“ Rock Band 3 got carried away with innovation that didn’t add to the gameplay. “We’ve stripped back to the core gameplay experience as a favorite party band,” Richardson says. This time around, Harmonix is taking the lead from the initial launch of the game. Mad Catz stepped in and took over publishing of the title in November 2011, after MTV Games and EA launched the game in October 2010. Richardson says of the 1.2 million units of Rock Band 3 that consumers purchased, Mad Catz sold approximately 400,000 bundles of the 2010 release, which was a huge shot in the arm for the company. Mad Catz will handle global retail sales, promotion, and distribution of the Rock Band 4 game and hardware bundles, as well as make all of the peripherals, while Harmonix will handle all digital sales and content. I would be surprised if Rock Band exceeded that figure, but wouldn’t be surprised if Guitar Hero does, as it is less expensive and available for legacy consoles.”ĭarren Richardson, president and CEO of Mad Catz, a company that focuses on making video game peripherals, says even $100 million in sales will be a huge boost for his bottom line. “I expect Guitar Hero will sell 4x as many units as Rock Band. “ Rock Band is more expensive, and although I’m sure that they have a ton of money, Harmonix is unlikely to spend as much as Activision promoting the game, so they are unlikely to get as much distribution,” Pachter says. Michael Pachter, video game analyst at Wedbush Securities, believes Activision (ATVI) will sell $200 million worth of Guitar Hero Live games and controllers, while Harmonix and Mad Catz will sell $100 million worth of Rock Band 4 games and controllers. MORE: This $3 billion game franchise crashed and burned five years ago, but now it’s back.

Harmonix beats Activision and developer FreeStyleGames to retail stores for the latest head-to-head music battle, as Guitar Hero Live ships Oct. The game will be backwards-compatible with previous plastic instruments like the drum kit, guitars, and microphone, but players can purchase brand new instruments that have been upgraded with new gameplay options.

6, Harmonix and co-publisher Mad Catz Interactive will unleash Rock Band 4 for Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One.

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