Imperial Hot
Banned
I like Activision a little more than EA, so I guess this is a good thing.
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LA Times: Activision pulls ahead of EA as #1 third party
- Thread starter mcdonnell
- Start date
Beer Monkey
Member
Regardless of whether GHIII beats Rock Band, anybody who thinks that Activision was dumb for buying Red Octane without Harmonix is smoking crack. They are going to make a ton on that purchase. Ultimately they'll net over 100 million on Guitar Hero Wii releases and accessories alone.
ElectricBlue187 said:agreed. Most people going to buy games this christmas have never heard of Rock Band, but they've heard of GH 3 and have probably played it at a friend's house, which one do ya think they'll get?
Rock Band will have EA & MTV's marketing power behind it so I wouldn't worry about it, word of mouth will also help push it just like it did for GH, Activision should enjoy it while it lasts
PS3 had Sony marketing power and PS2 brand to help... Seriously, i'm not saying that it will fail, but you can't judge things this way... It's like people like to eat crow on GAF.Link316 said:Rock Band will have EA & MTV's marketing power behind it so I wouldn't worry about it, word of mouth will also help push it just like it did for GH, Activision should enjoy it while it lasts
Yes. According to Nintendo's June NPD press release from yesterday they are the best selling software publisher in North America so far this year.legend166 said:On a related note, who's the biggest publisher of all in the US? Nintendo?
plagiarize
Banned
GH3 is going to smoke Rock Band at first. Rock Band will probably sell more like the original Guitar Hero, steady. might pass GH3 in the end... but it aint going to pass it before the end of this year.Link316 said:Rock Band will have EA & MTV's marketing power behind it so I wouldn't worry about it, word of mouth will also help push it just like it did for GH, Activision should enjoy it while it lasts
Rock Band will change nothing imo. One of the reasons DDR or Guitar Hero sold, was the simplicity - A mat or a toy guitar, that's all. Rock Band is too "big", it'll never have mainstream appeal, and there's the price point (which is bound to be high) to consider. I just don't see Rock Band doing as good as Guitar Hero.
FitzOfRage
Member
Is this the first time a 3rd party has passed EA in recent history (I would expect Activision or Take 2 could have done it in a limited time frame before)?
Regardless, I agree with others, I really think Activision still doesn't have the same depth to stay ahead of EA for long. They had a nice alignment of events iwith GH and the Transformers license paying off big time, neither of which I think they can sustain.
Let's face it we all know Activision is setting up to run GH into the ground. I expect at least 18 skus within the next 3 years.
Regardless, I agree with others, I really think Activision still doesn't have the same depth to stay ahead of EA for long. They had a nice alignment of events iwith GH and the Transformers license paying off big time, neither of which I think they can sustain.
Let's face it we all know Activision is setting up to run GH into the ground. I expect at least 18 skus within the next 3 years.
plagiarize
Banned
i don't know. if you've already got a guitar for your 360, you only need to buy rock band and you've got a game as deep as guitar hero. you don't need to have all the instruments... plus that's where online comes in.dude said:Rock Band will change nothing imo. One of the reasons DDR or Guitar Hero sold, was the simplicity - A mat or a toy guitar, that's all. Rock Band is too "big", it'll never have mainstream appeal, and there's the price point (which is bound to be high) to consider. I just don't see Rock Band doing as good as Guitar Hero.
BishopLamont
Banned
GH3 will destroy Rockband in the short time, in the long term they'll equal out.
marvelharvey
Member
Guess it shows how much attention I pay to publishers, I thought Activision went out of business a year or two ago.
Guitar Hero 3 will NUKE Rock Band. The idea of Rock Band is super awesome but i think it did cross the perfect Guitar Hero balance of "price vs enjoyment you get". Only some super hardcore will buy a 200$ game that's all. Some gamers will buy it together too. All in all it won't lick Guitar Hero in sales. It's the same thing as a 600$ console -- no matter what you pack in it, it doesn't sell well simply because people aren't ready to pay 600$ for a console. Period.
People aren't ready to pay 200$ for a game. They will buy Wiis instead of Rock Band. Or did i miss some news and there would be Rock Bands packages with only one instrument at like 70$ ?
People aren't ready to pay 200$ for a game. They will buy Wiis instead of Rock Band. Or did i miss some news and there would be Rock Bands packages with only one instrument at like 70$ ?
plagiarize said:i don't know. if you've already got a guitar for your 360, you only need to buy rock band and you've got a game as deep as guitar hero. you don't need to have all the instruments... plus that's where online comes in.
Masses like brands, Guitar Hero is a brand and Rock Band is not. Rock band will sell OK, but for the "hardcores".
Speaking of online, I don't know about the masses, but I don't care much for online in this type of games. I mean, DDR is a game you have to see your opponent, or it's just not as fun. And for me, It's even more so for Rock Band, because it has this all "Look how ridiculous we look pretending we're a rock band" attitude...
