Second Opinion: Music Game Sales are Hitting a Saturation Point

Woh woh woh woh, easy there killer!

You just woke up PNG’s sleeping giant by stepping into my territory.  Never have I seen something on this site that I have taken more umbrage with than your article Dave.  Nothing personal, but I can’t let this article go without ripping it into tiny pieces.

Music Game Sales are hitting a saturation point

It was bound to happen at some point, and today Gamasutra posted declining sales figures for the two biggest music based games out there… Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  Sales on the two big games are down 49% for the year and while those numbers are to be expected at some point, this seems to be the hardest year for MTV/EA Games and Activision.

Considering this is the biggest year for Guitar Hero so far with around 6 releases ( GH: Metallica, GH: Van Halen, GH: Smash Hits, GH: 5, Band Hero, and DJ Hero), and Rock Band with around 6 releases ( RB Track Pack: Classic Rock, RB Track Pack 2, RB Track Pack Country, RB: Beatles, RB: Unplugged for PSP, and RB: Lego Rock Band), there has never been more content for these games.  So why the declining sales figures?  I think it’s pretty safe to say that in this case more content is not whats going to save this genre, or these franchises.

Singularity Caught in Modern Warfare’s Path O’ Destruction

So this is important right?  Activision announced today that the moderately anticipated release of Singularity won’t be coming this fall as was previously planned.  Instead, they chose to set a target date of Quarter 1 of 2010.  Now, you may be asking why did they decide to do this?  I have that answer for you.

See, when a big game comes out that is expected to bring the dollar’s value back up, beat out the second coming of Christ, or possibly be bigger than any of Michael Bay’s movies, you acquire a dilemma of sorts.  Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is going to be just that.  With an expected target of 11 Million by year’s end your pretty much saying, “This is the biggest game of all time, and everyone else that is releasing anything around this target date that has anything to do with guns, walking, snow, or people might as well take their ball and go home.”  I somewhat agree with them on this front. 

PNG Bro-down Episode 20 – The Activision Mafia

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PNG Bro-down Episode 20 – The Activision Mafia It’s that time again, PNG Fans!  Time for you weekly dose of extreme Bro-downocity!™  On this week’s PNG Bro-down, it’s a family affair with talks of Fable II, Halo, Prototype, Academy Games’ … Continue reading →

PNG Daily 5/27/2009: Pre E3 News Desert

The net is dry and cracked with a drought of gaming news today.  As Logan explained in a previous Daily, these are mostly about what we ultimately find entertaining or news worthy so this kind of got my blood pumping.  Being a Zune owner, I gobble up any news I can about my preferred digital music player.  Microsoft has announced the Zune HD.  This bad boy packs an OLED screen, HD radio, a multi-touch touchscreen, and is capable of outputting at 720p with a special docking station.  Oh, and it looks like pure unbridled sex.  You can also expect the Xbox Live Video Marketplace channel to be replaced by video from the Zune Marketplace in the coming future. 

If you’ve been following our podcasts over the past couple of weeks, you’ll have heard our speculation on E3 showings from Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, and a few third party publishers.  Kotaku has a list of the games Activision has confirmed they will be showing at E3 this year.

So speaking of our podcast, we’d love to hear from you about it.  We’re recording once again tomorrow and we’d love nothing more than to talk about what you want us to.  If you have listened to us, you already know that any subject is fair game (especially horses).  Drop an e-mail to png@pixelsandgrids.com or leave a comment here if you would like us to read it on the cast.  If you do, I can guarantee that we will read it… and send you digital chocolate kisses and marmalade!

Outtie 5k!

Will the Recession Kill Video Games Part 2

In part one of my editorial I explained why gamers should not fear the reaper when it comes to the recession killing our favorite digital hobby. However, this is not to say that all is well. Many popular franchises and, perhaps more importantly, publishers are in danger of being lost forever. In part two of “Will the Recession Kill Video Games,” I once again peer into the crystal ball after the break to take a look at the foreseeable future of the video game publishers whose games we all spend hard earned dollars on.