personal computers through Fig (which Harmonix's Rigopulos had become a board member of), but this failed to meet the target goal, though Harmonix had not ruled out other means to bring the series to personal computers through other means.[40] Harmonix continues to support Rock Band 4 with weekly DLC and, with the introduction of its "Rivals" gameplay mode, eight-week seasonal challenges for players to earn new cosmetics, and as of April 2020[update], supports over 2,800 songs.
A separate Rock Band VR title was developed for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and released in March 2017.[41]
Harmonix was acquired by Epic Games in 2021, but has continued to support Rock Band with DLC into at least 2024. As part of Epic, Harmonix developed a new mode for Fortnite, Fortnite Festival, which was released in December 2023. This mode mimicked much of the Rock Band aspects within the Fortnite game.[42] With this new game, Harmonix ended its weekly DLC for Rock Band in January 2024, though all online service would remain active for the foreseeable future.
Games
Main games
Harmonix has released four mainline titles in the Rock Band series: Rock Band (2007), Rock Band 2 (2008), Rock Band 3 (2010), and Rock Band 4 (2015). Each game provides from 57 to 84 songs on-disc with support for additional songs to be purchased as downloadable content. The games feature a variety of modes, including single player career modes, offline and online cooperative modes as part of a band, and competitive modes. Most songs from earlier iterations can be exported for play in future versions for a small licensing fee. However, premium or upgraded DLC content cannot be transferred to Rock Band 4.
Band-specific games
In October 2008, Harmonix, along with MTV Games, announced an exclusive agreement with Apple Corps, Ltd. to produce a standalone title, titled The Beatles: Rock Band, based on the Rock Band premise and featuring the music of the Beatles. The game was released on September 9, 2009, coinciding with the release of remastered collections of the Beatles' albums, and features a visual and musical history of the Beatles with United Kingdom-released versions of songs from their albums Please Please Me through Abbey Road. The game also has been supported by downloadable content, with three full albums, Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Rubber Soul, available to purchase. Though branded as a Rock Band game, the title remains as a standalone game in the series. It includes a function to add new songs to the game disc.[43]
Following on the success of The Beatles: Rock Band, Green Day: Rock Band was released in June 2010. It includes the band's songs, including full albums for Dookie, American Idiot, and 21st Century Breakdown, avatars of the band's members and venues after real-life performances of the group.[44] The track list is fully exportable to other Rock Band games.[45]
Several bands stated they were seeking to or working with Harmonix to develop band-specific content for the series. The band
The band
Spin-offs
Harmonix and MTV Games have worked with
Harmonix had planned to release a spin-off of Rock Band for Japanese audiences in co-development with Q Entertainment. The title, initially announced in 2008, would have featured J-pop music, and would have been "the first US-originated rock music game to be heavily localized for the Japanese market".[55][56] Japanese artists had expressed interest in the venture, such as X Japan.[57] Harmonix has since stated that this project has been discontinued, but have considered the inclusion of popular Japanese music within Rock Band's regular downloadable content.[58] Alex Rigopulos later clarified that they found it difficult to license Japanese music for such a release, and had considered both the cost of manufacturing and shipping instrument controllers to Japan, and the limited space that many Japanese players would have in their homes.[47][59]
Shortly after release of Rock Band 3, Harmonix began work on Rock Band Sessions. Instead of matching notes as in the main games, Sessions would have players making their own music in songs where several of the other instrument tracks were already completed; one example given by Daniel Sussman was to complete a bass line atop existing guitar, drums, and vocal tracks. If the player opted, they would have been able to allow the pre-existing track to be played instead and only provide their own music in certain sections of the song. Sessions was originally conceived as a multiplayer title but Harmonix found that having multiple players attempt to make their own music at the same time was too chaotic, and instead reworked it as a single-player game, with the player able to work each track separately and eventually bring them together in a final song. Though Harmonix had developed a working prototype for the game, they found that it would not adapt well to their existing licensed song library and would be difficult to use in future Rock Band games, and that they did not feel this was a type of game they could sell to their player base at full price. Sessions has been shelved, though some of the lessons they learned were used to help develop Rock Band 4, and may come back to the title at a later date.[60]
Harmonix also was involved with BandFuse: Rock Legends, released in November 2013, which for a time was referred to as "Rock Band 3.1".[citation needed]
In 2015,
Portable games
Rock Band Unplugged was developed by Backbone Entertainment and was released for the PlayStation Portable in North America on June 9, 2009[65] and later that year in Europe. The game uses the PSP's Wi-Fi capabilities to provide an online store for additional downloadable content from music providers.[66] The gameplay is similar to the previous Harmonix games Frequency and Amplitude, with the player using the face buttons on the PSP to match notes; after completing a length of a phrase on a given instrument, that instrument will then play by itself for a while, allowing the player to switch to another instrument.[67] The DS versions of Lego Rock Band and Rock Band 3 use a similar gameplay system to Rock Band Unplugged.
