There’s a new interview up at GameInformer.com with Harmonix’s Chris Rigopulos, called “The Past and Future of Rock Band.” It’s focused mainly on downloadable content: how successful it’s been so far, and how Harmonix approaches it now that they’re separated from MTV/Viacom. New Foo Fighters and Ozzy on the way. Cool!
But towards the end of the interview, they also drop the news that there will be no Rock Band 4 in 2011:
…we’re not planning a Rock Band 4 disc release in 2011. Rock Band 3 is a big game with lots of available music content and lots of new goals and challenges. We want to give our fans the time to explore that fully. But rest assured that Harmonix is still developing new ideas and concepts to advance the Rock Band franchise, and we look forward to sharing those when the time is right.
Disappointing, somewhat, but not entirely surprising. More disappointing is GameInformer’s handling of the news: burying it on page 3? Not following up on it in any way? Do you guys realize this is news?
My guess is no, because the interviewer also neglected to ask the most important question surrounding the future of Rock Band: how does the sale of Harmonix affect our exisiting DLC libraries? Did all the DLC licenses expire once Harmonix was sold? Do they all have to be renewed to be forward compatible with future releases, and does that factor into why there won’t be a Rock Band 4 this year?
You simply can’t do an interview on “The Future of Rock Band” and not ask that question. That’s the difference between a good journalist who knows how to ask the important questions and an amateur who’s phoning it in for a paycheck. Good job, GI.
Aww that sucks… :(