Speaking in our latest issue, Rock Band and Guitar Hero makers Harmonix and Neversoft discuss the rise and recent downturn in the rhythm action genre’s fortunes.

Music game sales declined 46 per cent year-over-year to $1.06 billion in the US during 2009. However, the genre was the bestselling during December and second best for the year behind only firstperson shooters, according to the NPD Group.

Despite the drop in annual sales, Harmonix founder and CEO Alex Rigopulos believes the genre’s best days are still to come.

“I absolutely do not believe that rhythm-action gaming has reached its peak,” he asserts. “Of course, 2009 was a tough year with the recession, which especially affects music games given the relatively high price point of instrument bundles. But in the long term, people’s passion for music isn’t going away, and rhythm gaming will continue to provide people with a deeper level of engagement with the music they love. So, yes, I do think that future music games will exceed the sales success of the last generation.”

But with Guitar Hero and Rock Band’s disc-based updates not selling at anything like the pace of their forebears, Brian Bright, project director of the Guitar Hero series at its current curator, Neversoft, thinks Guitar Hero III’s stellar sales – the title is the second bestselling in the US over the past 15 years - may never be matched.

“As far as sales exceeding GHIII’s in the future, only time will tell, but it’s a tall order,” says Bright. “I think user-created content is key to the evolution. If you can’t create or edit licensed music due to copyright laws then you’re limited to pretending to play someone else’s music. I think the key is to create music, but make it compelling to create, so the game is in the creation, not the playback.”

“User-generated content will be absolutely critical to the ongoing success of the genre, I think,” agrees Rigopulos. “To be clear, though, when I talk about ‘users’ in this context, I don’t necessarily mean end-users or players. I’m talking about a huge community of power-users – skilled music creators – providing their music to the audience. The launch of the Rock Band Network will be our next ‘defining moment’.”

For the full story, pick up a copy of E211, out now.