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Guitar Hero outselling Rock Band 6:1, according to Activision photo

If you look at the way the gaming community talks about Guitar Hero and Rock Band, you'd think that the latter is dominating the former. Especially on Destructoid, people were quick to jump ship from Activision to EA when Rock Band was released, and often looks upon Guitar Hero nowadays with disdain.

Activision probably doesn't care, however, if its claim of domination in the music game market is to be believed. According to CEO Bobby Kotick, Guitar Hero is currently outselling Rock Band by 600%.

"We’re outselling [Rock Band] 6:1. When you think about the access we have to 30 percent of the world’s music at Universal, we have a unique advantage there.

I would also say when you look at resources, you know, our next-nearest competitor has a couple of hundred people working on these projects, we have close to 2,000 people just dedicated to the Guitar Hero note tracking, introduction of new hardware, introduction of new software, and so we just have a lot more in the way of resources available to us to continue to dominate the category."

Of course, Activision is helped by the fact that Guitar Hero has two sequels and a couple of spin-offs while so far, the younger Rock Band franchise consists of two installments, one of which was only released recently. That said, Guitar Hero was the first music game since DDR to make a huge mainstream splash, so it's not surprising to see that Rock Band hasn't been able to replace it in the minds of the average consumer.


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36 comments | showing # 1 to 36

blehman's Avatar
blehman at 09/18/2008 08:43
2,000 people working on note tracking? I call shenanigans. If they had that many people working on it, you'd think they could do it right.
hjd uk's Avatar
hjd uk at 09/18/2008 08:49
A) Just throwing resources at something doesn't make it better.
B) Rock Band is the 'Real' Guitar Hero sequel as it is made my the original devs.

c) I own neither, only played a few times. ( I may be wrong apart from point A. )
nukka jdav's Avatar
nukka jdav at 09/18/2008 08:51
Either way, Rock Band is my game/
ScottyG's Avatar
ScottyG at 09/18/2008 08:57
What the heck are those 2000 people doing? You don't need that many people to bring out minimal content and overcharted songs.
monkeyspoon5's Avatar
monkeyspoon5 at 09/18/2008 08:57
People bought the brand. They still buy the brand. This is why people are stupid.
Holyetheline's Avatar
Holyetheline at 09/18/2008 08:57
I love Rock Band. GH can piss off.
robestyles's Avatar
robestyles at 09/18/2008 08:57
Guitar Hero = old & busted
Rock Band = new hotness
mike566's Avatar
mike566 at 09/18/2008 08:58
hjd is right, Activision is just riding on the GH name. People also will buy it at the moment because of the price of course. Wait until World Tour to see what happens.
falinter's Avatar
falinter at 09/18/2008 09:08
People will continue to buy it until Activision run Guitar Hero into the ground with their 50 sequels a year.

At that point one of two things will happen:
-Rock Band will become the super popular choice
-All music games will suffer because of the GH over saturation

I hope its not the latter.
klubjunkee's Avatar
klubjunkee at 09/18/2008 09:13
I didn't buy a real drum set because I feared I didn't have space. Now my basement is cluttered with plastic peripherals :(
The Phazer's Avatar
The Phazer at 09/18/2008 09:26
Activision are winning because Rock Band, outside of the US, is incredibly overpriced and massively late.

Guitar Hero sells a lot more units because it's there for people to actually buy and they're not profiteering on the exchange rates.

Harmonix have no one to blame for that but themselves and their publisher.
free touch's Avatar
free touch at 09/18/2008 09:43
I'm calling bullshit.

Christmas last year you couldn't find rockband anywhere, yet Guitar Hero 3 was filling shelves.

I won't buy another guitar hero game. I will continue to buy rockband until something comes out that crushes them both.
coffeesash's Avatar
coffeesash at 09/18/2008 09:50
Here in the UK, I've only seen Rock Band on the shelves on the Xbox 360. That is the game seperately at $80 and the drum kit, mic (and guitar?) at $260. That box is so massive I don't see it any more, they probably chucked it out the back so no whte game has no presence in the shops I go to except one game box in the 360 back catalogue. They were joking with that price to start with, I don't blame the shops for not even bothering with it. In the meantime, there's at least one of each of the Guitar Hero games on every format, with the guitar, for $100 each. you buy that, you're ready to go with the main experience.

Over here it's a packaging, bundling and pricing issue, not to mention that it's not advertiesed on TV so nobody casual knows what it is or why they should get it over Guitar Hero.
SephirothX's Avatar
SephirothX at 09/18/2008 09:52
There's only 2 Rock Band games out on the market (1 and 2).

There's way too many Guitar Hero games on the market (GH1-3, 80s, On Tour, Aerosmith, GHWT, and more spinoffs coming). Of course it should be outselling them right now! Activision is turning GH into Madden 'Rhythm Based'.

Also. Rock Band is the 'true' sequel to Guitar Hero 1 as far as I'm concerned.
Gameboi's Avatar
Gameboi at 09/18/2008 09:55
While both games are fun to play, even Activision has to realize who is the better of the two -- and it's not them.
Funkiller's Avatar
Funkiller at 09/18/2008 10:09
MATH FAIL!!!
rbrooks's Avatar
rbrooks at 09/18/2008 10:10
I guarantee rock band 2 will outsell guitar hero world tour for this generation. the only reason guitar hero has sold more thus far is longer duration and the price to play rock band. Now that the prices of the two games will now be similar...the better game will prevail (rockband).
Remoraz's Avatar
Remoraz at 09/18/2008 10:19
600% doesn't convert to 6:1, Jim... might wanna' check your math.
SurplusGamer's Avatar
SurplusGamer at 09/18/2008 10:28
@remoraz - uh, really? Maybe I'm just having a dumb math moment, but if GH was selling 100% of the number copies that RB is (i.e. the same amount), then that would be a 1:1 ratio. If they were selling twice as much, that's 200% of Rock Band, and a 2:1 ratio - 2 guitar heroes for every 1 rock band in other words. And so on and so forth to 600% / 6:1.
dv8withn8's Avatar
dv8withn8 at 09/18/2008 10:33
Guitar Hero just comes off as a corporate cash-in now that Activision is at it's helm. Especially with the band-centric versions coming out. Really? Who buys GH: Aerosmith?

