Posts Tagged ‘Beatles’

Not exactly the Beatles: Rock Band announcement we’ve all been waiting for, but after what seems like an eternity to all the Wii and PS3 players out there, Harmonix has finally announced this morning that the two consoles will be getting the Beatles: Rock Band DLC track “All You Need is Love.”  It will be available on the Wii on Feburary 16th, and the PS3 on March 4th for $1.99.

For you guys that own the Beatles: Rock Band on the Wii and PS3, will you be picking this track up?

[Official announcement]

Since the release of the Beatles: Rock Band on the Xbox 360, Microsoft has been running a promotion with MTV Games and Harmonix where a portion of each sale of the Beatles “All You Need is Love” DLC track is donated to the charity Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

“We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of people around the world who have contributed to us through the download of “All You Need Is Love” and the sales of the one-of-a-kind Xbox console [see above],” said Dr. Matthew Spitzer, president of the Board of Directors for MSF-USA. “It is because of funds generated from initiatives such as this that MSF was able to respond to the Haiti earthquake so quickly, providing urgent lifesaving medical care immediately in the aftermath.” he added. “With your continued support, we will be able to carry on our medical work in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe. On behalf of our patients, MSF says ‘Thank You.’”

MSF has been working in Haiti since 1991, responding to emergency medical needs and ongoing medical crises in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Because MSF was already running programs in Haiti when the earthquake struck – with over 800 staff already on the ground—the organization was able to quickly mobilize in the immediate aftermath of the January 12 earthquake. Staff members set up emergency triage centers and began treating people with major trauma wounds, fractures, and crush injuries. An inflatable MSF field hospital equipped with two operating theatres has been set up and is currently running, and MSF cargo planes loaded with emergency personnel and supplies have reached the country. To date, MSF is running 15 hospitals in and outside of the capital, has treated over 6,000 patients, and has conducted nearly 1,000 surgical operations. MSF’s work, such as their immediate response to the Haiti earthquake, is made possible by unrestricted private donations to the organization. With the support of donors, MSF has been, and will continue to be, able to provide the best possible medical care for the people who need it most.

From the sale of each download, 112 MS Points (or $1.40) was donated to Doctors Without Borders.  The promotion ends on January 31, 2010, so if you still haven’t purchased it, go get it NOW! Not only will you potentially be helping the people of Haiti, but you will also be getting a classic track from the Beatles. In addition to downloading “All You Need Is Love” on Xbox LIVE, supporters are encouraged to visit the MSF web site here if they are interested in donating.

Just my PS3 instruments... before I bought the Beatles bundle!

I recently saw an article in the Chicago Tribune titled “‘Beatles: Rock Band’ sales slow over holidays as music video game genre bombs.”  Ouch.  Personally, I’m still as excited about the genre as I was when I first played Guitar Hero, and as long as Harmonix keeps making games, I’ll be happy.  Plus, that’s not even including the forthcoming RBN Music Store launch!  With that being said, I still wanted to check out the piece to see what was being reported on with the genre.

The article explains that global sales of the Beatles: Rock Band were 1.7 million units sold, compared to only 996,000 units moved of Guitar Hero 5.  So first of all, kudos to the Beatles: Rock Band for beating it’s rival!  (I haven’t seen any good quotes regarding Guitar Hero vs. Rock Band from the Cocky Kotick lately!)  According to the article, that’s where the good news ends for Rock Band.  To put the Beatles: Rock Band sales in perspective, Rock Band 2 sold the same amount in a smaller time frame in the US alone.  Also, 2009 music gaming revenue was $1.06 billion, down 46% from prior year, versus a total industry decrease of only 8%.

That doesn’t look good.  But after thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that there are a number of things that are not touched upon in the article that I wish were explained in much greater detail, so I guess that’s my job…

The piece does not even mention digital downloads, which based on an interview with Alex Rigopulos, CEO of Harmonix, and Brian Brights, Project Director of the Guitar Hero franchise, the next step in the evolution of the genre will be in user-generated content, which is virtually impossible to do incorporate in traditional industry reporting methods, and skewing reported results against music gaming.  Just prior to the end of 2009, the Rock Band DLC library reached 1,000 songs; a very impressive feat.  There are no official statistics on how much revenue the DLC has generated for Rock Band, but I used a quick and dirty method to make a rough guess.  Using Keldon’s Rock Band Scores site, I was able to figure out roughly how many tracks have been sold.  (His site only pulls back tracks that have scores with them, so this total is actually slightly understating the total sales, as there are surely tracks out there for one reason or another have not been played and had a score recorded.)  If you back out the free tracks, and multiply by $2 each (I understand some were priced at $.99, but this is just a ballpark estimate), you can reasonably estimate that DLC has generated between $90-$100 million in revenue.  If you compare this figure to sales thus far of Guitar Hero 5 (which has sold just south of 1 million copies), even at $60 each, the Rock Band DLC has outsold one of it’s major disc-based competitors (granted the DLC has been selling since late 2007 and Guitar Hero 5 has only been available since September).  It appears that disc-based content is still the dominant way to generate revenue, digital distribution should not be ignored.

