The Death of the Music Game?

When the music video game Guitar Hero was released in 2005, initially it was looked at curiously and with trepidation. At first it was thought using plastic instrument-shaped controllers to pretend to play the guitar to classic rock and independent tunes would not catch on. Well, it did and GH went on to sell an enormous number of units, and it generated interest among the music community to use the game as a platform to showcase or release new material. The success of GH spawned Rock Band, which took the idea one step further. Whereas GH is only pretend guitar, RB is pretend guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.

For a number of years the music video game industry has enjoyed an explosion of popularity that game developers only dream of. Both GH and RB have multiple versions of the games such as the Aerosmith-branded GH and the Beatles-branded RB. Recently the release of RB3 has upped the ante by offering a "real" music experience. New controllers for RB3 include a keyboard or keytar and stringed guitars that double as controllers and conventional electric guitars. RB3 also touts the fact their "pro" mode is the closest thing to playing a real instrument in a band you can get, without actually playing a real instrument in a band.

But for all the hype and hullaballoo, the music video game industry has possibly contributed to its own demise. Saturation of the market almost never works and in the case of music video games it has been an albatross around the neck of the game developers. With stiff competition from other video game franchises like Call of Duty, Halo, and Grand Theft Auto the music video game industry has found itself wondering what happened. Recent sales figures show a disturbing trend. In 2008, the music video game industry made over 1.6 billion. A year later, in 2009, that figure dropped to half, and in 2010 it is even bleaker. All of the various expansions and versions of both Guitar Hero and Rock Band did not boost sales or popularity, if anything it generated complacency. In essence, no one cares.

The communal, party atmosphere of music video games has been subsumed as well by new gaming platforms. Nintendo's Wii has in a lot of ways, overtaken the privileged position of popularity that GH and RB have enjoyed. The party atmosphere of gameplay that is created by music video games became the party atmosphere created by playing baseball, tennis, bowling, or golf on the Wii. And for a lot of people, having plastic instrument-shaped controllers takes up space and for some, setting up the game and instruments takes time they don't have.

Does the drop in sales preview a complete destruction of the music video game industry? After all, MTV's owners Viacom are dropping Rock Band's developer Harmonix. The company's future is thought to be in the hands of Electronic Arts, a partner in Rock Band. Having said that, even though sales have dropped for the various music video games, they are still profitable and corporations like profit. My humble prediction is that the music video games will settle into a sales routine that is more in keeping with actual popularity. In other words, hype, promotion, and word of mouth propelled video game sales initially. But that has worn off and now what's left are the consumers that actually enjoy playing the games and derive some musical satisfaction from them.

Music video games do foster an interest in playing a real instrument and while their popularity has diminished, the games still sell -- albeit not as much as previously. Plus, the Rock Band Network has emerged as a vehicle for releasing new material from established artists and showcasing independent artists. It is possible for songwriters to upload their own tracks to the Rock Band Network, thereby generating sales (you have to buy the tracks) and exposure that they would not ordinarily have access to. The new album from Pearl Jam, Backspacer was released on RB and along with an exclusive deal with Target stores, the band managed to release the album without a major label. Plus, in the works are deals with other artists for the Rock Band Network, and this has opened up opportunities for sales and promotion that eschews major label pathology.The music industry is changing.

It will be interesting to observe the consequences of declining sales on one hand and increased interest in using the platforms to release new material on the other. Still, music video games can be a lot of fun to play and they are a great way to preview new songs and artists that may never have had the exposure that the games generated.

I predict that music video games will be around for some time to come. Their supposed demise might be premature and given the interest by a considerable number of established artists, music video games might become the new AM radio -- all the hits all the time. And best of all, you can "play" them too.

Crossposted at VideoJug: http://pages.videojug.com/pages/15161-The-Death-of-the-Music-Game-