A
Gameplay
The Rock Band games are
Rock Band titles' gameplay and on-screen interface use a combination of elements from Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution.[70] Rock Band has up to three tracks of vertically scrolling colored music notes, one section each for lead guitar, drums, and bass.[70] The colored notes on-screen correspond to buttons on the guitar and drum peripherals.[70] For lead and bass guitar, players play their notes by holding down colored fret buttons on the guitar peripheral and pushing the controller's strum bar; for drums, players must strike the matching colored drumhead, or step on the pedal to simulate playing bass drum notes. Along the top of the screen is the vocals display, which scrolls horizontally, similar to Karaoke Revolution. The lyrics display beneath green bars, which represent the pitch of the individual vocal elements.[70] When singing vocals, the player must sing in relative pitch to the original vocals. A pitch indicator displays the singer's accuracy relative to the original pitch by moving up or down to indicate high or low pitches, respectively. The Beatles: Rock Band introduces three-part harmonies using three separate microphones, a feature later carried over into Green Day: Rock Band and Rock Band 3.[71] If any part is not being played, its interface does not appear on-screen. The remainder of the screen is used to display the band's virtual characters as they perform in concert.
During cooperative play as a band, all players earn points towards a common score, though score multipliers and "Overdrive" (an accumulated bonus that is the equivalent of Guitar Hero's "Star Power") are tracked separately for each player.
Each band member can choose the difficulty at which they play (spanning Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert; a "Super Easy" difficulty is also present in Lego Rock Band for younger players). Furthermore, with Rock Band 3, players can select the Pro mode of their instrument if they have the appropriate controller for it; Pro mode challenges guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards to play their controllers closer to the real-life instrument, note-for-note. If a player does not play well enough and falls to the bottom of the Band Meter, they will fail out of the song and their instrument will be muted from the audio mix. However, any active player can activate their Overdrive to bring failed players back into the song,[70] "saving" the band member. However, a band member can only be saved twice; after the third failure, they cannot be brought back for that song. Failed players continuously drag the band's Band Meter down until they are saved. If the player is not saved before the Band Meter reaches the bottom, the band fails the song. Special portions of songs are labeled as "Unison Phrases," which reward the band with a score and Overdrive bonus if each player can play their parts perfectly during the phrase. Select songs end with a special "Big Rock Ending," which gives the players a chance to improvise and earn extra points. If each player successfully plays the final notes of the song following the freestyle portion of the "Big Rock Ending," the band earns all of the "Big Rock Ending" points. Otherwise, the bonus is lost.
As the song progresses, the screen shows a meter with the current accumulated score for the game, as well as the number of "stars" earned so far based on their score and the progress towards the next star indicated by a partially filled ring. Players can earn up to five stars, with the chance of getting 5 "gold stars" by getting a very high score with all players on the Expert difficulty. The performance's star rating will influence the monetary reward and number of fans for the song within the various game modes, or in the case of Rock Band 3, the number of fans earned and speed progress towards the virtual band's Career Mode goals.
Instrument peripherals
Rock Band features instrument controllers designed for the game. However, Harmonix and other companies have attempted to provide compatibility between competing instrument controllers and music games, allowing Rock Band to be playable without use of specific controllers, and to reuse Rock Band controllers in other music games. Prior to Rock Band 3, most instrument controllers were made by MTV Games and Harmonix, with several third-party vendors supply alternate versions.[74] On January 4, 2008, video game peripherals manufacturer Mad Catz announced it had reached an agreement with MTV and Harmonix to produce peripherals for Rock Band.[75] This agreement also gave MadCatz the ability to bundle and sell their products with Rock Band game titles. Mad Catz continued to support the series for the release of Rock Band 4 in 2015, but in early 2016 announced financial difficulties due to weak sales of Rock Band 4.[76] Harmonix subsequently announced that, starting in 2016, PDP would be producing and supporting instrument hardware for Rock Band 4.[77]
Guitar
The guitar controller for Rock Band, modeled after a
Rock Band 3 introduces "Pro Mode" to the Rock Band franchise for both guitar and bass players, where players finger specific strings and frets instead of colored buttons in Easy to Medium mode, while on Expert mode players are required to play the actual guitar chords and solos, note for note. Two completely new guitar controllers were developed for use in this mode - both of them legitimate MIDI guitars. The first one MadCatz created was based on the bass version of the
Drum kit
The drum set for Rock Band features four rubber drum pads and a bass pedal. The pads have colored rings around the edges that correspond to the colored notes on-screen. These pads generally represent a
Pro mode for drums was introduced in Rock Band 3, requiring players to equip the existing drum set with up to three cymbal units. The game marks cymbal notes as circles in contrast to the regular rectangular pad notes, and the drum player is required to hit the cymbals instead of the pads for these notes when they occur. Electronic drum kits could also be used through a MIDI connection.
