See what CNET Editors have to sayIs the Beatles Rock Band game too late?
The long-buzzed-about Beatles video game, from the creators of the Rock Band franchise, made news this past week with some pricing details and an official release date. The Beatles: Rock Band, coming September 9, 2009, will be available as a $59 stand-alone game, a $99 bundle with a guitar, and a $249 bundle which also includes a drum kit.
While this is about as big a coup as a video game publisher could hope for, and we'll be the first in line to jam along with "Hey Bulldog" (which will hopefully be included), there's still reason to be concerned that as long-time holdouts to any form of digital distribution, the Beatles are showing up too late to make a real splash.
The most important factor is that consumers may have already reached a saturation point in terms of music rhythm games. We're on the fourth generation of guitar-bundled music games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and the second generation of the full drum/guitar/microphone versions. Even though both franchises continue to be popular, they're not selling as quickly as they used to--after all, once you have one set of plastic drums and guitars--do you really need another?
Viacom recently saw, "lower sales of Rock Band than we originally hoped," and Activision says sales of Guitar Hero games are down 22 percent year-over-year. When we visited a local Circuit City to check out its liquidation sale, one of the most striking images was the stacks and stacks of discounted, but unsold, music games.
Also worth considering is that the Beatles (and their heirs and business partners) have largely sat out the most recent trends in music distribution, ignoring digital download opportunities such as iTunes and the Amazon MP3 store.
While surely gaining new young fans every day, this is still a band that broke up in 1970. Other longtime MP3 holdouts include Metallica (now available on iTunes) and AC/DC, but both those bands have continued to tour and release new material--and both have already climbed on the guitar game bandwagon. By keeping the music in the walled garden of physical CD sales for so long, there may be an entire generation of digital natives (a key video game demographic) that have missed out that particular Magical Mystery Tour.
New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan.
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Despite not recording for forty years and despite not having their songs available on itunes, they're still popular among the MP3 crowd.
For example, according to tracking site last.fm, the Beatles are the most played band among their users. Their songs have been played 151,587,997 times, slightly more than Radiohead and way ahead of Coldplay--two bands STILL RELEASING NEW MUSIC.
http://www.last.fm/music
"One," an album of number one hits released this millennium, has sold over 40 million copies worldwide. Again, without the help of digital distribution.
It will depend on the how well the game turns out, but this may be the game that takes the Music Game to the next level. Just the promo shot from the inside of Abbey Road studios gives one hope. I predict it will bring a new gamut of fans to the genre from outside the gaming community.
The Beatles aren't late to the table. They are the table.
and all that !
More than introducing youngsters to the great music of the 60's, I wouldnt be supprised if this game helped introduce allot of older, non gamers to the world of interactive musical entertainment. It's gonna Rock the Flock, no doubt :)
I bet we'll play the thing twice a year, but it WILL be here....I agree though, the Beatles principles seem to lag trendy pop culture, but the juggernaut that is the Beatles cares not.
Late to the party, but they Are the party. Catch 22?
LFLCD
Even if this was a band I liked, no way could I ever consider $250 to be anything more than a rip-off and that will turn off a lot of potential consumers.
90% of games today are 60 bucks brand new. The Wii version being 60 surprises me A LITTLE, but that's actually the going rate of PS3 and 360 games.
As far as the 250 price point for the whole pack? It's that because there's two guitars. 190 (bundle of drums, guitar, mic, and game) + 60 (second guitar) = 250. They could, by rights, charge more. Let's break it down: 1 guitar = $60, $60 X 2 = $120, + Drums ($80-$100) = $200 - $220 (We'll go with $200 for the sake of argument), + Microphone ($30) = $230, + Game ($60) = a whopping $280. They're also doing something NO OTHER Rock Band set has and releasing the game with just the guitars for cheaper. Also, all the instruments in the game will be "The Beatles: Rock Band" branded and if you don't need the Beatles branded stuff, those of us who have bought previous Rock Bands will be able to use all the old instruments with the 60 dollar basic game. It's really not all that crazy if you break it down into component bits.
Zukin, I know that most PS3 and Xbox 360 games are $60. But most Wii games are $50. Also, no matter how you try and rationalize it $250 is overpriced. Just because they overcharged for previous sets ($190 was ridiculous for Rock Band 2) doesn't justify charging even more for this. I think there is a reason the Wii versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band outsell the others: it's cheaper in price (that and the fact that the Wii is selling a ton of systems and is the undisputed leader this gen).
The original settlement was that Apple Inc. owned the trademark rights to anything electronic and Apple Corp owned the trademark with relation to musical content and physical musical media. Then Apple Inc included musically sounding stuff in the Apple II and Apple Corp sued, and won. Then Apple Inc introduced iTunes and Apple Corp sued and lost big. The English high court ruled that iTunes was a digital distribution service and not musical content, that Apple Inc was only providing a means for digital music to be distributed and ordered Apple Corp to pay the roughly 2 million dollars in legal fees to Apple Inc.
After that Apple Corp and Apple Inc settled the case. Since then they have come to an agreement that Apple Inc can use the Apple logo for basically whatever, except they licensed Apple Corp the exclusive use of Apple and the granny smith apple for musical content, physical music media, etc. and now they get along apparently.
link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v._Apple_Computer
As for the Beatles game, I'm good for the $59 stand-alone. Already have the instruments from Rock Band 1/2 so the accessories are a moot point.
But thats just me...
Yes. It doesn't matter how long ago they broke up. I don't think many younger people playing RB or GH know all the artists of the songs represented. If the songs are good and easy to play, then they will be successful.
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by W1gglesnarf
March 9, 2009 2:38 PM PDT
- Beetles = not great to my personal taste, but I know a ton of people who have been waiting and drooling at the possibility for them to be released in a game enviorment. Im sure it will sell just fine.
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