Rock Band 4 Will Be Co-Published By Mad Catz

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Before the advent of the music gaming genre, Mad Catz was synonymous with the third-party controller that you would hand over to the friend you liked the least while playing multiplayer games in the 90’s. It’s been a long time since those days, to the point that Mad Catz is getting into the publishing game. Today, they have announced on their website that they will co-publish Rock Band 4 with the help of Harmonix.

Mad Catz will be handling the promotion, distribution and retail sales of Rock Band 4, including such things as their upcoming instrument peripherals. Meanwhile, Harmonix will control the digital output of Rock Band 4, including sales of the game itself and future downloadable content. It leaves Harmonix and Mad Catz in a position to do what they do best; develop musical experiences over an extended period of time, with each side handling what they know best.

“As a hard-core Rock Band fan, I can honestly say this is shaping up to be one of the biggest games of the year, and music fans are just going to go nuts for what Harmonix is creating,” Mad Catz’s public relations director Alex Verrey said on their website. “We’re working so hard to improve all the controllers in so many ways, we think you’ll notice the difference immediately and love what we deliver.”

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Because the peripheral manufacturer is in charge of co-publishing Rock Band 4, I have to say I’m still a bit reserved. Logically, it is in their best interest to not make previous Rock Band drums and guitars compatible with Rock Band 4, further necessitating the purchase of new instruments. Hopefully, they will see the logic in making it easy for those who have said instruments to jump back in on this new generation. Pushing for ~$200 instrument bundles to necessitate a full band experience will make kickstarting the genre back up again that much more difficult.

h/t VG247


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