Microphone
The microphone is a standard
Keyboard
A keyboard instrument was introduced with Rock Band 3. Using a special adapter, players can use any MIDI-compatible electronic keyboard to play such parts with the game. A special MIDI-compatible 25-key keyboard was manufactured by Mad Catz and was bundled with sales of the new game. This unit is shaped like a keytar and is possible to play both sitting down or standing up. The unit's neck contains the Overdrive activation button, and a touchstrip that acts as an effects bar to alter the tone of the instrument. The keyboard unit is not necessary to play non-Pro keyboard parts in Rock Band 3 as any compatible guitar controller can also be used; similarly, the keyboard can be used to play any non-Pro guitar or bass parts. However, a keyboard unit is required for the Pro versions of keyboard parts, and can only be played by a keyboard.
Game modes
The primary mode of play in both games is a "Band World Tour" mode (renamed "Tour" for Rock Band 2); in the first Rock Band, this was limited to a band of two or more players playing locally, but Rock Band 2 expanded this to any number of players, locally or online. After choosing a band name and hometown city, the band members can create their own rock characters, as well as a band logo. Once setup is complete, the band can begin playing concerts in small venues in their hometown until they unlock vans, tour buses and private jets, which unlock more cities and different continents. Unlocking and completing new gigs unlocks additional songs for play across all game modes. Successful performances also earn the band fans (used as a metric of measuring the band's popularity), stars (which accumulate based on the success of each individual song performed), and in-game cash (which each player can spend at the "Rock Shop").[80] Most cities and larger venues require the band to achieve a certain number of fans and stars before they are unlocked. In the process, bands can loop through cities multiple times, eventually playing larger venues in cities they have already visited.[80] In-game venues are inspired by real-life venues and often display local art styles from each of the represented cities.[80]
Players complete unique sets of activities at each venue. Performances consist of single songs, multiple song sets, "make your own" setlists, and mystery setlists.[81] Players are also faced with decisions that Harmonix refers to as "risk-versus-reward."[81] Bands need to choose which sized venue they perform at carefully, as a poor performance at a larger venue poses a greater threat of the band losing fans.[81] For certain performances, bands are faced with an optional challenge that requires the band to average a certain number of stars for their gig in order to reap the rewards.[81] Bands can also choose to perform a benefit concert (earning no in-game money but gaining more fans) or "sell-out" (earning more in-game money but losing fans).[81] Additionally, for certain gigs, bands can compete for band managers, roadies, security personnel, and sound guys, as well as a recording deal with a record label.[81] The "Endless Setlist" allows players to experience an all-day concert atmosphere, as the setlist requires playing the entire game disc's setlist from beginning to end.[82]
Rock Band 2 introduced two new modes. "Challenges" allow a band to play through pre-determined setlists, arranged via difficulty, to earn in-game money. These "Challenges" include those based on songs on-disc, as well as through additional songs from the first Rock Band or from downloadable content. A "Battle of the Bands" mode consists of limited-time online tournaments updated on a daily basis. Each specific "Battle of the Band" challenge will have a number of songs and may have specific requirements or limitations; for example, a challenge may require a vocalist, or that the band cannot use Overdrive for the challenge. The goal in these challenges is to achieve the best "score", which may be the numerical score, the number of stars earned, or the longest streak of consecutive notes played correctly. This score is tracked on global leaderboards, and allow the players to compare their performance to their friends and others. "Battle of the Bands" challenges utilize both on-disc content and other songs the players may have available.
