[Fudgepuppy]

http://www.rockband.com/blog/rock-ba...nding-in-april

As you may have seen in our recent announcement regarding the release of Rock Band Blitz tracks as singles, Rock Band DLC production has gradually slowed over the past five years. We have managed to maintain a consistent release schedule for a staggering 275 consecutive weeks, releasing over 4,000 songs for the Rock Band Platform, but in recent months we’ve scaled production down as we’ve transitioned resources onto other projects. With several new titles in development and developers needed to usher these new games along, April 2nd will be the last weekly DLC release for Rock Band. While there is no content currently scheduled beyond April 2nd, we still have DLC releases lined up for the next few weeks, including the remaining tracks from Rock Band Blitz, several Pro Guitar upgrades, and a handful of artists who have not yet appeared in Rock Band. We’re incredibly proud of the DLC milestones we’ve set, especially producing the largest music library of any game available, and we wouldn’t have been able to release as much outstanding content without the support of our amazing community. As thanks to the community, we’re going to continue the ongoing DLC sale of 50% off over 1,100 songs so fans can continue to build their personal libraries from our back catalog. We hope that you’ll all agree that this has been a tremendous run, and you should know it’s a ride that we at Harmonix have been thrilled to be a part of. We’re going to continue to support the forums and RockBand.com and hope to still see you rocking out online, in photos of Rock Band parties shared on Twitter and Facebook, or here on the forums. Whether you waited in line for a midnight release of Rock Band over 5 years ago, or you just joined the party with Rock Band Blitz… whether you’ve downloaded every single song we’ve ever released, or you’ve just played on disc songs until your neighbors moved away… whether you’re a metal shredder, or a bubblegum pop singer… thank you for being a part of our band. There's an extensive FAQ available in the Rock Band forums - click here to read it. To discuss this announcement, please visit the official discussion thread in the Rock Band forums.

End of an era.

And still no more Rammstein, Muse, Tool etc etc.

I really hope they will revitalize the genre soon.

[CambriaRising]

I didn't even realize they were still doing this.

[U2NUMB]

Damn.. my dream of any U2 song is dead :( oh well hope they come up with something new for next gen.

I am guessing due to Blitz not really breathing new life into their downloads this is sooner than expected.

[The Dutch Slayer]

I have about 1000 songs, so yeah its really an end of era

[Sunflower]

Finally! Now the Xbox->Add-ons->New Releases will have something besides Rock Band songs shitting them up. Been waiting for this day!

[JehutyRunner]

End of an era. :(

[KieferCrimson]

Oops, I swear I didn't see a thread was created. My bad. (:

I played Rock Band 3 for a total of 265 hours, even with that, I know I played RB2 a lot more than 3. I fear to know how many hours I invested in this game. Most of them singing, haha.

[zulux21]

while I am sad to hear that they are stopping the fact is I rarely buy songs anymore. I am still hoping that if there is a rock band 4 on the next gen systems some how my dlc will carry over as I seriously doubt I will even touch a new generation of rock band games if I have to start my library over.

[ultron87]

Absolutely amazing run. One of these days I should go back in and check out the several years worth of songs I never really looked to see if anything strikes my fancy.

[2&2]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[drizzle]

What pisses me off the most is that my Rockband 2 guitar is messed the fuck up, but since I don't live in the US, there's no way in hell I can buy a replacement for it without paying WAY THE HELL MORE than they're worth it.

So my Rockband gameplay (and song purchase) diminished violently the past two years.

I wonder what happens next gen? Do they create a XBLA-equivalent wrapper that will play all those songs? They can't possibly start all over again, right? The genre is dead.

[Live Free or Die]

Still no Elvis Presley. :-(

[MasterBalls]

I remember how amazing a concept this was back when all I had was Guitar Hero II on the PS2. Never got quite as much use out of Rock Band (mostly due to friends being awful at the game/poor quality instruments breaking down), but I own most the games, and bought a few DLC tracks. Always been much better produced and handled than anything Activision/Vicarious did.

[Carl]

I didn't even realize they were still doing this.

