Rhythm Gaming is all the rage, or is it? Turns out Guitar Hero: World Tour didn’t meet or exceed the figures they hit with Guitar Hero III. Where GH3 brought in $115 million in the first week, GHWT brought in $67 million in the same time frame.
Why?
There are plenty of factors that could cut down the sales units, considering those that can purchase Guitar Hero World Tour don’t have to purchase additional instruments to play the game like they played GH3.
- Rock Band 2: This game arrived before Guitar Hero 3 and folks went for this game instead because it was first to launch. Some gamers have to make a choice on which to purchase because they can’t buy both.
- Hot Games: Although Rhythm gaming can be fun, a lot of great games are arriving this season so gamers have to make some big decisions.
- Economics: The economy isn’t exactly thriving right now and retail outlets are already predicting less than stellar numbers.
- Saturation: Since the original Guitar Hero game, we’ve had a number of titles from Activision including their Aerosmith edition and Harmonix pulling out Rock Band and Rock Band 2. There is talk of a Hendrix version and a Metallic release – how much is too much?
We know people love charts, so here is another to toss at you via Kotaku:
Guitar Hero World Tour Sales, via Kotaku
The break down from Guitar Hero 3 to World Tour is obvious, also apparent is the shift in console when buying into the rhythm gaming franchises. The Wii has started taking more market share, odd considering the DLC isn’t there, and the PS3 is showing its lackluster sales of the console by growing in proportion but not excelling to grab huge share (PS3 fanboys attack!). Sony kicked ass by taking control of the share using their PlayStation 2 with Guitar Hero 3, but has lost that lead for the World Tour.
Will these lower sales figure change the future roadmap for Activision in their Guitar Hero franchise or are they satisfied taking home $67 million in the first week of the launch. That is still a lot of money and probably doesn’t even consider any money they could (or will) potentially make on the World Tour hardware.
Luckily, the rhythm gaming content doesn’t get old with age, it just gets more classic. No doubt Guitar Hero World Tour will be landing in homes over the holidays and into 2009.
The Follow Ratio (%) is calculated on a weekly basis relative to each other:
Gaming: 64.93506
AUSTAR (paid TV): 12.98701
Movies: 10.38961
Web Browsing: 7.792208
Listening to EDD/TDG Podcast: 3.896104
XD
The Follow Ratio (%) is calculated on a weekly basis relative to each other:
Gaming: 64.93506
AUSTAR (paid TV): 12.98701
Movies: 10.38961
Web Browsing: 7.792208
Listening to EDD/TDG Podcast: 3.896104
XD
@Diplomacy: belive it or not, there are board games like that that are still being produced/sold even today. I just can’t remember the name of the game that’s being sold in Romania …
— edited —
Ok, you mentioned that the game is still being produced.
@ Nintendo “DS2?: Jennifer has a strong point, being first to market counts a lot. Everything that follows is “like that other one”.
Another way to force sales is to cut support for the older products.
@Beatles Rock Band: lemme guess, nobody wanted to be Paul McCartney? Who would have thought that today’s teenagers will not want to play “Hey Jude” and they love to play instead “Sad but True” from Metallica?
@ESRB: 1201 is small, considering how huge the gaming market is, US alone, nevermind the rest of the world.
And if parents are so carefull with ERSB ratings, then why all this fuss about games ruining our kids?
@Games and social change: you mentioned a lot Zynga Games. Well, I wouldn’t trust them:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.154897
Computers making it more comfortable for people to network, that, that is what fuels the social changes.
Don, I LOVED your rant. Keep it comming 🙂
@Question of the week: In terms of spare time, I spend most of it gaming rather than watching TV, so I guess I’m more towards Don’s ratio.
@Diplomacy: belive it or not, there are board games like that that are still being produced/sold even today. I just can’t remember the name of the game that’s being sold in Romania …
— edited —
Ok, you mentioned that the game is still being produced.
@ Nintendo “DS2?: Jennifer has a strong point, being first to market counts a lot. Everything that follows is “like that other one”.
