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Reader Discussion: What Do You Think About Harmonix's DLC Stoppage?

Harmonix has confirmed that DLC for both Rock Band and Dance Central will be stopping in coming months. How do you feel about the company's decision to stop delivering new downloadable songs for its biggest games?

Rock Band has released over 4,000 songs for the game as DLC, and the Dance Central series' tracklist totals over 200 after add-on songs are factored in. So how does this affect you? If you're like me, you packed away your plastic instruments long ago, only returning to the game during rare get togethers to play your old favorites. But maybe you're a die-hard Rock Band or Dance Central player, someone who has downloaded and five-starred nearly every song in the games' libraries. 

Regardless of how much or how little you've played Harmonix's music games recently, how do you feel about the announced discontinuation of DLC for both games?

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Comments
  • I think it kinda sucks. But I can understand why they're doing it.

  • Well, honestly, if they released 4,000 songs for DLC...is there really a need for them to release more? I can't name 50 songs that have ever been released, let alone 4,000. :P
  • It was a crime that Harmonix thought that they could bring the keys to Rock Band 3 without putting Nine Inch Nails' Closer up for DLC...
    Anyway, Rock Band 3 had a superb DLC run, so I can't be too sad.
  • It was long overdue, imo. They have WAY more than enough content on there now. Honestly, I have to wonder how many people are still buying it regularly. Also, I was kind of getting sick of seeing thirty Rock Band DLCs every time I went to look at new stuff, lol.
  • I think it kinda sucks too, but they release a hell of a lot of music, i'm actually surprised it has lasted this long. I think they should keep the store open and still add music, just not as often. This marks the official end of an era. The rise and fall of the music game certainly will go unmatched in numbers in the history of gaming.
  • it has no bearling on me but i can see why some ppl might be upset, thats said you can't expect them to push new stuff out forever too , i think this just shows that there might be a 4 or whatever in the works.

  • I like and play these games way more than most people I know do, and it totally bums me out. My best guess is they're working on DC4, and need the choreographers to update their dance libraries for Kinect 2.0's improved sensors, so that wouldn't be too bad of a trade off.

  • It's kind of sad!  It's ending after so long!  :(

    But at the same time, Harmonix has released an unprecedented amount of Rock Band DLC.  I am one of those die-hard Rock Band fans with over 1,000 songs, and although I haven't bought much/played recently, I'm still gonna miss the hype that came each week hoping for that one favorite song/band to finally be released.

    They've done more than enough, though, for the fans.  If anything, they've more than earned some time off.  Maybe it's the end, maybe just a hiatus, I don't know.  But what I do know is that I am more than happy with the amount of content I got.

  • I have thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Harmonix's games.  Between RB1, RB2, RB3, RB: Lego, RB: Green Day, RB: Blitz, and DLC, my song library is close to 800 songs.  I'm excited to see what they have in store for us for next-gen.

  • As someone who owns well over 1,000 RB tracks I'm obviously disappointed. I am however, more worried about future support for the game itself - how long are me & my online friends going to be able to play together before HMX shuts the servers down? When added up, the cost of peripherals, discs & dlc have cost me more than my first car... It's an investment at this point. I can only imagine what the folks who've spent more than me are going through.

    HMX has stated that the "new IP(s)" that they're working on aren't music related at all - one job posting even called for a programmer with experience in designing combat systems.  Given how broken RB3 (especially on PS3) is, I'm wondering about the future of HMX as a company. Can they really put together a more "straight up" game that will stand on it's own?

    The whole situation is a shame - I guess all things really do come to pass...

  • Rockband? What's that? Alright, that was sarcasm, but I feel bad for the rhythm genre. Simply too much in such a short time, the oversaturation was astounding.
  • THANK GOD!!! Every time I go too see whats new on the Xbox live market place there's like 20 Rock Band songs I have to skip through. It gets very tiring after the 100th time.
  • They have released very few songs worth getting recently anyway. Haven't bought a song since last year and even then I only bought a couple.

  • As long as they're no longer filling up the marketplace menus I'm fine with it.

  • It's always sad when developers stop supporting their games, especially when they haven't added a few songs I really wish they would add. And more Spanish artists, too. Like Juanes or something. Miranda. Anything.

  • They've been giving their fans great service for years.  The frequency of their updates was commendable and unlike most other companies.  

    I stopped playing Rock Band long ago, and I imagine many others did too - which probably brought this on.  The library will be left rich with the thousands of songs to choose.

    Well done Harmonix for a job well done - now go focus on whatever your next project is.

  • Does that apply to RBN as well??
  • They are just focusing on what they will build next. No big.

  • I just think (hope) they'll be announcing Rock Band 4 on next gen, either at the Xbox reveal or E3.

    I also just hope that if/when that does happen, they'll have some way for us to continue holding on to our song library.

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