Rock Band
In 2007, Harmonix released Rock Band, a rhythm game that transformed how players interacted with music. The studio had spent years refining its approach to musical interactivity before this launch. Their first product, The Axe: Titans of Classic Rock for MS-DOS, required users to match notes using four keyboard keys. This early experiment laid the groundwork for future titles like Frequency and Amplitude on the PlayStation 2. Those games introduced note-matching mechanics but struggled to connect gameplay directly to the music itself. Players found the abstract presentation difficult to grasp initially.
Harmonix founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy sought inspiration from Japan, where music games like PaRappa the Rapper were gaining popularity. They developed Karaoke Revolution, which used avatars singing and dancing in time with music to strengthen player connection. This series became financially successful and helped grow the company. RedOctane approached Harmonix to develop software for Guitar Hero, released in 2005. The team applied lessons from previous projects to create an intuitive interface for five-button controllers.
When MTV Games acquired Harmonix in 2006 for $175 million, the studio began developing Rock Band as a platform rather than just a software title. Viacom paid out $150 million in performance-based bonuses to Harmonix in early 2008 based on 2007 results. The game successfully negotiated rights to use Beatles music, considered a major coup by journalists. By 2009, over 13 million copies of Rock Band titles had been sold, netting more than $1 billion in total sales.
By 2009, the rhythm game market faced saturation as consumers affected by the late-2000s recession became less likely to purchase costly instrument controllers. Sales of both Guitar Hero and Rock Band dropped significantly during this period. Viacom reported significant losses on the Rock Band series, and sales of The Beatles: Rock Band failed to meet expectations. The company sought a refund on the $150 million already paid for 2007 bonuses following its reassessment of the series' 2009 performance.
Harmonix developed Rock Band 3 with new features including MIDI keyboard connectivity to create what they called a disruptive game in the ailing market. Despite these innovations, Viacom announced it was seeking a buyer for Harmonix due to continued profit losses and their own inexperience as a video game publisher. At the end of 2010, Harmonix was sold to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC, an affiliate of investment firm Columbus Nova, LLC. Though the net liability of the sale was valued at nearly $200 million, analysts believe that Harmonix-SBE paid only $50 for the company while taking on total financial liability that Viacom could write off.
As a shareholder-held company, Harmonix retained rights to the Rock Band and Dance Central franchises but faced immediate fallout from the sale. About 15% of staff were laid off in February 2011. Activision announced it abandoned ongoing development of planned Guitar Hero titles later that same month, which many journalists considered signaling the end of peripheral-based rhythm games. Harmonix affirmed they would continue developing Rock Band despite the discouraging industry climate.
Alex Rigopulos stated at his keynote at the 2014 Penny Arcade Expo East that the studio had plans to bring Rock Band to eighth-generation consoles "at some point" with "guns blazing." The team waited for the right moment in the new generation of consoles before reviving the series. Following unexpected downloadable content releases in early 2015 as part of a survey sent to fans, Bloomberg reported that Harmonix was working on a new version for next-generation consoles in late February.
Rock Band 4 officially announced in March 2015 for release later in October 2015 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Initially released in partnership with Mad Catz for production of instrument peripherals and co-publishing, the game did not sell as well as expected leading to losses for Mad Catz. They subsequently terminated the agreement by June 2016 and temporarily entered bankruptcy. Harmonix switched to Performance Designed Products (PDP) to continue hardware manufacturing and co-publishing with the release of the Rivals expansion for Rock Band 4.
Harmonix attempted to crowdfund development of Rock Band 4 for personal computers through Fig, which Rigopulos had become a board member of, but this failed to meet target goals. Despite these challenges, Harmonix continued supporting Rock Band 4 with weekly DLC and introduced its Rivals gameplay mode featuring eight-week seasonal challenges for players to earn new cosmetics. As of January 2024, the latest title supported over 3000 songs from this approach.
