And the music genre continues to die. If you look at the sales of both these series only 2 years ago, and then compare them to what they have now, the drop is ridiculous. Really now, it's one thing to release a yearly installment of a game, but to release 3-5 different versions of what gameplay wise is the SAME DAMN GAME in a single year is just beyond stupid.
Agree. It seems to be a race to see who can milk every last dollar out of the genre ASAP, without regard to what current actions are doing long term for the genre.
Let's face it, though, Activison would have done this anyway. However, the fact that EA/Viacom is as well is speeding up the process. Furthermore, hasn't it been said that Viacom has yet to make a dime of profit from the Rock Band franchise? If so, clearly they should be aware that the current "slash and burn" technique for milking is going to hinder them if they are looking at this like a long term investment.
I do feel for Viacom here, though. Their hands are tied because Activison has a track record for this, and they either "go with the flow" or let Activison milk the genre for themselves. That said though, if they aren't make a profit now, clearly they should be able to forecast that their situation with Rock Band is only going to grow worse with actions like these.
Oh well, in about 5 years both series will be dead because of their stupidity.
I doubt that, I bet one will survive, just it will have about the same relevance that DDR does today if not a little less (although more than the Tony Hawk games do).