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.
@Gabe Newell teases something for E3 2012 with a “3” in it:
“DOTA 2 launches on E3” ? It has a 3 in it … Or how about Portal 3? I mean people do hope for HL3 or at least HL2 – episode 3.
How about Team Fortress 3 🙂
@Microsoft includes “do not class action sue us”:
So it seems that bad practices tend to replace good practices. I mean while “do not class action sue us” will protect the company (cover it’s ass), it also allows it to be evil and get away with it.
Are they that sloppy that they feel that they need this kind of a clause? Or even worse, do they plan to do nasty stuff with your personal data?
About light bulbs: I heard that the ones built for the 220V will work just as well on 110V, but last much longer. Hint hint, if you have a trip to Europe 🙂
@Bizarre circumstances surround GSC Game World:
They sold quite a good number of the STALKER games, enough to keep the studio afloat. I think that these kind of news are just advertising, like the ARG for Valve.
I’m a big STALKER fan, by the way. Their earlier games were also pretty good (loved “Codename: Outbreak”).
As for 25 years, it’s still a small amount of time. I mean files remain classified as top secret for 50 years, unless their status is renewed for another 50.
Good segway there Paul!
@QOTW: the only handheld game system we had was one that could play snake and tetris. So big surprise, my favourite game was tetris, on a nameless handheld (’cause “17 in 1” is not a name) made in China 🙂
Just so you know, I took the time and left you an iTunes comment.
@Gabe Newell teases something for E3 2012 with a “3” in it: I look forward to seeing whatever game Valve releases next, but these kind of teasers for a teaser in kind of tiring to me. I won’t get excited until I see an actual gameplay trailer. Possible new releases other than Half-Life ending with 3: Team Fortress 3, Portal 3 and Left 4 Dead 3.
@QOTW: Sorry, I have never owned a handheld gaming system. This is because I have never found any reason to buy one (it’s better value to spend the money on a home console) and anyway I would only be able to play it at home because it takes less than an hour to get from one side of my country to the other, and there aren’t a lot of games that interest me on a handheld.