Post by eric_1963 on Sept 9, 2009 5:56:38 GMT -5
Source:
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204348804574400610567406396.html
Will Gamers Jump to Play With Van Halen?
By YUKARI IWATANI KANE
Ersatz rockers are turning down the volume on their music-game purchases. So the makers of the blockbuster Guitar Hero and Rock Band games are ramping up their offerings with giveaways, spinoffs and crowd-pleasing music choices.
MTV Games is relying on The Beatles: Rock Band.
For the first time, Activision Blizzard Inc. is offering a freebie—Guitar Hero: Van Halen—with its latest Guitar Hero 5 game that made its debut last week. Consumers who buy the $59.99 Guitar Hero 5 in its first month on shelves get the Van Halen game free when it is released in December. Also, Activision in October is launching DJ Hero, a version with a turntable controller for urban hip-hop fans, and in November is releasing Band Hero, a more-mainstream version packed with popular music. That will add up to the most Guitar Hero games that the company has launched in a four-month span.
Meantime, Viacom Inc.'s MTV Games is for the first time relying on the appeal of just one band with the release of The Beatles: Rock Band on Wednesday. MTV is also joining up with Time Warner Inc.'s interactive entertainment company to create Lego Rock Band, a family-friendly version of the game that is due out in November with characters made from the ubiquitous toy.
The moves illustrate the challenges of building on a maturing genre amid a recession. As they gear up for the holiday shopping season, videogame makers are working doubly hard to grab consumers.
Such music games, which tap into people's inner desire to be rock stars, have fueled much of the videogame industry's growth in the past few years. But some videogame experts say that interest in the genre is waning as consumers are overwhelmed by a growing selection of those games that, for the most part, do the same thing. In addition to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, consumers can find karaoke games such as Sony Corp.'s SingStar games and Microsoft Corp.'s Lips on shelves.
The latest installment in the Guitar Hero video game franchise features new songs, an improved Guitar Hero Studio, celebrity avatars, and options that will liven up any party. But for a beginner, is Guitar Hero 5 worth it? WSJ's Lauren Goode turns fem rocker to try to figure that out.
* AllThingsD: Interview with Guitar Hero's Dan Rosensweig
"People have experienced a little bit of fatigue with them," says Libe Goad, editor in chief of AOL Games' online gaming-news site GameDaily. "Now we need something new."
Kathryn Smith agrees. The 25-year-old insurance broker says she is happy with her purchase of last year's Guitar Hero World Tour game and doesn't plan to buy a new version. "I like playing it and I'm glad I have my own but one is enough," says the Pittsburgh, Pa., resident.
In a typical music game, as many as four to six players take on the role of rock stars and push buttons on a guitar-shaped controller, tap on the drum set or sing into a microphone according to scrolling cues on the screen. The games have attracted an audience beyond core gamers by catering to a variety of music tastes such as '60s rock and heavy-metal.
Many of the old music games have online components—such as the capability to download extra songs—that keep the games fresh. Rock Band offers some songs free or for 99 cents, but most are $1.99. Songs for Guitar Hero games are available for $1.99 a song or $5.49 for three.
Companies like Tapulous Inc. are also wooing music-game fans with similar games for Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Its Tap Tap games, in which users tap on or shake the phone to the beat, has been downloaded more than 10 million times since its July 2008 debut.
But even big music-game fans like Mark Rapanut are no longer rushing to buy every new music game. The 28-year-old project manager, who has bought almost every major Guitar Hero game so far, still plans to purchase Guitar Hero 5 but admits that he didn't buy the Aerosmith and Metallica versions that came out in the past two years, says the San Jose, Calif., resident.
Axel Steel, a recurring figure in Activision’s Guitar Hero games, taps into gamers’ desire to be rock stars.
The upshot: Even though Guitar hero 5 and The Beatles: Rock Band are projected to be among the top-selling games this year, overall music-game sales have fallen by about half so far this year from a year ago, analysts say. That outpaces the 14% decline in industry-wide software sales, according to market-research firm NPD Group.
In 2008, the games had hauled in nearly $2 billion, or about 17% of overall videogame sales, making it the biggest game category, according to San Diego, Calif., research firm DFC Intelligence.
