Part 4: Who to blame and why

Have you seen me?

At one point, the rhythm games were huge sellers, with millions of game players honing their skills, their rhythm and their coordination.    Of course, things slow down.   Then there's the difference between the parts here.  There are the people coding the games, the people making the hardware, and the people publishing the games.   In the end, what sells, and how, and when it's available, and how much it costs depends on how many people buy the games, which relies (or can rely) upon marketing.     Marketing has different focuses of course, and there is competition.    It should go without saying that not everyone is particularly good at doing every aspect of this, and part of the process involves capacity planning and gauging the desires of the customers.   It's a rough business.



What appears to have happened is that the game publisher, in this case Electronic Arts, pushed the game out before ensuring the status of the software from the developers and before ensuring the status and availability of the hardware.    Perhaps it's a matter of who had control over what, but it certainly appears that the people tasked with the "other" hardware, Mad Catz, simply weren't ready for the demand or didn't have enough time to get there.    However, EA also seems to have underestimated and misplanned for it all, perhaps in their rush to compete with a product that many would say really isn't comparable.

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth playing his song for the other game in the other game

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock came out in September, and does not have additional instruments or the associated pro modes.   Certainly, you can play a song written just for the game by Megadeth, and Rush's 2112 suite is in the game.

Sure, it looks cool, but....

It just isn't really the same thing though, the guitar is the same five-button with strum-bar design on it.  There are no keyboards.    There aren't more fully implemented pads and cymbal drum modes.


So the only conclusion that I can make is that Rock Band 3 was released a year too early, to compete with a non-competitor.

Looking at the sales figures for rhythm games, it's clear things are winding down.   So really there's nobody to blame.    It could be said that this is just a sad situation where misinformed decisions are being made from incomplete information and illogical short-sighted assumptions.  Some would say that the market for more simply isn't there, and that there's no money to be made.   With the current state of how things are done, I tend to agree.  If you fail at marketing, marketing will fail you.  

Not all is lost however.   If the proper attitude is taken to turn the reactionary into the forward looking.    There are endless possibilities in games, educational, and music training software, especially combining all those.   Couple those with  MIDI devices such as drums, keyboards, guitars, basses, banjos and the like.   There is much here to look forward to.  The picture I've painted isn't so dismal after all, it's just something that needs to be worked on.