The first Rock Band features a more traditional "Career" mode for a single player on either lead guitar, drums, or vocals, dividing the on-disk songs into nine tiers arranged by difficulty of the song for that instrument. Each subsequent tier would only be unlocked after completing the songs in the previous tier. The player would earn in-game money based on their performance. This was removed in Rock Band 2 for the improved "Tour" mode.
"Quickplay" mode allows up to four players to play any song that has been unlocked. Single players may play head-to-head with another player on the same instrument either through "Score Battles" (both playing at the same time to earn the highest score) or "Tug of War" (each trading off sections of a song, trying to outplay the other). Also included are "Tutorial Mode", which allows players to learn how to play each instrument, and "Practice Mode" which allows players to practice songs for each instrument. A more complete "Drum Trainer" mode was added to Rock Band 2 to help players learn basic drum patterns and drum fills at various speeds.
Customization
Players can create and customize their own in-game character, complete with adjustable hair, body physique, clothing, tattoos, onstage movements, and instruments. (The PlayStation 2 versions and the Wii version of the original Rock Band do not have this feature.) Using cash earned within the game, the player may purchase items at the in-game "Rock Shop," with which they can customize their rock star. The game features an art maker where players can combine different clip art elements to create custom face paint, tattoos, clothing designs, instrument artwork, and band logos. Bands themselves can create their own logo, and in Rock Band 2, players can assign any generated character to "stand in" for parts that are not presently being played.
With the release of Rock Band 2, players are able to use the official Rock Band website to create physical merchandise of their characters and band, including posters, T-shirts, as well as six-inch tall figurines. The official website was well-received, receiving 2
The Customization features were overhauled for the release of Rock Band 3, adding additional details to facial customization as opposed to having access only to the game's previous small selection of preset head models, and changing the method of unlocking clothing, instruments, and other accessories to the completion of several Career Goals which are typically score-based and range across the variety of instruments (including Pro Mode), game play modes, and songs from the RB3 release, previous titles, and downloadable content. There is no monetary system in RB3, however the players still earn fans as in the previous installments.
Soundtracks
Rock Band, Rock Band 2, Rock Band 3, and Rock Band 4 featured soundtracks containing 58, 84, 83, and 65 songs, respectively, spanning many genres of
Rock Band also supports migration of content across games. This enables players to access music that was featured in other Rock Band titles within a single game. Rock Band 2 currently supports content imported from the original Rock Band, Lego Rock Band,[83] and Green Day: Rock Band. Rock Band 3 allows players to not only access these songs but content exported from Rock Band 2 as well. While Lego Rock Band and Green Day: Rock Band allow players to export the full soundtrack from each game, Rock Band loses three songs from its soundtrack (four in the European version) during the export process due to licensing restrictions. Rock Band 2, likewise, will not allow players to export fourteen of the eighty-four songs offered on the disc (however nine of these missing songs were offered as a free download following the release of Rock Band 3). Two additional songs from the original Rock Band export were previously unavailable within Rock Band 3, however they have since been returned to availability through a patch. Two further songs which were released on-disc in the European version are unavailable in Rock Band 3, regardless of whether the songs were obtained through a disc export or through purchase as DLC (for the North American region). Due to the licensing agreement with Apple Corps, The Beatles: Rock Band does not allow any exporting of its content whatsoever. Rock Band Blitz shipped with twenty-five songs on its soundtrack (twenty-three of which are new, two of which were offered in Rock Band 2 but not exportable to 3) and all twenty-five songs are cross-compatible with Rock Band 3. Blitz itself is also able to use the full range of content offered on the Rock Band downloadable content catalog (including future content, previous imports, and RBN songs), integrating the existing charts into its own gameplay system. Harmonix is working to assure that as much as a player's existing song library will be playable within Rock Band 4 within the same console family.[84]
Downloadable songs
Harmonix aimed to provide a wide range of music to players through additional content, stating that Rock Band is a music platform for discovering music.[85] The developer released new songs, compatible with both games, through regular weekly downloadable content (DLC).[4][86] including various singles, artist packs featuring three or more songs from the artists, and full albums. Downloadable songs are compatible with Rock Band and Rock Band 2. A portion of the downloadable song catalog is also compatible with Lego Rock Band, based on the songs' appropriateness for the game's family-friendly content rating. While The Beatles: Rock Band also supports downloadable content, the game does not share such content with the other Rock Band games, nor can it use content from the other Rock Band games. Green Day: Rock Band does not have its own catalog of downloadable content but a select number of songs from the 21st Century Breakdown album were released to the Music Store prior to the game's release. These songs integrate with Green Day: Rock Band, enabling the player to play the complete 21st Century Breakdown album in the game. Downloadable content released on or after October 26, 2010 is restricted for use with Rock Band 3, Rock Band Blitz, and Rock Band 4 while content released on or after October 6, 2015 is restricted for use with Rock Band 4 only.
