It wasn't very long ago that the assorted plastic guitar-based games were the big thing. Titles like Rock Band and Guitar Hero sold millions of copies, and in spite of a relatively high cost of entry were the Christmas gift of the moment. They combined people's inherent desire to play guitar with their inability to actually successfully play guitar, and became a phenomenon.
However, in 2011, the fortunes of the music game industry have seen a dramatic reversal. Harmonix, the developers of Rock Band, and creators of Guitar Hero are currently being punted around to various different owners after previous owner Viacom decided to leave the game industry and disband their MTV Games subsidiary. The Guitar Hero series itself has been cancelled completely by publisher Activision Blizzard, citing a lack of profitability.
Considering just how popular the genre was, what happened? The simple answer is that it overextended itself. Only counting the guitar-based games, the Guitar Hero series saw eight separate titles released since 2008. Rock Band, more modest in their release plans, saw five. These releases included main series entries, packs of songs, and some titles focusing on a single band. Many came with unique controllers.
Releasing so many versions of the same game introduced several problems. The quick turnaround meant that there simply wasn't enough time to change that much. While Rock Band would add instruments from time to time, including some ambitious choices including real guitars and keyboards, the differences between each version was mostly subtle. There simply wasn't much of a compelling reason to buy one version if you already had another. After a big year of sales, the market was satisfied.
However, having so many different versions of the same game on the shelves was confusing. Which version of the game is the best? The titles didn't really give a clue, especially for Guitar Hero which didn't have a very consistent naming system. The band-focused entries were clearer, but then again, did you want a game that was just Green Day or do you want something with more track variety? There really was no reason to have so many versions of the same thing, and it just frustrated consumers.
Besides which, it was a genre most appropriate for more casual play. Getting together with a few different people and a few different drinks and trying to sing "Beat It" was fun, but when everyone left there was increasingly little incentive to actually turn the thing on. So, why would you even want the different versions? The high cost of entry ensured that someone would think twice about upgrading, and the casual nature ensured that having one of the titles was enough. They were pumping titles into a market that was already content with what they had.
In hindsight, the collapse of the music genre is something that could have been foreseen. Too many titles, being pitched to an increasingly small number of people, will inevitably result in the market for them collapsing. Had there been fewer entries, and had those entries had more meaningful improvements, there might be a future. As it is, Guitar Hero is gone and Rock Band's future is a mystery, and the genre did it to itself.