Pretty much. Had no idea they were still supporting it. Great that they were, though.

[KieferCrimson]

What pisses me off the most is that my Rockband 2 guitar is messed the fuck up, but since I don't live in the US, there's no way in hell I can buy a replacement for it without paying WAY THE HELL MORE than they're worth it. So my Rockband gameplay (and song purchase) diminished violently the past two years. I wonder what happens next gen? Do they create a XBLA-equivalent wrapper that will play all those songs? They can't possibly start all over again, right? The genre is dead.

I have been looking for a PS3 guitar in Mexico and possibly hunt RB3 to play it a bit, but they're ridiculously rare. :/

Here's hoping they release a XBLA/PSN Rock Band 4 instead of a fully made $60 title, but I'm not so sure after Blitz didn't do that well, IIRC.

[Fudgepuppy]

Oops, I swear I didn't see a thread was created. My bad. (: I played Rock Band 3 for a total of 265 hours, even with that, I know I played RB2 a lot more than 3. I fear to know how many hours I invested in this game. Most of them singing, haha.

Hey dude, your thread was created one minute before mine so I should be the one apologizing. :)

[plutoknight]

As an avid Rock Bander for most of that 5 year run, this makes me incredibly sad.

(Last song is American Pie. I'm calling it now!)

[McBradders]

Profound sadness.

[Gooster]

I'm amazed at how long they'd been able to keep it up. What a run.

[Ridley327]

They've been prepping people for this for a few weeks now, so it's not a huge shock to the system. That being said, the amount of support this game has received is practically peerless, so they can at least be proud that they managed to do something truly unprecedented.

[MrPink93485]

I hope they end with a bang at least. I mean, it was unexpected when Aerosmith came to RB3, hopefully they've got something else up their sleeves similar to that

[steveovig]

That's BS. They should've taken the time to release more than just three songs a week, generally, if this were coming. Now, we'll never get more Aerosmith or any Metallica. I'm a little disappointed.

[drizzle]

I have been looking for a PS3 guitar in Mexico and possibly hunt RB3 to play it a bit, but they're ridiculously rare. :/ Here's hoping they release a XBLA/PSN Rock Band 4 instead of a fully made $60 title, but I'm not so sure after Blitz didn't do that well, IIRC.

Disks are cheap to buy and ship overseas. Hell, RockBand 3 is even available on Games on Demand on the 360.

The instruments are a pain in the ass to buy and/or import though.

[Ridley327]

That's BS. They should've taken the time to release more than just three songs a week, generally, if this were coming. Now, we'll never get more Aerosmith or any Metallica. I'm a little disappointed.

They assuredly didn't have a pipeline big enough to support much more than three songs a week.

[Hydranockz]

Congrats to them for what they've achieved over the years with this system.

[Sp3eD]

Pretty much. Had no idea they were still supporting it. Great that they were, though.

IMO the last year or so has had the best songs released. But this is also coming from somebody that is a giant 80's fan.

[BassForever]

A few years ago plastic guitar games were dominating the industry and DLC for them was all the rage, sad to see it die like this but it kind of reach a point of no return with what you could do with them.

[Dinosur]

[Bedlam]

"We hope that you’ll all agree that this has been a tremendous run"

Yep. Thanks for all the fun I had with this series of games (and GH1&2), HMX! Over the past few years I've bought hundreds of songs and never regretted a single purchase. The support for this game was unrivaled, especially given the hardships along the way.

Also, I'm reading this thread with a (real) guitar on my lap, practicing new songs. It's because of GH1 that I picked it up and learned how to play. So, thanks for that as well!

I seriously hope they give us a new RB game on the next gen consoles and make the DLC compatible (I'd even pay a small license upgrade fee).

[StrikerObi]

Saddest gaming news I've heard in a long while. I haven't bought DLC in a few months but that's mostly because they haven't been releasing stuff in my wheelhouse, and recently it's been all Blitz songs that I already have.

[steveovig]

They assuredly didn't have a pipeline big enough to support much more than three songs a week.

