The videogame market’s not only suffering from price fatigue, but music game fatigue as well, according to a report from Gamasutra.

Michael Pachter has issued a report which shows combined revenue from both Rock Band and Guitar Hero during February – June 2009 and it shows a 49 percent decrease in sales year on year, with Guitar Hero down 34 percent and Rock Band down 67 percent.

With discounted hardware and over 20 SKUs on the market, both have plenty of merchandise available to gamers, with the Guitar Hero franchise leading in that area.

Activision Blizzard has released over a dozen Guitar Hero titles from including the handheld version along with themed expansions. Guitar Hero 5 is currently scheduled for release in Fall 2009 and a Van Halen-centric one later in the year and of course, loads of new DLC through console services.

Currently, with different packaging and offerings, there are seven Rock Band titles on consoles or handhelds with The Beatles: Rock Band due September 2009. Harmoix tends to focus on DLC more so than new SKUs entering the market.

http://www.vg247.com/

Feb-June 2009 is a pathetically small window, considering the big iterations come out in the fall.

I never really did like Guitar Hero or Rockband. Bleh.

Maybe people are realizing that these games suck and the fad is dying?

I saw this coming a mile away. The Guitar Hero craze/music game craze is over. The games were and still are niche they were not going to sell great forever.

Remember when dance games sold really well.
Or when karaoke games sold really well.

The same thing appears to be happening again.

I wonder if The Beatles: Rock Band will sell as well as people expect.

Mike from Morgantown

Looks like this genre is dying.