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.
Thanks to the New Hampshire’s “State of Emergency” it looks as if we’ll have to delay the podcast a bit this week. We have had no electricity in four days and continue to have to deal with lack of power in our day-to-day life.
Hi Guys.
You know it: thanks as always for the episode 🙂
I played a lot of Diablo 4 the last weeks, but besides this i only watched some tv series and did not play that much (not even Magic!).
Handheld discussion: i really love the Switch and my new “console” the steam deck, because i love to have the possibility to take it on a trip or to play some smaller games while in bed or on the plane or stuff like that. If i will buy a possible pS5 handheld … cant say …. at the moment there are not enough games out for ps5 which interest me … i am still playing god of war (not the new one, the remastered HDR 4k version of the ps4!).
Jagges Alliance: never played any of these … dont hit me too hard for this 🙂
Hifi Rush: neither played this one … i think now i will be dismissed, right? 😉
Gamescon: you only mentioned it in one sentence, but i am looking forward if there will be some new interesting indie titles, because these are more interesting for me than most of the triple A titles. If one of you will visit the gamescon, just give me a hint, maybe we can have diner together or if you need a place to sleep.
Keep on the good work and stay healthy and happy!
Greetings from germany,
Ralf