Harmonix: Future Music Game Sales 'Will Exceed Last Generation'
In a recent interview with Edge Magazine, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos and Neversoft project manager Brian Bright shared their thoughts on the state of music rhythm games. "2009 was a tough year with the recession, which especially affects music games given the relatively high price point of instrument bundles," said Rigopulos. According to Gamasutra, music game sales were down 46% during 2009 in the United States.
Some analysts have speculated that the music rhythm bubble has burst, not surprisingly both the Rock Band and Guitar Hero developers are optimistic about the future of the genre. In the Harmonix CEO's mind "people’s passion for music isn’t going away, and rhythm gaming will continue to provide people with a deeper level of engagement with the music they love. So, yes, I do think that future music games will exceed the sales success of the last generation."
Both men appear to be in agreement that user-generated content is the next logical step for the genre. "I think user-created content is key to the evolution... if you can't create or edit licensed music due to copyright laws, then you're limited to pretending to play someone else's music," said Brian Bright. Rigopulos echoes his view, saying "user-generated content will be absolutely critical to the ongoing success of the genre."
Harmonix believe they've reached that next step with their user-creation service, Rock Band Network, which is currently undergoing beta testing.