The other thing that I didn’t think was emphasized enough is the fact that revenue sales for the genre were always budgeted to drop at some point once the market became saturated with the related hardware.  I’ve bought each bundle for all three major Rock Band games, but I’m the exception.  I think it’s safe to assume that the average customer who purchased the Rock Band 1 bundle did not purchase the Rock Band 2 or Beatles bundle, but would have rather purchased the game only.  All things being equal (Rock Band 2 vs. Rock Band 1 instrument quality, Beatles limited edition bundle pricing, Track Packs/LEGO Rock Band/Guitar Hero games), if you purchased the Rock Band 2 bundle near full retail (~$170), and then purchased the Beatles: Rock Band game only (~$60) the following year, even though you have purchased both of the major franchise games in consecutive years, this represents a 65% drop in revenue for the franchise.  (And just FYI, do not confuse revenue with profit.  Profit is the money you have AFTER expenses; revenue is strictly how much money you bring in.)  It’s safe to assume that Harmonix was well aware of this, and attempted to offset this disparity by releasing additional games (Classic Rock, Country, and Metal Track Packs, LEGO Rock Band, even Rock Band: Unplugged).  That is why sales dollars metrics used when discussing the music gaming genre paints the wrong picture.  The units sold metric represents a much better barometer of the music gaming genre.

Finally, I was shocked at the 46% revenue drop in the genre referenced in the article, and wanted to take a look at the NPD report, but I was having trouble finding the original source as it relates to full year 2009.  What I did find, was the EXACT SAME statistic being referenced back in September about the genre.  I don’t want to sound all “conspiracy theory” here, but I’m wondering if the statistic referenced in the latest article is a good number, or just sloppy reporting.  I mean, both major franchises released TWO games this fall, instead of only one per franchise in 2008.  I find it hard to believe that the year-to-date decline in August 2009 perfectly matched the revenue decline at the end of the year.  And even for the sake of the argument, if the 46% at the end of the year is a good number, that means the drop in revenue for the genre leveled out around the time that the Beatles: Rock Band came out.  Q1 and Q2 were clearly bad for the genre, but the bleeding stopped in Q3, so anyone saying that the genre is dying doesn’t know what they are talking about.

With all that being said, it does not surprise me that the genre would cool down to some extent.  Stocking up on plastic instruments on top of a pricey console in a tough economy is not a welcoming proposition to many gamers and many families.  And since the trend in the gaming genre is to have an ever increasing amount of players (from 1 to 2 early on, to 4 with Rock Band, and then even to 6 with the Beatles: Rock Band), there’s less of an incentive for the casual player to invest in a full bundle, when their best friend next door has it.  It’s clear that the market for peripherals has been saturated.  But has music gaming reached it’s peak?  Rigopulos doesn’t seem to think so.  While Activision has been primarily concentrating on a disc-based distribution method, Harmonix has invested more in digital distribution while concurrently releasing disc-based games.  They are also committing user-generated content to digital distribution via the Rock Band Network, with the RBN Music Store launching in only a few weeks time, and I couldn’t be more excited!

So what about you? Has your interest for music gaming cooled?  What impact is the RBN going to have on your interest level?  Let’s hear you sound off in the comments!

Sir Paul McCartney presented at last night’s Golden Globe awards for Best Animated Feature, and right after taking the stage, he made a nice little reference to Rock Band! Check it out above (reference is at the beginning, so no need to watch the whole thing).

Sorry for the quality. If you know of a better source, let me know and I can replace.

Ringo Starr was on the Jimmy Fallon show last night, and was cool enough to answer fan submitted questions. The final question of the clip above is from a fan asking Ringo how good he is at the Beatles: Rock Band. Check out the video to see his full hilarious response!

Don’t worry, Ringo, at least you have a fall back career!

I knew that a major pop culture outlet would eventually pit the two largest rhythm gaming franchises’ biggest releases against each other before the end of year, and here we have it!

But now that it’s here, I’m starting to think that it’s an unfair fight.  I mean, the only thing the two games have in common is that they are both rhythm games.  The music couldn’t be more diametrically opposed, they share none of the same peripherals, and the developers are completely different.

With all that being said, it still makes me happy that they chose the Beatles: Rock Band, though!

[Entertainment Weekly]