Following the news of Activision-Blizzard’s abandonment of the Guitar Hero and DJ Hero franchises (at least in 2011), Rockband developer Harmonix is ready to welcome the newly shunned Guitar Hero stalwarts. In a forum post on the Rockband website, community manager John Drake made it clear that “the beat of Rockband marches on.”
Despite being recently purchased by the investment group Columbus Novus, the subsequent shuttering of the publishing branch of MTV Games following their departure, and the minor layoffs that hit the studio earlier this week, Harmonix seems poised to take over as king of the hill in the music game genre (although arguments could be made that they already were). It is easy to see where heaps of animosity could still be harbored by the studio following all of the drama that stemmed from Activision’s take over of the Guitar Hero franchise, but instead of gloating, Drake offered words of condolence to those affected “We were sad to hear yesterday that Activision was discontinuing development on Guitar Hero. Our thoughts are with those who are losing their jobs, and we wish them the best of luck.”
Drake confirmed that a relaunch of Rockband Network was in the works and would include support for Rockband 3′s pro keyboard, drum and guitar modes, but at this point, the future of Harmonix is filled with a load of unknowns. Is there a Rockband 4 in development? Or will they instead focus on continuing to support Rockband 3 through their expansive and ever growing catalog of downloadable songs? It’s certain that a followup to the Dance Central is in the works, but beyond that, Harmonix doesn’t seem ready to reveal their hand just yet.
Drake concluded with an apropos statement befitting of the situation, writing that
“It’s been a wild battle of the bands since 2007, but we respect and appreciate all of the hard work and innovation of our peers who have shared the music gaming space with us, and we look forward to rocking in the future.”
Whatever Activion-Blizzard’s final decision regarding their involvement in the music game genre is, it seems, at least for the time being that Harmonix will stand alone as the last bastion of hardcore peripheral based music games.
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