Harmonix has released the demo for the upcoming Rock Band sequel, Green Day: Rock Band and included is a teaser image that seems to imply that the upcoming game will have keyboard support, an all-new instrument for the popular music game series.
Users can download the two-track demo from the XBL Marketplace and play the songs “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Welcome to Paradise.”
The image shows off the four standard icons, (mic, guitar, bass, drums) with the keyboard fifth.
The original game of the series sold over 5 million tracks, and led to a revolution in DLC (downloadable content), selling over 40 million tracks.
Rock Band 2 continued strong sales for the franchise, although reviews were not as great.
Pic via JoyStiq:
Result for: franchise
Ubisoft, the games publisher behind the new “always on” DRM, has disappointed investors this week, reporting an almost 18 percent slide in revenue for the fiscal year.
For the year, the company posted sales of $1.1 billion, and a net loss of $54 million.
The loss was mainly due to increases in R&D, which rose to $376 million, up 36 percent year-on-year.
Ubi says its top selling game was Assassin’s Creed II (which uses the controversial DRM) and moved 9 million units since launch.
Additionally, Ubi saw its market share in North America rise to 6.8 percent from 5.3 percent last fiscal year. Despite the growth, the overall market, which remains in turmoil, has not helped with ongoing sales, concedes CEO Yves Guillemot: “The global economic crisis had a pronounced impact on the video game industry in 2009, which contracted by nearly 10 per cent year-on-year. Ubisoft’s sales were hit particularly hard, falling 18 per cent over the full year despite a stabilisation in the second half of the year, when figures came in on a par with the corresponding period of 2008-09. This overall contraction in sales, combined with additional write-downs recorded for games already launched as well as for upcoming releases, led to a €60 million operating loss.”
Despite significant backlash for their DRM scheme, Guillemot sees a strong 2010-2011 fiscal year: “We forecast a return to profitable growth in 2010-11 with positive cash flow generation, driven by a games line-up that is more closely tailored to growth segments and based on strong franchises.We also expect to see the first concrete results from our investments in on-line games and services. Lastly, the upcoming launches of new consoles, including Natal and Sony Move, should enable us to capitalise on the technology investments that we have undertaken in recent years and re-energize the casual games segment. At the same time, we will continue to reorganize our studios and enhance our development teams’ productivity.”
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Result for: franchise
Bungie, the developer behind the Halo franchise has announced they have signed an exclusive 10 year pact with Activision that will bring the developer’s “next big action game universe to market.”
For the next decade Activision will have exclusive, worldwide rights to publish and distribute future Bungie games “based on the new intellectual property on multiple platforms and devices.”
Financials of the deal were not disclosed.
Bungie formally had an exclusive partnership with Microsoft, but the two split in 2007.
“We chose to partner with Activision on our next IP because of their global reach, multi-platform experience and marketing expertise,” adds Bungie President Harold Ryan. “From working together over the past nine months on this agreement, it is clear that Activision supports our commitment to giving our fans the best possible gaming experiences.”
The Halo franchise has so far brought in $1.5 billion in revenue, and Bungie has sold over 25 million units worldwide.
“Bungie is one of the premier studios in our industry and we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with their talented team over the next decade,” says Thomas Tippl, Chief Operating Officer of Activision Blizzard. “Bungie has developed some of the most compelling and successful games, multiplayer experiences and thriving fan communities, and this alliance underscores our long-standing commitment to foster the industry’s best creative talent. Our unprecedented partnership with Bungie will enable us to broaden our pipeline of exciting new games as we continue to strengthen our industry position and pursue long-term growth opportunities.”