Rock Band FTW.
mikeyed's Avatar
mikeyed at 09/18/2008 10:37
I really don't think 2,000 people are making Guitar Hero. That's pretty fucking ridiculous if they are.
Miike's Avatar
Miike at 09/18/2008 10:47
No guys it's clear that 2000 people are making guitar hero. How else do you overchart a song? Didn't you know that union benefits include placing one note in a existing song?

Also employees can opt to add 1 oz of fat to judy nail's body every version. (I'm not saying she is fat, just fatter... and fat if she was held by an asian standard...)

PS rockband needs to give me some damned Sloan.
DeusPayne's Avatar
DeusPayne at 09/18/2008 10:53
It's okay, Activision announces their plans to destroy any potential edge they might have within the 2 years of 'doubling' the number of GH games (read: whore out the franchise something fierce)
topcow's Avatar
topcow at 09/18/2008 10:54
@rbrooks - You really think Rock Band with a pricepoint almost 5 fold again will outsell a competitor? Really?

The statement by Activision is bunk, as it's comparing units instead of gross sales. Sure, they sell 6:1, but Rock Band costs 5 times as much.
ajaxender's Avatar
ajaxender at 09/18/2008 11:02
4 guitar hero games vs 2 rockband games

The whole world - vs the US and recently, europe

$100 per game vs $300 per game

If they hadnt sold a ton more than rockband has so far, id be pretty unimpressed with them.

Also claiming they have access to a ton of music means nothing - you have to actually put it in your game for that to count. Rockband has what, 200 odd songs already?

But then, Activision are particularly good at the pr spin. It frustrates me how much everyone does it these days.
zombiekiller13's Avatar
zombiekiller13 at 09/18/2008 11:20
Like SephirothX said, there are at least 6 GH games out there, with WT taking it to 7 soon...and 2 Rock Band games.

It's like saying Nintendo consoles outsell Sony consoles 50:1, because they are looking at the NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gamecube, Wii, DS...etc., etc.
Guagloves's Avatar
Guagloves at 09/18/2008 11:37
Who cares if guitar hero is outselling rock band when rock band is kicking ass in the downloadable song department. People seem to buy guitar hero for the brand. I buy rock band for songs. Lots of them.
fetusmilk's Avatar
fetusmilk at 09/18/2008 12:12
see im a lone gamer. was a fan of GH.

but when rock band came out it was cool at first. but everytime i goto a friends house who has it i can never find a song i want to play/like.

500 songs means nothing if over half of them are indie garbage, or songs no one wants to hear.

ever notice people play the same songs over and over?
my friend has every available RB DLC song. i rarely see him play anything else besides the same 7 songs EVERY TIME. and i see this with everyone i know who has this game.
Knives's Avatar
Knives at 09/18/2008 13:22
14GH vs 5 rock bands (considering each game on each platform as one), duh! Of course they're outselling them.
ArrestedDeveloper's Avatar
ArrestedDeveloper at 09/18/2008 13:38
Don't worry, Activision is making it clear that they will be running the GH series into the ground just like they did to tony hawk.
DJP3DRO's Avatar
DJP3DRO at 09/18/2008 14:24
Activison: Go die.

kthx
inkablotz's Avatar
inkablotz at 09/18/2008 14:54
Guitar Hero is the bigger name. Rock Band is the better game (so far). GH will continue to sell on name alone for a while, but if Activision oversaturates the market (I think their term was'exploit'?), sales could easily turn on them.
Tet's Avatar
Tet at 09/18/2008 17:53
I have an old rule of thumb for competitions, winners show what they do (or rip off), losers attack the others. Seeing RB fans on here I'm not surprised in the slightest that GH sells more. It's just a music game people. Play, enjoy, shut the hell up.
ExpertPenguin's Avatar
ExpertPenguin at 09/18/2008 18:04
You know what I love? The way Activision rides on the success of the franchise while not acknowledging that the people who MADE Guitar Hero the successful franchise it was:

Harmonix.

Hello, they AREN'T working on Guitar Hero anymore. In fact, they're the creators of Rock Band. You know, that game you're now taking cues from after Neversoft nearly drove GH into the ground ala Universal Studios developing Crash after Naughty Dog left?

What gall, honestly. Leave the shit throwing to the monkeys, and make your note charts more fun to play. Try to carry the torch in an acceptable fashion and don't ruin it like you did Tony Hawk after you ran out of ideas. And for god's sake, fix the art style back. If there's one thing I've noticed about Rock Band, it's that the spectacle is as engaging as the note tracks themselves. I don't notice anything in Guitar Hero 3 except the notechart.

Dicks.

/rant end
Crumpet Lips's Avatar
Crumpet Lips at 09/19/2008 00:44
Well sure I would be on the Rock Band side if Electronic Arts actually gave a shit about Australia and released it over here. Fuck, we are STILL waiting for ROCK BAND 1!!! As long as Activision shows that they are still including Australia with their later installments of Guitar Hero, I will consume what they have to offer.

Absolutely hate EA and will never purchase ANYTHING for Rock Band.
manta's Avatar
manta at 09/19/2008 00:54
XD @ Activision taking credit for HMX work with GH1, 2, and Rock the 80s.

Hello, just because you own the license now doesn't mean you can take credit for the sales before you had it.
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