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.
Halo: ODST Reviews are in
…. Oh yeah my answer to ur question is below 8}
Well a lot of major game developers are where they are today because of making great original games and software. But much like the kernel, he’s gonna keep selling chicken till no wants it no more. Investors don’t like risk. In a financial prospective its probably wiser for a successful developer for example bungie and Activision to keep developing in games they know will sell like Halo and call of duty and leave there next innovative idea for a raining day. Maybe they wanna keep bleeding the well dry til the next generation of consoles. I hope the passion and pace of making new and better games in the industry doesn’t slow down cuz I think the history of gaming since the 80s is amazing. Btw Could you 3 make a time line presentation of what you think were the most epic stages/changes in gaming history.
Thanks for casting
cheers
Our answers to the scary question were in the forum – and you didn’t read mine.
As soon as I heard you saying the dog ate Krud’s post, it occurred to be that none of the posts that were put up in response BEFORE you made the scary game question of the week in a new post.
If you search for the original post by me you should see the responses.
-About the Question of the Week
Short answer, yes. Although, in their defense if it isn’t broke why fix it? Nintendo is living off it’s 20 year old IPs, Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Mario Kart, ect. It seems that Mario continues to bring new elements to the table, but c’mon I’m gonna call a spade a spade; it’s a platformer as it has been from day one.
I do think the nail has been hit squarely on the head though; games are a business just as much as they are art, so when the investors start clamoring new IPs will be developed
—-
Not about the question of the week
What does everyone think about the price cut of the wii, and rumors ( i think they’re rumors) about the upgraded Wii in 2011?
Unreal Tournament, the original 1999 game. I loved it 🙂
http://gamingpodcast.net/forum/suggestions/gaming-flashback-unreal-tournament/#p801