Like, it used to be one of the biggest franchises. Fucking everyone had some of those games. You couldn't go to a house without seeing a plastic guitar. It was a fun little game that encouraged hanging out together and you even got to listen to songs you like. Then it just kinda died overnight. How did they do that?

  • InnuendOwO [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    YOOOO THIS IS MY TIME TO FUCKIN POST. hi him a huge fucking rhythm game nerd to the extreme

    Basically, they just over-produced them, mostly with the single-artist spinoff titles. Rock Band: Green Day, Guitar Hero: Metallica, etc. Both RB and GH pumped out a new title mainline title annually, plus a shitton of spinoffs. The market for the single-band titles was tiny, obviously, you need a pretty specific music taste to want a version of GH that's only Aerosmith songs (or in the case of the DS spinoff titles, just unplayable due to the control scheme).

    So like, GH3 in 2007 was the big name one. In 2008 and 2009, we got: GH4, GH5, GH:SH (basically a best-of of GH1/2/3), GH:Aerosmith, GH:Metallica, GH:Van Halen, GH:On Tour 1 2 and 3, Rock Band 2, RB:Beatles, RB:Green Day, and RB:Unplugged. No one gives a shit about any of those except GH4/5 and RB2. But, damnit, the games sell good, why are these spinoff titles not selling too?? Just make more, I'm sure we'll make the money back!!

    People just stopped paying attention to the new releases after that because just, holy shit, no one's buying that many games for artists they don't care about. The publishers saw the profitability of the titles fall, without ever stopping to ask if they oversaturated the market, and stopped making them.

    GH isn't dead, though. Grab any USB guitar, plug it into your computer, and head to https://clonehero.net/

    People have gotten RIDICULOUSLY good over the last decade. Just. What the fuck. Like, the community is at the point now where the infamous Through The Fire And Flames is like, not interesting. That's not to say you can't get into the game without being absolutely godlike! There's a ton of charts for normal people. But holy shit the skillcap is just so far beyond what anyone thought was possible back in 2010.

    And, hell, if Guitar Hero isn't your thing, the rhythm game scene in the west is growing again too. Some games you might wanna look into (and probably don't know about, since only DDR and GH/RB took off here) if you don't know about 'em: Beatmania IIDX, Sound Voltex, and Chunithm are all incredibly fun. Admittedly you either need to find an arcade that's got 'em, or buy a pricy controller for home play, but honestly, not like that's anything new, the full Rock Band kit was, what, $300 or something?