Harmonix moves Rock Band DLC devs over to unannounced projects5-year-old DLC onslaught finally comes to an end
Harmonix has announced that it will cease to release DLC for Rock Band and its various sequels past 2nd April, in order to make room for work on unannounced games. So ends an add-on roll-out that has lasted over five years, encompassing over 4000 downloadable songs. Thanks for the memories, chaps.
"As you may have seen in our recent announcement regarding the release of Rock Band Blitz tracks as singles, Rock Band DLC production has gradually slowed over the past 5 years," reads
a post on the Rock Band forums. "We've managed to maintain a consistent release schedule for a staggering 275 consecutive weeks, releasing over 4,000 songs for the Rock Band Platform, but in recent months we've scaled production down as we've transitioned resources onto other projects.
"With several new titles in development and developers needed to usher these new games along, April 2nd will be the last weekly DLC release for Rock Band. While there is no content currently scheduled beyond April 2nd, we still have DLC releases lined up for the next few weeks, including the remaining tracks from RB Blitz, several Pro guitar upgrades, and a handful of artists who have not yet appeared in Rock Band."
Curious as to what those new games might be? Here's a hint: Harmonix job listings posted last year point to "real-time, single-player combat experiences for a brand new IP on next-generation hardware". It's likely a new Dance Central game is in development, too, given the franchise's not inconsiderable popularity.
"We're incredibly proud of the DLC milestones we've set," the post goes on. "Especially producing the largest music library of any game available, and we wouldn't have been able to release as much outstanding content without the support of our amazing community. As thanks to the community, we're going to continue the ongoing DLC sale of 50% off over 1,100 songs so fans can continue to build their personal libraries from our back catalog."
"We hope that you'll all agree that this has been a tremendous run, and you should know it's a ride that we at Harmonix have been thrilled to be a part of. We're going to continue to support the forums and RockBand.com and hope to still see you rocking out online, in photos of Rock Band parties shared on Twitter and Facebook, or here on the forums.
"Whether you waited in line for a midnight release of Rock Band over 5 years ago, or you just joined the party with Rock Band Blitz... whether you've downloaded every single song we've ever released, or you've just played on disc songs until your neighbors moved away... whether you're a metal shredder, or a bubblegum pop singer... thank you for being a part of our band."
In the words of Semisonic, every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.