A big part of the plunge is because game publishers aren't selling as many special instrument-like controller packages that go with music videogames. Many consumers already own the accessories, with MTV Games estimating 25 million households own some kind of music-game controller. The controllers can be used to play sequels of the same game and sometimes other music games.
Videogame executives acknowledge the game and controller bundles, which cost $99.99 for Guitar Hero 5 and $249.99 for The Beatles: Rock Band, may be too steep in a recession. Paul Raines, chief operating officer of videogame retailer GameStop Corp., says it is "very, very happy" with advance orders for music games but added that they haven't been as strong for the bundles. MTV Games says it only has "modest" forecasts for its bundles.
Activision and MTV Games say the music-game genre hasn't peaked. But they are trying to do more to expand their audiences and get existing ones to keep buying new games. "Innovation is critical in any entertainment," says Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of MTV Games.
Activision is pursuing a multipronged strategy of creating more-targeted games like the urban DJ Hero and the family-friendly Band Hero, and adding more capabilities to its main Guitar Hero games. In Guitar Hero 5, for example, players can also play songs from last year's Guitar Hero World Tour. Some of the songs in DJ Hero can be played with both the turntable and guitar controllers.
"What we want to do is build the best game, create a lot of value and take market share in hard times," said Dan Rosensweig, chief executive of Activision's Guitar Hero unit.
Activision is also eyeing overseas markets and choosing artists with global appeal like Eminem and Jay-Z. Activision won't say how much more it has invested in the franchise.
MTV Games says it has increased its marketing spending on the Beatles game "significantly" from past Rock Band games . After losing out to Guitar Hero last year in terms of games sold—in part, it says, because of a smaller marketing budget—the company this year is aggressively promoting the game on its MTV Networks and through tie-ins with music publisher EMI Group Ltd., which is releasing remastered CDs of The Beatles' original catalog Wednesday.
MTV also recently announced a service called Rock Band Network, in which emerging bands can contribute original downloadable songs. And it is working on a product, for which it will join up with the band Green Day. "Do I expect it [music games] to continue to have double-digit growth? No. But it's a massive category," says Mr. Guthrie.
Write to Yukari Iwatani Kane at yukari.iwatani@wsj.com
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204348804574400610567406396.html
Will Gamers Jump to Play With Van Halen?
By YUKARI IWATANI KANE
Ersatz rockers are turning down the volume on their music-game purchases. So the makers of the blockbuster Guitar Hero and Rock Band games are ramping up their offerings with giveaways, spinoffs and crowd-pleasing music choices.
MTV Games is relying on The Beatles: Rock Band.
For the first time, Activision Blizzard Inc. is offering a freebie—Guitar Hero: Van Halen—with its latest Guitar Hero 5 game that made its debut last week. Consumers who buy the $59.99 Guitar Hero 5 in its first month on shelves get the Van Halen game free when it is released in December. Also, Activision in October is launching DJ Hero, a version with a turntable controller for urban hip-hop fans, and in November is releasing Band Hero, a more-mainstream version packed with popular music. That will add up to the most Guitar Hero games that the company has launched in a four-month span.
Meantime, Viacom Inc.'s MTV Games is for the first time relying on the appeal of just one band with the release of The Beatles: Rock Band on Wednesday. MTV is also joining up with Time Warner Inc.'s interactive entertainment company to create Lego Rock Band, a family-friendly version of the game that is due out in November with characters made from the ubiquitous toy.
The moves illustrate the challenges of building on a maturing genre amid a recession. As they gear up for the holiday shopping season, videogame makers are working doubly hard to grab consumers.
Such music games, which tap into people's inner desire to be rock stars, have fueled much of the videogame industry's growth in the past few years. But some videogame experts say that interest in the genre is waning as consumers are overwhelmed by a growing selection of those games that, for the most part, do the same thing. In addition to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, consumers can find karaoke games such as Sony Corp.'s SingStar games and Microsoft Corp.'s Lips on shelves.
The latest installment in the Guitar Hero video game franchise features new songs, an improved Guitar Hero Studio, celebrity avatars, and options that will liven up any party. But for a beginner, is Guitar Hero 5 worth it? WSJ's Lauren Goode turns fem rocker to try to figure that out.
