Business outlet Bloomberg is reporting that their own anonymous sources have said Harmonix, creators of the Rock Band franchise, are developing Rock Band 4 for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. For anyone that’s been following the activities of Harmonix in recent months, this doesn’t come as a real surprise.
In addition to conducting an online survey asking respondents what they would like to see in a new, hypothetical instalment of the rhythm series, just this week Harmonix put new songs up for sale on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network store, entitled “Back to the Shack” by Weezer, and “Rise of the Fenix” by Tenacious D. Obviously the choice of song titles is far from random and deliberate.
On the heels of this, IGN then sent an inquiry to Harmonix and received this reply:
This passion our fans have shown for Rock Band over the years suggests that rock truly hasn’t died.
We’re excited by how enthusiastic our fans have been in regards to our most recently DLC releases, and we think it’s awesome that people are speculating about the future of the franchise!
While we still don’t have anything to announce, hundreds of thousands of unique users are still actively playing Rock Band games each month. This passion our fans have shown for Rock Band over the years suggests that rock truly hasn’t died, and we’ve always been clear that we’d love to return to the franchise when the time is right.
Anyone reading between the lines of the minefield that is PR Speak will note that the statement is neither confirmation, nor denial. It’s been a few years since a full blown plastic instrument game hit the shelves. Harmonix themselves released Rock Band Blitz in 2012, so it’s been two years since any game in the franchise came out. Guitar Hero has been similarly on hiatus for a few years, so maybe people are open to the idea of breaking out their fake guitars and drums and rocking out again.