Rock Band isn't going to do much for EA this year. Madden, The Simpsons, and Harry Potter on the other hand... I think the Simpsons could be the big sleeper this year. I'm seeing a lot of awareness for that movie, and it's a family-friendly IP.
On a separate note, COD4 is going to be huge this holiday.
On a separate note, COD4 is going to be huge this holiday.
plagiarize
Banned
hey, i'm predicting that gh3 will drastically outpace rock band for the foreseeable future, but that rock band could take over in the long run.dude said:Masses like brands, Guitar Hero is a brand and Rock Band is not. Rock band will sell OK, but for the "hardcores".
Speaking of online, I don't know about the masses, but I don't care much for online in this type of games. I mean, DDR is a game you have to see your opponent, or it's just not as fun. And for me, It's even more so for Rock Band, because it has this all "Look how ridiculous we look pretending we're a rock band" attitude...
rock band is sort of like 3 compatible games.
it isn't just going to appeal to the guitar hero crowd. it has kareoke and drumming in there too... sure it's still limited to 'rock' but that's a pretty wide arena.
guitar hero (and i'm betting rock band) moved past that 'this game makes me look silly!'. oh, sure, you still looked silly playing it, but you *felt* like the coolest mother****er around... that's why it appealed to a new audience.
the online is there so that you don't have to run out and buy all the instruments.
this one is going to be advertised as 'from the makers of guitar hero' and since it isn't just another guitar game (and since it works with the guitar hero controller) i'd bet that a lot of people aren't even going to realise this is from a different publisher.
it'll start off slower than GH3 (and GH3 is uncontested on PS2 and Wii) on PS3 and 360... but just like the original guitar hero (which had less of a reputation when it came out than rock band has) the sales will slowly pick up as word of mouth spreads.
Ranger X said:People aren't ready to pay 200$ for a game. They will buy Wiis instead of Rock Band. Or did i miss some news and there would be Rock Bands packages with only one instrument at like 70$ ?
No, you didn't miss anything, it is EA simply being EA. The Rock Band SKUs as per Gamestop:
1. $200 whole hog set: mic, guitar, drums, game
2. $80 guitar
3. $80 drums
4. $30 mic
5. $60 game
There is NO $100 guitar/game kit like you can get with Guitar Hero 3, which IMHO is the upper range of the limit people are willing to pay for this game. Time will tell.
EA has another problem in that GH3 comes out a full month sooner, and GH has better name recognition as well. In the end it doesn't matter because these kinds of games have obscene legs, but it is not logical that Rock Band will ever touch GH3 in sales.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
Wait, Rock Band + Guitar = $140? Why?
RichP said:No, you didn't miss anything, it is EA simply being EA. The Rock Band SKUs as per Gamestop:
1. $200 whole hog set: mic, guitar, drums, game
2. $80 guitar
3. $80 drums
4. $30 mic
5. $60 game
There is NO $100 guitar/game kit like you can get with Guitar Hero 3, which IMHO is the upper range of the limit people are willing to pay for this game. Time will tell.
EA has another problem in that GH3 comes out a full month sooner, and GH has better name recognition as well. In the end it doesn't matter because these kinds of games have obscene legs, but it is not logical that Rock Band will ever touch GH3 in sales.
Is it confirmed that there will be no instrument+game bundles? Makes little sense.
AdmiralViscen
Banned
Sho_Nuff82 said:Wait, Rock Band + Guitar = $140? Why?
It's only a GameStop placeholder.
If it turns out to be true, I certainly won't be buying it, despite obscene hype for it and disinterest in GH3.
We shall see.
plagiarize
Banned
there has been no confirmation of prices or bundles.AstroLad said:Is it confirmed that there will be no instrument+game bundles? Makes little sense.
plagiarize said:there has been no confirmation of prices or bundles.
Yeah, I didn't think so. I'd be really surprised if there weren't ~$100/110 instrument + game bundles.
RichP said:EA has another problem in that GH3 comes out a full month sooner, and GH has better name recognition as well. In the end it doesn't matter because these kinds of games have obscene legs, but it is not logical that Rock Band will ever touch GH3 in sales.
well yeah cause GH3 also has the PS2, but as far as the PS3 & 360 are concerned Rock Band has a very good chance of being of #1 on those platforms
AstroLad said:Yeah, I didn't think so. I'd be really surprised if there weren't ~$100/110 instrument + game bundles.
Since the instruments themselves are $80, I can't see how they would be able to sell the instrument + game for only $20-$30 more. I could maybe see a $125 bundle...?
RichP said:Since the instruments themselves are $80, I can't see how they would be able to sell the instrument + game for only $20-$30 more. I could maybe see a $125 bundle...?
I think that's probably right, I just actually want the game to do well so I'm optimistically slotting it in at a more reasonable price point (and let's face it, the single instrument + game bundle is the only one that really matters).
The reason EA was getting better was because they were falling from the top, no longer growing as fast as they used to, proving that at least for them, their old re-hash strategy was no longer successful for them.u_neek said:Just as EA was getting good, the crappiest developer takes the number 1 spot.