The guitar controller for Rock Band, modeled after a Fender Stratocaster, features five colored fret buttons on the neck corresponding to on-screen notes, a strum bar, and a whammy bar. Players hold down the fret button matching scrolling colored notes while simultaneously pushing the strum bar. Five smaller fret buttons further down the neck allow playing all notes in guitar solos without needing to strum. The whammy bar distorts sound of held notes, and a 5-way special effects switch toggles between different guitar effects during solos and Overdrive periods.
Drum sets feature four rubber pads and a bass pedal with colored rings around edges corresponding to on-screen notes. Pads generally represent snare drum red, hi-hat/tom tom yellow, ride cymbal/tom blue, and crash cymbals/floor tom green though some songs use pads differently. Drummers can improvise in freestyle drum fill sections indicated by solid color columns turning on-screen. The second controller version distributed with Rock Band 2 introduced quieter velocity sensitive pads reinforced bass pedals wireless capabilities compatibility with separately sold cymbals.
Harmonix aimed to provide wide music range through regular weekly downloadable content including various singles artist packs featuring three or more songs from artists and full albums. Standard price for individual song downloads was US$1.99 per song while some cost US$0.99 and others free. Downloads available through PlayStation Network Xbox Live and Nintendo WFC. Song packs certain singles available at discounted prices. Price for downloadable albums varies according to number of songs on album.
By release of Rock Band 3 there were over 2000 songs from
over 250 different artists available through on-disc songs imported track packs the Rock Band Network and downloadable content including 21 complete albums. The song Are You Experienced? by The Jimi Hendrix Experience released as part of album of same name credited by Harmonix as 2000th song for series. Over 100 million downloadable song purchases made through Rock Band music store service through May 2011. On the 26th of April 2011 Harmonix released list of top ten selling downloadable artists including Beatles Who Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Initial run of regular DLC releases ended the 2nd of April 2013 as company began transition to other projects for next-generation consoles. Final song released on regular download schedule was Don McLean American Pie. Starting January 2015 provided one-off releases new content for series. With announcement of Rock Band 4 the 5th of March 2015 Harmonix added majority existing DLC purchases convert to next generation only legacy downloadable content forward compatible within same system family.
Reality television show Rock Band 2: The Stars created by VH1 featuring several players performing eliminated judges Alice Cooper Sebastian Bach. Pennsylvania-based band Jellybricks released viral video song Ruin Us overplayed footage from Rock Band 2 using avatars resembling band members. Rock Band appeared briefly Whale Whores episode animated TV series South Park where Cartman along Kyle Kenny sang Lady Gaga Poker Face about five months after airing Harmonix announced Poker Face vocals by Cartman available as downloadable content.
Episode sitcom Office Chump alluded Rock Band
Billy Joel Entertainment Weekly Darren Franich commented hope never actually exists ever. Billy Joel reading review contacted agents authorized songs used within game means snub Franich. Los Angeles Times suggests Rock Band particularly Beatles Rock Band influenced many contestants preliminaries 9th season American Idol use songs appearing these games auditions. In terms sales Rock Band trailed Guitar Hero selling only four million units 2007 compared Guitar Heros 11.8 million.
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Common questions
When was Rock Band released by Harmonix?
Harmonix released Rock Band in 2007. The studio had spent years refining its approach to musical interactivity before this launch.
Who founded the company that created Rock Band?
Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy founded Harmonix. They sought inspiration from Japan where music games like PaRappa the Rapper were gaining popularity.
How many copies of Rock Band titles sold by 2009?
By 2009, over 13 million copies of Rock Band titles had been sold. These sales netted more than $1 billion in total revenue for the series.
What happened to Harmonix at the end of 2010?
At the end of 2010, Harmonix was sold to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC. This affiliate of investment firm Columbus Nova, LLC took on financial liability while paying only $50 for the company.
When did Rock Band 4 officially announce its release date?
Rock Band 4 officially announced its release in March 2015 for a later October 2015 launch. The game released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with initial hardware support from Mad Catz.