One of the Biggest Video Game Franchises Is Suddenly Ending for Good

One of the biggest video game franchises appears to be coming to what is likely a permanent end, much to the disappointment of fans everywhere. It’s pretty rare for a video game series to end on its own terms. There are cases where that has happened such as Uncharted, but a lot of the time, companies want to keep things rolling. If you have an established IP, it makes sense to pump out om until fans don’t really care anymore. As a result, a lot of gaming franchises have petered out as interest dwindled and they sort of just never return.

The same thing appears to be happening to Rock Band, one of the great music video games. Developed as a direct competitor to Guitar Hero, Rock Band differentiated itself by giving you instruments inspired by an entire band. That meant a drum kit, a microphone, and even a keyboard in the case of Rock Band 3. The games also had a more varied track list as a result of the different instruments. Unfortunately, this genre of games sort of died in the early 2010s. There was a recession and the games themselves didn’t exactly have a ton of room to innovate or differentiate from each other beyond music and small gameplay changes.

Rock Band 4 Is Shutting Down, Potentially Marking the End of the Franchise

Unfortunately, the Rock Band series seems to be on its deathbed. It was announced that Rock Band 4 will soon be delisted from digital stores as developer Harmonix made licensing deals for all of the songs that would expire after 10 years. As fate would have it, Rock Band 4 turns 10 this weekend, which means the game can no longer be sold by Harmonix starting next week. Similarly, all Rock Band 4 DLC songs will also expire whenever they turn 10. That means you’ll start to notice songs being delisted in the coming months and years, so if there’s anything you’re still wanting to buy, the clock is ticking.

Everything you own will remain downloadable and you’ll still be able to buy a copy of Rock Band 4 second-hand, but its price may increase as a result of it becoming a more rare item. It’s an unfortunate situation, but one that is largely to be expected. However, this is also likely Rock Band’s final stand as a franchise. There hasn’t been a new game in the series in almost a decade and Rock Band 4 didn’t sell very well nor was it a critical darling.

As a result, it seems likely this is the end of Rock Band. There are rumblings that Guitar Hero may come back, but it’s hard to say if it will be well-received. It’s a major investment from players who are spoiled with free-to-play experiences already and games without fancy instruments are also quite costly. The idea of a Rock Band 5 in today’s gaming industry definitely makes one fear the potential damage to their wallet.

Not to mention, these things are costly to the creators as well. If a copy of Rock Band sits on a shelf, it can result in a big loss given there’s a higher cost to manufacture the instruments in addition to the game itself. Distributor Mad Catz found that out shortly after the release of Rock Band 4, noting an $11 million loss that was largely attributed to unsold inventory of the game. The company would later call its partnership on Rock Band 4 a “burden” after the financial hardships it created at Mad Catz.

Harmonix is now owned by Epic Games and is working on Fortnite Festival, a Rock Band-esque experience within Fortnite. Players can use all of the skins they have in the popular battle royale game and jam out to the latest music with their friends. You can use a controller or keyboard, but it also supports gaming instruments as well. It’s the closest thing we will probably get to a new Rock Band game, which is unfortunate.

Although they didn’t find ways to iterate enough to justify brand new versions, Rock Band was a great series. The music was awesome, the art direction had a tasteful underground edge, and the series was the host of many great co-op gaming sessions with friends and family. If this truly is the end of Rock Band, it was a great run and we’ll all miss jamming out in our living rooms with plastic instruments.

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