Court papers filed: PR firms get bonuses based on reviews

[Zeus]

We all knew this already, but to see it submitted in court papers just solidifies what everybody figured was happening anyways

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164977

[Julius Seeker]

I don't see much of a problem with Activision's decision, though I also don't see why it is an issue for them. Rock Band was essentially a flop, it doesn't come close to competing with Guitar Hero in terms of sales. I don't know why Activision would actually do something that would put Rock Band in the news. Then again, it lowers the price of a potential future competing product so no one else on PS3 will want to try it. I somehow doubt Rock Band will ever compete though.

[Lox]

I don't see much of a problem with Activision's decision, though I also don't see why it is an issue for them. Rock Band was essentially a flop, it doesn't come close to competing with Guitar Hero in terms of sales. I don't know why Activision would actually do something that would put Rock Band in the news. Then again, it lowers the price of a potential future competing product so no one else on PS3 will want to try it. I somehow doubt Rock Band will ever compete though.

I'd like to see the sales figures you're basing that on. I know Activision has announced sales figures but I haven't seen any for RB.

From a gameplay perspective, RB blows GH3 out of the water. I haven't touched GH3 since and I never will again probably because it plays like garbage comparatively.

RB scares Activision because they know it's a better game. I have a feeling that there are many, many more people like me who won't even bother with GH4 because of RB. So while RB competition might not have hurt GH3 sales all that much this season, I think we'll see the impact in the future. And with Harmonix committing to the huge amounts of DLC, I'll be pleased to add to my existing game for a few bucks at a time rather than buying a brand new game from Activision.

[Zeus]

I don't see much of a problem with Activision's decision, though I also don't see why it is an issue for them. Rock Band was essentially a flop, it doesn't come close to competing with Guitar Hero in terms of sales. I don't know why Activision would actually do something that would put Rock Band in the news. Then again, it lowers the price of a potential future competing product so no one else on PS3 will want to try it. I somehow doubt Rock Band will ever compete though.

I'll take it by the subject of this response that it's in the wrong thread.

However, it's far too early to tell if Rock Band is a failure. If they're sold anywhere near the 200,000 figure that's being tossed around in November, you can't call it anything but a runaway success, even if only half of those are the bundle set. That's $100,000 of a $170 game or $17M in revenue in a week and a half...and that wouldn't even include the other $6M for the standalones ($60 x 100,000). Yeah, it ain't GH numbers but it's not like this game:

a) has the name of GH
b) is available on as many systems
c) nearly as affordable as GH

Wait 'til we see the figures for November and over the course of time. Just because it don't do quite as well as GH don't mean it ain't a success. The fact that the Canadian release just got delayed by a couple of days (to Dec 20 at EB although Futureshop has it at Dec 22) beyond the original 4 week delay should tell you something about the demand for it.

There is room for more than one success story there. Is the 360 an unsuccessful system just 'cause the Wii is pounding it in sales?

At the end of the day, this little stance by Activision will only hurt the consumers. There's no reason for it other than control and sticking it to the other, especially not the way it's playing out. It's not like Rock Band guitars are working with GH or Activision plans any patch to make them work.

[Lox]

Plus Rock Band is supposedly making a pretty penny on DLC as well.

[Zeus]

Plus Rock Band is supposedly making a pretty penny on DLC as well.

I'm getting the Metallica pack the SECOND i get the game

[Lox]

Plus Rock Band is supposedly making a pretty penny on DLC as well.

I'm getting the Metallica pack the SECOND i get the game

I have that pack, the QotSA pack, and I had a few extra points so I downloaded Roxanne and My Sharona. So much good music. I might get the Sabbath pack soon.

[Blotus]

I encourage everybody to listen to last week's GFW Radio (the Brodeo) podcast. A majority of it covers the Gerstmann thing as it relates to PR and publisher pressures. A VERY good listen. Also covered in last week's 1up Yours.

http://www.1up.com/do/minisite?cId=3148397

[Julius Seeker]

Yeah, I did post my above post under the wrong topic actually.

[SineSwiper]

Yeah, I saw the replies to the thread after I read the article, and I'm thinking "What the fuck does Rock Band have to do with this?"