Musikgenren er ikke død
Dette mener Harmonix-chef Alex Rigopulos i hvert fald ikke.
"I absolutely do not believe that rhythm-action gaming has reached its peak," fortæller han til Edge.
"Of course 2009 was a tough year with the recession, which especially affects music games given the relatively high price point of instrument bundles. But in the long term, people’s passion for music isn’t going away, and rhythm gaming will continue to provide people with a deeper level of engagement with the music they love."
Harmonix må om nogen siges at være én af hovedaktørerne bag genrens enorme popularitet med det første Guitar Hero og Rock Band-spillene under bæltet. Salget af den slags spil faldt dog hele 46% i Nordamerika sidste år.
Rigopulos tror dog stadig, at de fremtidige musikspil har mulighed for at sælge mere end de hidtil har gjort i denne generation.
"User-generated content will be absolutely critical to the ongoing success of the genre, I think. To be clear, though, when I talk about 'users' in this context, I don't necessarily mean end-users or players. I'm talking about a huge community of power-users - skilled music creators - providing their music to the audience."
I den forbindelse har Harmonix lanceret betaen for deres kommende Rock Band Network, hvor brugere får mulighed for at skabe, dele og endda sælge sin egen musik.