The standard price for individual song downloads is
With the introduction of new features in Rock Band 3, DLC includes support, where appropriate, for vocal harmonies, keyboards, and Pro drums and Pro keyboards, and remain at the same price. Additional support for Pro guitar and bass depends on the band or song; according to MTV's Paul DeGooyer, "[many bands'] guitar parts wouldn't rise to the level that they would need to have pro mode authoring associated with them".[88] Furthermore, the Pro guitar portion of DLC costs extra, due to the complexity of charting, which Harmonix has said takes as long as authoring the rest of the song. Older DLC can be upgraded by Harmonix to include newer features, but which songs will be a function of licensing, band cooperation, and players' preferences.[88]
By the release of Rock Band 3, there were over 2,000 songs from over 250 different artists available for the Rock Band series through on-disc songs, imported track packs, the Rock Band Network and downloadable content, including 21 complete albums.
On April 26, 2011, Harmonix released a list of the top ten selling downloadable artists. The list included the Beatles, the Who and Red Hot Chili Peppers.[91] Other popular fan-requested bands, including Guns N' Roses and Muse, were difficult to obtain the proper licensing for and could not get additional songs into downloadable content.[47]
Harmonix announced that the initial run of regular DLC releases would end on April 2, 2013, as the company began to transition to other projects for next-generation consoles.[92] The final song released on its regular download release schedule was the Don McLean song "American Pie".[93] The company did not rule out future DLC releases, and starting in January 2015, provided one-off releases of new content for the series.[94] While Harmonix has not committed to a future Rock Band title, Rigopoulos has stated that reuse of existing downloadable content on future titles for next-generation consoles will be a priority, stating "that investment that players have made over the years in those libraries is something that we would want to take great pains to protect".[95]
With the announcement of Rock Band 4 on March 5, 2015, Harmonix also added that the majority of existing DLC purchases would convert to the next generation.[96] Only legacy downloadable content for Rock Band 4 is forward compatible from within the same system family (Xbox 360 downloadable content can be claimed on the Xbox One and PlayStation 3 downloadable content on the PlayStation 4) as long as the user was previously entitled to it. Premium DLC content and upgrades are still not transferable to Rock Band 4, with no intent to honor those purchases for this entire console generation.
Track packs
Harmonix has created a series of Track Packs that contain up to twenty songs previously featured as downloadable content that can be played as a standalone title with reduced features (such as no character customization and limited game modes). These titles were initially intended for users of Rock Band on platforms that lacked network capabilities, specifically the PlayStation 2 and the Wii. However, the second Track Pack was made available for all four console systems, and allows users on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to download these songs for use in the main games. A third Track Pack provides all the tracks from
Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix and Microsoft to allow artists and labels to author ("chart") their own songs for play in Rock Band. Using special software provided by Harmonix, these songs are peer-reviewed for content before being put on the Network, and users will be able to browse through the available songs by several means. The Network will augment the songs added by Harmonix as downloadable content for the game. The Network became publicly available to Xbox 360 players on March 4, 2010, with all of the songs immediately available to the Network Store for Xbox 360, and certain selections of songs available to the PlayStation 3 and Wii.[97] A major update of the Network was released early in 2011, after Rock Band 3's release, to including authoring tools for normal and Pro keyboards and vocal harmonies, but will not initially support Pro guitar/bass authoring until Harmonix is able to judge the support required for these tools. Harmonix also plans to better support the PlayStation 3 through this iteration. Due to lack of interest and difficulties with Nintendo's Wii storefront, Harmonix has discontinued making Network songs available for the Wii. Xbox 360 players will still be able to create and add songs to the Rock Band Network following the April 2, 2013 end of regular DLC, but Harmonix has stated that while these mechanisms are generally automated, they are based on third-party technology like Microsoft XNA, and should those services cease, so will the functionality of the Network. As release of Network songs for the PlayStation 3 require Harmonix to be fully involved, no further Network songs will be available for the PlayStation 3 after April 2, 2013.[92] The Network was fully shuttered in September 2014 to allow Harmonix to move forward on other projects.[98] Rock Band Network songs are incompatible with Rock Band 4 at launch; however, Harmonix has stated they will explore the logistics of bringing RBN songs into Rock Band 4 after completing the transition of all official DLC, packs, and disc exports.[99] All RBN content was delisted on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms in February 2018. In May 2018, Harmonix announced that they have secured licensing for a portion of the Rock Band Network library to be released as regular DLC for Rock Band 4; however, entitlements for re-released RBN content are not supported due to technical and licensing restrictions.[100]
Cultural impact
Like Guitar Hero, Rock Band has influenced the music culture.