* AllThingsD: Interview with Guitar Hero's Dan Rosensweig
"People have experienced a little bit of fatigue with them," says Libe Goad, editor in chief of AOL Games' online gaming-news site GameDaily. "Now we need something new."
Kathryn Smith agrees. The 25-year-old insurance broker says she is happy with her purchase of last year's Guitar Hero World Tour game and doesn't plan to buy a new version. "I like playing it and I'm glad I have my own but one is enough," says the Pittsburgh, Pa., resident.
In a typical music game, as many as four to six players take on the role of rock stars and push buttons on a guitar-shaped controller, tap on the drum set or sing into a microphone according to scrolling cues on the screen. The games have attracted an audience beyond core gamers by catering to a variety of music tastes such as '60s rock and heavy-metal.
Many of the old music games have online components—such as the capability to download extra songs—that keep the games fresh. Rock Band offers some songs free or for 99 cents, but most are $1.99. Songs for Guitar Hero games are available for $1.99 a song or $5.49 for three.
Companies like Tapulous Inc. are also wooing music-game fans with similar games for Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Its Tap Tap games, in which users tap on or shake the phone to the beat, has been downloaded more than 10 million times since its July 2008 debut.
But even big music-game fans like Mark Rapanut are no longer rushing to buy every new music game. The 28-year-old project manager, who has bought almost every major Guitar Hero game so far, still plans to purchase Guitar Hero 5 but admits that he didn't buy the Aerosmith and Metallica versions that came out in the past two years, says the San Jose, Calif., resident.
Axel Steel, a recurring figure in Activision’s Guitar Hero games, taps into gamers’ desire to be rock stars.
The upshot: Even though Guitar hero 5 and The Beatles: Rock Band are projected to be among the top-selling games this year, overall music-game sales have fallen by about half so far this year from a year ago, analysts say. That outpaces the 14% decline in industry-wide software sales, according to market-research firm NPD Group.
In 2008, the games had hauled in nearly $2 billion, or about 17% of overall videogame sales, making it the biggest game category, according to San Diego, Calif., research firm DFC Intelligence.
A big part of the plunge is because game publishers aren't selling as many special instrument-like controller packages that go with music videogames. Many consumers already own the accessories, with MTV Games estimating 25 million households own some kind of music-game controller. The controllers can be used to play sequels of the same game and sometimes other music games.
Videogame executives acknowledge the game and controller bundles, which cost $99.99 for Guitar Hero 5 and $249.99 for The Beatles: Rock Band, may be too steep in a recession. Paul Raines, chief operating officer of videogame retailer GameStop Corp., says it is "very, very happy" with advance orders for music games but added that they haven't been as strong for the bundles. MTV Games says it only has "modest" forecasts for its bundles.
Activision and MTV Games say the music-game genre hasn't peaked. But they are trying to do more to expand their audiences and get existing ones to keep buying new games. "Innovation is critical in any entertainment," says Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of MTV Games.
Activision is pursuing a multipronged strategy of creating more-targeted games like the urban DJ Hero and the family-friendly Band Hero, and adding more capabilities to its main Guitar Hero games. In Guitar Hero 5, for example, players can also play songs from last year's Guitar Hero World Tour. Some of the songs in DJ Hero can be played with both the turntable and guitar controllers.
"What we want to do is build the best game, create a lot of value and take market share in hard times," said Dan Rosensweig, chief executive of Activision's Guitar Hero unit.
Activision is also eyeing overseas markets and choosing artists with global appeal like Eminem and Jay-Z. Activision won't say how much more it has invested in the franchise.
MTV Games says it has increased its marketing spending on the Beatles game "significantly" from past Rock Band games . After losing out to Guitar Hero last year in terms of games sold—in part, it says, because of a smaller marketing budget—the company this year is aggressively promoting the game on its MTV Networks and through tie-ins with music publisher EMI Group Ltd., which is releasing remastered CDs of The Beatles' original catalog Wednesday.
MTV also recently announced a service called Rock Band Network, in which emerging bands can contribute original downloadable songs. And it is working on a product, for which it will join up with the band Green Day. "Do I expect it [music games] to continue to have double-digit growth? No. But it's a massive category," says Mr. Guthrie.
Write to Yukari Iwatani Kane at yukari.iwatani@wsj.com