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.
Bioshock arrived on the Xbox 360 almost August of 2007, about one year from this month. It’s set to arrive on the PlayStation 3 in October of 2008, over one year after the Xbox 360 version. Is it too late?
Hey guys,
I just finished reading ‘Racing the Beam’, a semi-technical, semi-historical book on the Atari VCS and I’m currently reading ‘The Ultimate History of Video Games’ so your Gaming History segment was timed perfectly. I never had the Atari VCS but I did have the Atari 800XL machine and I did play most of the classic games. It’s certainly one of the most important companies in the history of video gaming and it’s a really fun and interesting story to read and listen about.
@Kinect
I never used the Kinect but the PS4 also has the voice command support and I never use it. I feel silly talking to a machine when I know I can do most of the stuff faster and easier with the controller. I am not suprised that the Kinect has been unbundled from the XBone. Those who think they spent too much money will just as easily sell their Kinects to those who want them. I don’t think it’s an issue. Overall, it seems to me that motion controls are vastly underused but there’s probably a reason for it. Other than party games I don’t really find them that fun. Having said that, I played through Heavy Rain using the PS Move and it wasn’t all that bad. Still, it’s a unique game, which attempts to be as immersive as possible.
@Philips versus Nintendo
This is so bizarre I don’t even know where to start… Why the Wii U and not the Move or the Kinect, which seem to infringe on the patent even more? Does it have to do with the scanner you talked about or the nunchucks because that’s still not clear to me? Didn’t Philips sue Nintendo over a different patent many years ago? Something about CD-i?
@QOTW
I don’t believe I played that many educational games back in the day. I remember a math game featuring Disney characters and butterfly nets but I don’t even remember what platform that was on. Atari or Commodore… Need For Speed didn’t teach me how to drive, Killzone didn’t teach me how to kill and Spelunky didn’t teach me about exploring caves. I prefer games for their entertainment value although I will have to look into the education genres when I have my own kids…