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| Rock Band | |
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| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, Nintendo DS, mobile devices, iOS, Oculus Rift |
| First release | Rock Band November 20, 2007 |
| Latest release | Rock Band VR March 23, 2017 |
Rock Band is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero series, the main Rock Band games has players use game controllers modeled after musical instruments and microphones to perform the lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums and vocal parts of numerous licensed songs across a wide range of genres though mostly focusing on rock music by matching scrolling musical notes patterns shown on screen. Certain games support the use of "Pro" instruments that require special controllers that more closely mimic the playing of real instruments, providing a higher challenge to players. Players score points for hitting notes successfully, but may fail a song if they miss too many notes. The series has featured numerous game modes, and supports both local and online multiplayer modes where up to four players in most modes can perform together.
Harmonix had worked with Red Octane for the Guitar Hero series first released in 2005; when Red Octane was acquired by Activision to continue Guitar Hero in 2007, MTV Games, a division of Viacom at the time, acquired Harmonix to expand the concept to Rock Band, and served as the game's publisher and manufacturer for the instrument controllers, with distribution handled by Electronic Arts. In 2009, due to saturation of the rhythm game market, sales of both Guitar Hero and Rock Band dropped; Harmonix's investors were able to buy the company from Viacom and making Harmonix an independent company, giving them more flexibility in options for the series. Harmonix transitioned to Mad Catz in 2011 for the publication and instrumentation controller manufacture. By 2013, Harmonix stopped producing downloadable content (DLC) for the current Rock Band 3, though stated that it would consider its options for the series upon the arrival of the next-generation of consoles. Following the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Harmonix released Rock Band 4 in 2015 for the new consoles. While Mad Catz initially manufactured the new instrument controllers. the game was not as financially successful, a partial cause for Mad Catz to declare bankruptcy and requiring Harmonix to switch production to Performance Designed Products (PDP) for ongoing instrument controller manufacture.
To date, there have been four main games in the series, two band-specific spin-offs (including The Beatles: Rock Band), and several additional spin-off titles and Track Packs. Harmonix has continued to supported Rock Band through a persistent DLC model through January 2024, with routine releases of new songs on a weekly basis as well as the ability for players to import songs from previous games into newer ones, and as of January 2024, the latest title Rock Band 4 supports over 3000 songs from this approach. Harmonix had also offered the Rock Band Network to allow bands and labels to publish their songs as Rock Band tracks that can be purchased by players, though the service has since been discontinued; at the height of this service, over 4,000 tracks from 1,200 artists were available for Rock Band players.[1][2]
By 2009, over 13 million copies of Rock Band titles have been sold,[3][1] netting more than $1 billion in total sales.[4] Over 130 million downloadable song purchases have been made by 2009.[1][2][5][6][7][8][9]
- ^ a b c Miller, Matt (September 2009). "The Beatles: Rock Band - Around the World with the Fab Four". Game Informer. pp. 38–47.
- ^ a b Downs, David (2009-07-22). "Nirvana's "Bleach" on "Rock Band"? Sub Pop Looks to Code Catalogs Into Playable Tracks". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 24, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
- ^ Magrino, Tom (2009-02-12). "Rock Band 2 sales near 2 million, franchise ships 10 million". GameSpot. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- ^ Radd, David (2009-03-26). "Rock Band Exceeds $1 Billion in Retail Sales". Game Daily. Archived from the original on 2009-03-28. Retrieved 2009-03-26.
- ^ "Rock Band Hits 3,000 Songs!". Harmonix. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ Remo, Chris (2009-11-25). "Rock Band Reaches 1,000 Total Songs, 60M Downloads". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2009-11-25.
- ^ Smirke, Richard (2010-05-21). "Harmonix Reports Early Success For Rock Band Network". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2010-05-24. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ^ Miller, Matt (2011-05-04). "The Past And Future Of Rock Band DLC". Game Informer. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
- ^ Cork, Jeff (2013-04-02). "[Updated] "American Pie" Closes Out Rock Band's DLC". Game Informer. Archived from the original on April 4, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-02.