A few years ago, the musical video games charged into the games industry at a sprint, overwhelming people with its success. It seemed it was a fool proof product/genre and that its profits would double each year. Harmonix, being the main developer for musical video games, was making millions of dollars. It seemed to good to be true, and it was.

Recently, Harmonix and a couple of other music development companies have been hit hard, really hard. Sales for games of this genre have been at a all time low. Although Guitar Hero keeps pumping out new titles, its sales are down 50% and are continuing to plummet.

By Mid-August, the music and dance genre was $390 million short of the pace they set in 2008. This problem will be felt most of all by the publishing company known as Activision, who will release a total of eight titles this year alone. Last year, it only released four.

          Rock Band, about to release its newest title “Beatles: Rock Band,” has also felt the blow from the recession. Electronic Arts, Rock Band’s producer, is now is relying on the stand-alone copy of Beatles: Rock Band, being sold for $60 a piece, to be the majority of the games sales. Considering the regular edition has $250 price tag, we understand there hopes.  

What this genre is surviving off of today is its ability to sell its downloadable content better than any other genre. With many extra songs and bands available to be downloaded after the game has been bought, they continue to make money long after the original purchase of the disc.

A light at the end of the tunnel for Activision is its unique and original idea other than Guitar Hero. A completely new product known as DJ Hero has been developed, and could pose quite a large fan base. If this title gains success, it will tell Activision that they can expand on there “Hero” series with brand new ideas.