Still, I want my damn Metallica and "Dude Looks Like A Lady". And don't bother saying 'go get GH:Metallica" as I tried that and didn't like it. Bitch session is over for now!

[Seul Fantome]

Good on Harmonix for keeping it up as long as they did. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they’re doing next.

[Dinosur]

I seriously hope they give us a new RB game on the next gen consoles and make the DLC compatible (I'd even pay a small license upgrade fee).

My pessimistic view is that ending the DLC run pretty much means there's no hope for a RB4.

Either that or it's a stopgap because current gen DLC isn't going to transfer to the new consoles. Which is too gross to think about.

[Tashi]

Poor Fyrewulf :(

[JeTmAn81]

Noooo :( The only thing worse than this would be the Rock Band DLC not carrying over to next-gen consoles.

[Cheddahz]

It's been a run, I actually played some Rock Band 3 a week ago for the first time in a while and had a blast. My family and I used to buy RB songs every week and play it for hours (I have a bunch of songs stored on my 360 drive, which is sadly the main reason why my hard drive has been taken up). It's been quite an adventure and that has brought a lot of memories

Fin

[Gunstarheroes]

I'm excited to see what the last few weeks have now, since we are looking towards the end.

[Rapstah]

Fuck. I get it, but shit, what a shame for this to end. Add this to the mix:

We don’t have any Rock Band titles in active development at the moment, and we’ll no longer be releasing weekly DLC, but you can expect us to continue to support the existing titles and the extensive song library.

And I'd say it's pretty much set that Rock Band isn't moving on to the next consoles.

[Meier]

It should be noted that they said weekly DLC will stop. There could still be some released, it just won't be a steady stream.

[Baconsammy]

Finally! Now the Xbox->Add-ons->New Releases will have something besides Rock Band songs shitting them up. Been waiting for this day!

lol that was my first thought too, but then I remembered there's a bunch of other dance/karoke games that will probably have their content polluting the new Add-ons list.

[bug_42]

This makes me sad

[FyreWulff]

It should be noted that they said weekly DLC will stop. There could still be some released, it just won't be a steady stream.

Nope. Already covered in their FAQ; it's a hard cutoff.

360 owners will be depending on RBN for new content. PS3 and Wii are absolutely done getting new DLC.


edit: also without a Guitar Hero in the market to compete against, the financial incentive is gone.

[Hop]

Profound sadness.

Amen.

We'll keep fueling the Rock Band Network as long as we can, though. Might buy us five months, might buy us five weeks. Who knows.

I've been into the series since before it actually launched, hunting down demo stations with my college friends. Five years later I'm sitting here making content for the series and making friends with musicians I wouldn't have known even existed otherwise. I know the game's been nearly a punchline for a lot of gamers, but it's actually meant something to me. Gonna be so weird not having this going on anymore. On the other hand, there isn't a clearer "move on" nudge that I could possibly get. I've been expecting that I'd need to start doing something else with my time, and... I guess the time is here.

[Struct09]

Had to end some time. It was a fun ride, and I can't wait to see what Harmonix makes next.

[AlphaTwo00]

We're never going to see the entire Beatles catalogue in the Beatles game, are we?

[birdman]

Good night sweet prince

edit: also without a Guitar Hero in the market to compete against, the financial incentive is gone.

It's more because there's no money in rhythm games like this anymore (which is why Guitar Hero stopped coming out).

[Wynnebeck]

We're never going to see the entire Beatles catalogue in the Beatles game, are we?

This. Also, no chance of ever playing Rock Band: Pink Floyd. :(

It's more because there's no money in rhythm games like this anymore (which is why Guitar Hero stopped coming out).

No, GH was canned because Activision flooded the market with so many GH titles, that sales fell off of a cliff.

[plutoknight]

I'm excited to see what the last few weeks have now, since we are looking towards the end.

Is it too much to hope for The Black Mages "Dancing Mad"? Oh, it is? :(

Fine, I'll take Stairway.

[Dave Meltzer]

Their sales must have nosedived. Music game DLC is so easy to make.

[Majine]

I hope the music game craze comes back some time. I liked it.