Rock Band appeared briefly in the "
In terms of sales, Rock Band trailed the Guitar Hero series, selling only 4 million units in 2007 compared to Guitar Hero's 11.8 million.[43] In 2008, Rock Band was the third highest brand, trailing Guitar Hero and the Mario series, with $662M in total sales for the year.[111] Over 5.3 million copies of the games were sold in 2008, with 3.8 million of those in instrument-bundled packages.[112] Wedbush Securities gaming analyst Michael Pachter believed that both game series would sell another 3 million units each by early 2009.[43] Regardless, Rock Band did not generate profits for Viacom due to the cost of developing and selling the instrument peripherals. As a result, Viacom, MTV Games, and Harmonix shifted the Rock Band series into one that focused on selling songs through additional software discs and downloadable content, letting others, such as Activision, handle the creation of the game controllers.[113]
Sales of downloadable songs have been in favor of hard rock bands; Mötley Crüe's single "Saints of Los Angeles", debuting as a Rock Band track at the same time as the release of the album of the same name, saw 48,000 Rock Band downloads and 14,000 iTunes downloads during its first week of release.[114] The popularity of some tracks have also led to groups considering releasing more material for the game. Rush's alternate version of "Working Man" released only for Rock Band was met with so much praise from players of Rock Band that the group released the song for download through iTunes, as well as considered making full albums available,[114] which they in turn did when they released their album Moving Pictures in full on the platform soon after. Guns N' Roses had delayed their long-awaited album Chinese Democracy so often, many doubted it would ever be released; however, the Rock Band 2 debut of the song "Shackler's Revenge" was thought to be the precursor to the release of Chinese Democracy; the album was indeed released in November 2008 and was later made available as a downloadable album for the Rock Band games.
Rock Band's downloadable content has been given away as part of promotions tied in with the game. Playable tracks from Disturbed and Pearl Jam were given to customers that had purchased new albums from the respective bands in certain stores.[115][116] During the summer of 2009, customers of specially marked Pepsi products had a chance to win a token to select one downloadable track out of about 300 for Rock Band in addition to other Rock Band related-prizes.[117]
Rock Band and Guitar Hero have been stated to provide significant benefits for music labels and artists through exposure of their songs to new, younger audiences.[118] However, not all record labels believe there are benefits; Edgar Bronfman Jr., chairman and chief executive for Warner Music Group, stated that "The amount being paid to the industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content that we own and control, is far too small."[119] While industry rumors stated that MTV Games was boycotting artists under the Warner Music label over the music company's stance on licensing[120] the issue has been stated by both MTV Games and Warner Music Group to be a present dispute over increased costs of licensed music as the two companies seek a new deal.[121] Since then, MTV Games and Warner Music Group have entered into licensing agreements allowing music from the label, such as the band Green Day, to be used within the game.[122]
List of games
Released Year | Title | Platform | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
360 | PS3 | PS2 | Wii | PSP | NDS | iOS
|
Mobile | PS4 | XBO | Win | ||
Main Games | ||||||||||||
2007 | Rock Band | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
2008 | Rock Band 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
2010 | Rock Band 3 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
2015 | Rock Band 4 | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Band-Centric Games | ||||||||||||
2009 | The Beatles: Rock Band | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
2010 | Green Day: Rock Band | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Spin-offs | ||||||||||||
2009 | Lego Rock Band | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
2012 | Rock Band Blitz | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
2017 | Rock Band VR | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Portable Games | ||||||||||||
2009 | Rock Band Unplugged | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
2009 | Rock Band Mobile | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
2009 | Rock Band (iOS) | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
2010 | Rock Band Reloaded | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
See also
- DrumMania, a music video arcade game machine since 1998
- Rock Revolution
- Ultimate Band
- Frets on Fire
- Rocksmith
- BandFuse: Rock Legends
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External links
- Official Rock Band website
- The Rise and Fall of Rock Band Archived 2013-09-11 at the Wayback Machine from The A.V. Club