Another way to force sales is to cut support for the older products.
@Beatles Rock Band: lemme guess, nobody wanted to be Paul McCartney? Who would have thought that today’s teenagers will not want to play “Hey Jude” and they love to play instead “Sad but True” from Metallica?
@ESRB: 1201 is small, considering how huge the gaming market is, US alone, nevermind the rest of the world.
And if parents are so carefull with ERSB ratings, then why all this fuss about games ruining our kids?
@Games and social change: you mentioned a lot Zynga Games. Well, I wouldn’t trust them:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.154897
Computers making it more comfortable for people to network, that, that is what fuels the social changes.
Don, I LOVED your rant. Keep it comming 🙂
@Question of the week: In terms of spare time, I spend most of it gaming rather than watching TV, so I guess I’m more towards Don’s ratio.
Most
out-takes
EVER!
Don – I used to wonder what happened to the soap-box segment, I think you jut brought it back in style!
QotW – Spare time is WoW orientated, with tv on in the background. If I’m setting up for a night of raiding I tend to leave it on either a music channel or Comedy Central.
When I’ve got friends round, its Rock Band or Buzz. Not even the Wii comes out for that these days.
Most
out-takes
EVER!
Don – I used to wonder what happened to the soap-box segment, I think you jut brought it back in style!
QotW – Spare time is WoW orientated, with tv on in the background. If I’m setting up for a night of raiding I tend to leave it on either a music channel or Comedy Central.
When I’ve got friends round, its Rock Band or Buzz. Not even the Wii comes out for that these days.
Beatles Rock Band – I can’t say I’m surprised that it sold less than Rock Band 2. While Rock Band 2 had songs from dozens of different artists, this one focuses on one band only, limiting the target audience to people that like the Beatles. I think it would be more fair to compare it to games like Guitar Hero Metallica or Guitar Hero Aerosmith.
In regards to the whole “parents knowing the ratings of games” thing, I think it would greatly help parents if the ratings for games and movies were the same, (As in- G, PG, PG-13 and R). Australia does this and it makes things a lot simpler and easier to understand.
For the Question of the Week – I’d estimate:
Movies/Tv=45%
Games=40%
Web Browsing= 10%
Listening to Podcasts= 5%
By the way, in case you guys didn’t find out, apparently EA is sticking with Tiger Woods for their golf games. Source: http://au.gamespot.com/news/6246753.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;1
P.S. That was some nice censoring there during Don’s rant… Stay classy, Don! 😛
Beatles Rock Band – I can’t say I’m surprised that it sold less than Rock Band 2. While Rock Band 2 had songs from dozens of different artists, this one focuses on one band only, limiting the target audience to people that like the Beatles. I think it would be more fair to compare it to games like Guitar Hero Metallica or Guitar Hero Aerosmith.
In regards to the whole “parents knowing the ratings of games” thing, I think it would greatly help parents if the ratings for games and movies were the same, (As in- G, PG, PG-13 and R). Australia does this and it makes things a lot simpler and easier to understand.
For the Question of the Week – I’d estimate:
Movies/Tv=45%
Games=40%
Web Browsing= 10%
Listening to Podcasts= 5%
By the way, in case you guys didn’t find out, apparently EA is sticking with Tiger Woods for their golf games. Source: http://au.gamespot.com/news/6246753.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;1
P.S. That was some nice censoring there during Don’s rant… Stay classy, Don! 😛
I think I looked at Beatles: Rock Band differently from most people (surprise surprise), particularly the fact that it’s the FIRST of the whole “imaginary instrument” genre to catch my attention. See, my music tastes have always been weird (again, another surprise I’m sure), so 80% of the songs on other music-based games, I’ve either never heard before or have heard and just don’t care for, depending.
My point is, I think of Beatles Rock Band as a way for them to grab those who, like me, didn’t jump at the chance to be Aerosmith, or Metallica, or the random bands of the other titles.
