Guitar Hero: Van Halen sales are shamefully poor

[Dr. Love]

http://kotaku.com/5537803/the-perils-of-one+band-music-games

Music games built around a single artist can be a tricky thing to plan for, because while you'll attract fans of that single artist, many others just won't give a toss. Especially, it seems, when that artist is Van Halen.

According to retail analysts The NPD Group, Activision's Guitar Hero: Van Halen has been a bit of a disaster, with only 94,000 copies sold since the game's launch in December. To put that in perspective, here are the sales figures for other Guitar Hero or Rock Band games built around a single band.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith — 2,741,000
The Beatles: Rock Band — 1,296,000
Guitar Hero: Metallica — 1,001,000
Guitar Hero: Van Halen — 94,000

Ouch. Yes, copies went out free to people picking up Guitar Hero 5, but still. And while The Beatles: Rock Band sold 12x as many copies, when you consider how much it must have cost MTV for the rights - not to mention their advertising spend - it too doesn't look like the smartest of business decisions either.

Sheesh. I thought they'd sell at least more copies than VH III.

[vaijuju]

here's they said 250 000

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=137800

[Coyote]

Note to spEd... Pretty much useless to put out a game, when you aren't what some people would call "current". i.e. Put out an album first, dumbass...

[Nitro Express]

Van Halen is poor at marketing themselves. Sure they have talent but hiding out in a home studio and touring every ten years and not releasing anything good or interesting is going to take it's toll. That band is lost without a dynamic personality in it. Originally that was Dave Roth and then they had Sammy who took over the role Roth had. Now they have nobody with any people or PR skills. They should turn Dave loose and let him do his thing. Let him be the PR guy but then the band is going to have to put something of quality out.

Van Halen isn't going to spark any interest hiding in 5150 and keeping Dave silent. I think they need to get some kick ass new music recorded, make some videos and then let Dave do the television shows and radio shows hyping the hell out of it and the release a new album videos and tour behind it. Do it the old school way, turn Roth loose. Get him on all the shows and let him be Roth of old. People would love it.

[Nitro Express]

Roth is a great guest. Van Halen is missing the point and not using him as a PR front like they did in the old days. Alex and Ed hate that aspect of the business. Fine. Send Dave out but then the band need a product for Roth to pitch. It all there. The old formula and it would still work. The Van Halens are actually pretty bored if they aren't on stage so let Dave to the public appearances.

[Blaze]

they[Sure] have talent {for} hiding out in a home studio{s} and touring every ten years .

[simarillion]

it's either over or the next chess move is gonna be HUGE!

[hideyoursheep]

Note to spEd... Pretty much useless to put out a game, when you aren't what some people would call "current". i.e. Put out an album first, dumbass...

Didn't seem to slow the Fab 4 down any...and half of them are dead!

That reminds me....just who the FUCK is buying a Beatles game, anyway? Can't be kids..

[binnie]

Well, they didn't promote it did they? That's part of the reason.

The other part has to do with legacy - those other bands have a much higher standing in popular culture that VH. I'm sorry to say it, but the inertia that has gripped VH's career since the mid-90s means that the average 12 year old probably has little chance of knowing who Eddie is, whilst Aerosmith and Metallica are pretty much go-to rock bands....

[ZahZoo]

What do you expect... Mad Anthony was excluded!! If anyone made for a good game character it was Mikey...

[chefcraig]

Didn't seem to slow the Fab 4 down any...and half of them are dead!

That reminds me....just who the FUCK is buying a Beatles game, anyway? Can't be kids..

The difference being that the Beatles game is actually worth playing, as it is inventive, has terrific imagery and actually has a compelling storyline to it. You do not come away from it feeling dumber, but somehow enlightened. By comparison, the Van Halen game is pretty much like playing this...

[VanHalener]

What do you expect... Mad Anthony was excluded!! If anyone made for a good game character it was Mikey...

That's right.

Fuck you Ed and your petty selfish attitude. You needy little whining fuck face.

~That is all~

[Sensible Shoes]

I'm not sure I'm singing the blues for GH. It's out there and can be played, so who the fuck cares how much money these multimillionaire game developers "lost" on producing it. Maybe they'll stop producing it and it will become a collector's item.

[Jagermeister]

Maybe the poor sales are due the that kid in the back on bass.

[chefcraig]

Nah, I believe the game's failure can be directly attributed to the art designer's decision to model the reproduction of Ed on one of the Geico cavemen.