The Rock Band business is what dreams are made of, especially if those dreams are buckets and buckets of cold, hard cash.‚ The real music industry? Yeah that’s good and all, but the virtual stage is where the heat really is.
Harmonix and MTV Games announced today that the Rock Band franchise, after fifteen months available at North American retail has surpassed $1 billion in total sales fueled by the sale of over 40 million individual DLC tracks.
Believe it or not, in between Rock Band, Rock Band 2, and the plethora of DLC, the entire catalogue totals up to over 600 digital tunes.
Rock Band has succeeded so well in creating songs for absolutely every genre to hit on every demographic.‚ My DLC tracks range from Children of Bodom’s “Are you dead yet,” to Juli’s “Perfekte Welle,” and no I did not download Miranda Cosgrove’s “Headphone’s on,” but I could have.
With The Beatles: Rock Band looming on the horizon the kind of brand recognition Rock Band has built will surely help sales comes September 9th.
Key stats for the Rock Band franchise.
Sales
“¢ Rock Band‚® franchise has officially surpassed $1 billion dollars in North American retail sales in 15 months, according to the NPD Group
“¢ Rock Band was the #1 title of 2008 by revenue across all game genres (NPD)
Music / Downloadable Content
“¢ 614 songs offered via the Rock Band platform, both on-disc and in-game music store, as of March 24, 2009
“¢ 269 different artists / bands offered via Rock Band franchise as of March 24, 2009
“¢ Over 40 million paid songs have been sold via download since Rock Band launched on November 20, 2007
“¢ 11 albums released to date via the Rock Band platform including AC/DC Live, The Cars, Judas Priest, Pixies, Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Megadeth, Rush, No Doubt and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as special compilations from The Who, Nirvana, The Grateful Dead, Boston and more
Critical Acclaim
- Average Metacritic score of 92 [2] for both Rock Band and Rock Band 2
“¢ Rock Band and Rock Band 2 have garnered more than 50 industry awards including:
- IGN’s “Best Music/Rhythm Game of 2008”
“¢ Gamespot.com’s Editor’s Choice Winner for “Best Rhythm / Music Game of 2008”
“¢ Spike TV’s 2008 Video Game Award Winner for “Best Music Game” and “Best Soundtrack in a Game”
- Gametrailers.com “Best Music and Rhythm Game 2008”
- PlayStation: The Official Magazine’s “Best Rhythm Game of 2008”
“¢ Yahoo’s “Best Party Game of the Year – 2008” and named one of Yahoo’s “Best Tech Products of 2008”
- G4 TV’s X-Play “Best Music Game of 2008”
“¢ Named as one of Entertainment Weekly’s “Entertainers of the Year 2008”
- Called “Best party game of the year” by the Associated Press
- Named as one of USA Today’s “Top Video Games of 2008”
“¢ Cited as one of MSNBC.com’s Top Video Games of 2008 and one of the Best Xbox 360 Games of 2008
“¢ Heralded as “hands down the best party game ever” by Time magazine and named as one of Time’s Top Video Games of 2008
Rock Band Franchise Innovations
- First full band music video game to hit consoles
“¢ First music video game to offer export of content library from disc and cross compatibility of downloadable content (DLC) in sequel games.
“¢ First music video game to offer weekly downloadable content (averaging more than 3 songs per week since its launch on November 20, 2007)
“¢ Lead the way for full compatibility and interoperability between competing peripherals
“¢ First music video game to allow for export of avatars and other game data to create real life merchandise
“¢ First music video game to offer full albums as downloadable content: Judas Priest’s “Screaming for Vengeance,” released in June 2008
“¢ First music game to offer a new song day-and-date with its release to radio, with Mƒ¶tley Crƒ¼e’s “Saints of Los Angeles”
Leave a Reply