Harmonix Says Rock Band Will Soon Experience 'Creative Reinterpretation'

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It’s been a rough couple of years for the Rock Band franchise. Even though the death of Guitar Hero leaves Harmonix in the enviable position of not having any real direct competition as far as music games go, Rock Band 3 still didn’t sell very well. Couple that with Harmonix’s recent troubles with Viacom, and Rock Band has pretty much been left to fester.

Thankfully, Harmonix has the Dance Central franchise to fall back on, which for the moment is doing well with both critics and consumers. However, just because Dance Central is flying high, that doesn’t mean that Harmonix is going to let Rock Band roll over and die. In a new interview with Giant Bomb, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said that Rock Band will soon go through a “fairly fundamental creative reinterpretation,” that will be a “pretty dramatic departure,” from what they’ve done before.

Harmonix co-founder and CTO Eran Egozy elaborated on Rigopulos’ reveal:

We do have plans on where we’re going to go with Rock Band and how we plan to expand it. All I’ll say for now is that it isn’t what you think. You might assume we’re going to add saxophone or something along those lines, but no, the kind of direction we’re planning on taking Rock Band, the kind of innovation we have in mind, is taking it in a different direction, one that’s more suitable to the kind of environment we’re in, what people are doing now, what they’re interested in playing now, versus, say, 2007.

I don’t know about you, but I liked the Rock Band of 2007. Then again, that was a very different time, and if Harmonix wants Rock Band to survive as a franchise in the coming years, they’re going to have to revamp the series to appeal to the gamers who have simply lost interest in music games.

It isn’t going to be easy, but if anyone can do it, it’s probably the folks at Harmonix. If you’ve got a few minutes on your hands, head over to Giant Bomb to read the long interview, and keep it tuned right here to TFTS for more information on this upcoming Rock Band revamp!