I can’t imagine anyone having an interest in all of the other titles AND the Beatles one. And it would be foolish of the marketing people to expect that. Just like it would be stupid to think that everyone wants to pretend to scratch a record like DJ Jazzy Jeff.
(Oh, and… I’ve played Diplomacy. But not by mail, e-mail, carrier pidgeon, etc. Just as a board game, in the same room as other people. And I have to say, it’s a kinda dull game live and in person, so I can’t imagine what a correspondence barrier does for it…)
I think I looked at Beatles: Rock Band differently from most people (surprise surprise), particularly the fact that it’s the FIRST of the whole “imaginary instrument” genre to catch my attention. See, my music tastes have always been weird (again, another surprise I’m sure), so 80% of the songs on other music-based games, I’ve either never heard before or have heard and just don’t care for, depending.
My point is, I think of Beatles Rock Band as a way for them to grab those who, like me, didn’t jump at the chance to be Aerosmith, or Metallica, or the random bands of the other titles.
I can’t imagine anyone having an interest in all of the other titles AND the Beatles one. And it would be foolish of the marketing people to expect that. Just like it would be stupid to think that everyone wants to pretend to scratch a record like DJ Jazzy Jeff.
(Oh, and… I’ve played Diplomacy. But not by mail, e-mail, carrier pidgeon, etc. Just as a board game, in the same room as other people. And I have to say, it’s a kinda dull game live and in person, so I can’t imagine what a correspondence barrier does for it…)
With regards to The Beatles, I’m not a fan of them. Sure some of the songs are etched into my head over years of torture being forced to listen to father’s radio selection in the car as a kid, but I truely believe that on the whole, they were tone deaf!
I suppose some of todays technology can improve the standards of the recording, and artificially improve the pitch and tone, but still, I think they’re awful.
Having said that, at least 2 of my friends bought Rock Band and instruments specifically for The Beatles edition. They were wise enough not to get the special edition controllers though, and I allowed them the chance to wow me with the game.
I thought that I would end up having to stave my own face in listening to the songs, but that wasn’t an issue in the end. Compared to regular GH / RB games, I found that the colours were far too pastelled for my eyes to take more than 10 minutes. Combine that with the nasty oufits symbolic to the band, an I am happy I decided not to even rent the game out of curiousity.
With regards to The Beatles, I’m not a fan of them. Sure some of the songs are etched into my head over years of torture being forced to listen to father’s radio selection in the car as a kid, but I truely believe that on the whole, they were tone deaf!
I suppose some of todays technology can improve the standards of the recording, and artificially improve the pitch and tone, but still, I think they’re awful.
Having said that, at least 2 of my friends bought Rock Band and instruments specifically for The Beatles edition. They were wise enough not to get the special edition controllers though, and I allowed them the chance to wow me with the game.
I thought that I would end up having to stave my own face in listening to the songs, but that wasn’t an issue in the end. Compared to regular GH / RB games, I found that the colours were far too pastelled for my eyes to take more than 10 minutes. Combine that with the nasty oufits symbolic to the band, an I am happy I decided not to even rent the game out of curiousity.
Yes us brits are weird, you can get a magazine for pretty much anything you can imagine. For play-by-post, I wouldn’t mind giving it a go, I mean try everything once right? The problem is most of the people I know would probably take 4 days to decide their next move.
ratio of gaming to TV, probably 98% gaming, on the TV the only shows I really watch are documentaries about living on the moon, and the dying genre of the game review shows :'(. Other than that I only really use my PC for digital entertainment, not that I want to sound overly-sad, cos I do do other things…
REALLY!
pop.
Yes us brits are weird, you can get a magazine for pretty much anything you can imagine. For play-by-post, I wouldn’t mind giving it a go, I mean try everything once right? The problem is most of the people I know would probably take 4 days to decide their next move.
ratio of gaming to TV, probably 98% gaming, on the TV the only shows I really watch are documentaries about living on the moon, and the dying genre of the game review shows :'(. Other than that I only really use my PC for digital entertainment, not that I want to sound overly-sad, cos I do do other things…
REALLY!
pop.