In fact, I am so eager to learn more about the game that I contacted Harmonix, whose PR and Communications Lead, Nick Chester, was kind enough to answer a few questions. While most of the answers he gave me are more confirmation of things we already know, I did learn a few interesting things.
For example, ever wonder why The Who are the only band to appear in every main Rock Band game?
“Just a coincidence. We have a lot of fans, but I don’t think that was intentional,” Chester responded to me asking about it. A surprisingly mundane response to something I always wondered about.
I asked two questions about the ION Rocker drums and the MIDI Pro Adapter and Chester’s response to the first was the expected “not at launch” we’ve been hearing, but when I pointed out that the MIDI adapter works on the PS4, he said “The tech just happens to work. That’s great! Fortunately, the PS4 can detect and work with wired USB peripherals.”
He did confirm that the lack of wired instrument compatibility on the Xbox One was a hardware issue in Microsoft’s hands, as well as confirmed that Harmonix is hearing how the community is responding to the game’s current lack of online play, as well as not being able to assign custom characters to act as band stand-ins.
“Not at the moment. Early reports are that this is bumming people out, so I guess we could add a feature like that for a future update,” Chester said regarding custom stand-ins. While this is disappointing to hear, from what I was told, the popularity of custom characters in the first place surprised Harmonix.
“Honestly, this is not a feature that people use in the long term, and many don’t even look at it all. We know this by looking at player stats,” Chester said, “But when we did an early survey, customizing an avatar was shockingly near the top of the list, so the team refocused on it.”
You can read the entire exchange below. I can’t wait to play Rock Band 4 and I hope it does live up to the high standards Harmonix has always set. Rock Band 4 is set to release tomorrow, October 6, 2015 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
First, let me say thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I’m sure you guys are very busy preparing for the launch next week. Hopefully I won’t ask too many questions that you could copy/paste the answers to. Of course, the irony is that the first question I’m going to ask is what inspired Harmonix to bring Rock Band back?
Nick Chester: The studio has never stopped thinking about returning to Rock Band, and the time just seems right. We’re at a point where players can’t get the Rock Band experience on their new consoles, for one. But we also had some creative sparks at the studio that really inspired us, things like Freestyle Guitar Solos that we think bring significant innovation and change to the core guitar gameplay.
Is this the first time the team has considered making another Rock Band after the canceled Rock Band Sessions? If so, was it an earlier look at making Rock Band 4 or another style of Rock Band game like Blitz or Sessions?
Chester: Definitely not. While folks have been working on other projects, we’ve always been thinking about what a new Rock Band game would look like.
Why was Rock Band Sessions canceled in the first place? Any chance we’ll see some of the ideas for Sessions added into Rock Band 4 at any point? Or maybe, having absolutely adored it, even a [Rock Band] Blitz mode?
Chester: From an innovation and creative standpoint, the stuff the team was doing with those Sessions prototypes were quite incredible. Ultimately, there were a number of design challenges that, at the time, we didn’t feel were worth digging into, and chose to move on to other projects. The idea that we wanted to give players creative expression definitely ended up in Rock Band 4, particularly with the Freestyle Guitar Solo gameplay.
Many players are wanting to see online play added. Some are speculating, based on how the announcement was worded, that online play is coming in the first content update arriving in December. Do you have anything to comment here?
Chester: We hear that folks want synchronous online play, and we’re listening, but don’t have any plans or anything to announce right now.
As for other things that you’ve probably heard a million times with varying levels of calmness, what about electric drums and ION Rockers? Official word so far has been “not at launch,” but is there any news? Any chance Mad Catz has anything in the works in this area?
Chester: No changes here in what we’ve said in the past. We need to launch the core game first and make sure that’s rock solid before thinking about these other things.
From what I’ve seen on the Rock Band sub-Reddit, the Midi Pro Adapter actually works on the PS4 (a Twitch streamer apparently plugged his in and full combo’d “I Bet My Life” with it). Was this intentional or just a happy coincidence from how last-gen instruments work on the console?
Chester: The tech just happens to work. That’s great! Fortunately, the PS4 can detect and work with wired USB peripherals.
When you guys were saying that you were getting as many controllers to work as possible, does that include the random third-party generic controllers (including the wood Logitech Guitar Hero controller) or are you only focusing on the official Rock Band and Guitar Hero controllers?
Chester: No, we’re open to and interested in supporting as many controllers as possible. Unfortunately, we don’t have access to every single controller made, so we can’t test them. The ones we can test, we can confirm support for. Everything else we’ll work towards. In some cases, fans will have controllers in the wild that they will try to use and… hey, they’ll work. That’s great!
Chester: The Xbox One simply doesn’t recognize wired USB controllers or instruments. It’s due to security at the console level and how it recognizes and handles peripherals.
How did Harmonix get the partnership with Mad Catz? Was it a hold over from the deal you had with them for Rock Band 3?
Chester: They’re a great partner that makes great quality products. They also have expertise in manufacturing, retail, and distribution that Harmonix just isn’t equipped for. We’re publishing this game on our own, and we couldn’t do it without Mad Catz as a co-publisher.
I’ve heard that Mad Catz was, at one point, meant to make a guitar for an Xbox version of the first Guitar Hero. What’s the story behind this?
Chester: This is a question for Mad Catz! I’m not familiar with this story.
What lead to making the decision to drop keyboards and pro guitar?
Chester: We’re incredibly proud of the work we did, both from a hardware and design perspective, with both of those modes. In hindsight, they weren’t vital to the core of the Rock Band experience, and that played out at retail… not many people purchased the keyboard peripheral and even fewer played the Pro Guitar mode. As far as Pro Guitar goes, we actually don’t look at Rock Band as a learning tool. It’s really about a fantasy. We don’t intend to turn anyone into a real musician. If they are inspired by our game and want to take that path, that’s awesome, but that’s not the goal.
Any chance we will see keys and pro guitar added in the future?
Chester: I’d say it’s unlikely, but who knows.
You guys have put a lot of emphasis on being able to use the existing Rock Band library. I can only imagine some of the licensing nightmares involved, so could you explain the process of getting all of the old DLC into the new game?
Chester: Licensing was less of an issue than the sheer effort it takes to get the stuff to new platforms. It’s not just dragging and dropping files here. Each and every song was basically re-authored, with new features added to them, and then resubmitted to the stores for both Xbox One and PlayStation 4. There’s a whole bunch of other incredibly complicated work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure that the consoles know that players own those songs (because they bought different, but similar songs, on previous generation platforms). It’s a lot of hard work, and the fact that the team was able to do it with over 1700 songs at launch is incredible.
I assume that licensing issues are particularly compounded for the Rock Band Network content. Since I really want to keep playing the Machinae Supremacy songs, what’s the situation there?
Chester: Rock Band Network content is a different situation, and you won’t find any of that stuff on the store at launch. Keep in mind that we didn’t license those tracks, didn’t author them, or submit them for download. We’re looking into ways to make those available, but it won’t be at launch.
The campaign mode has been described as a “Rock Band RPG.” How does this work? And how does it compare to the career mode in Rock Band 3 and the World Tour mode from Rock Band and Rock Band 2?
Chester: It’s certainly closer to the career mode in Rock Band 2, which we’ve found most people say they love the most. We took that core and built on it by giving players actual choices they can make that will shape the “narrative” of their career. You can actually play a career a few times and get different results, which we’re excited about.
Related, tell me about the character creator. How has it been improved from previous games? Is there a lot of new customization options?
Chester: Honestly, I can’t wait for people to see some of the clothing and outfit options for their characters… the art team really went all out this time for some of this stuff.
In Rock Band 3, one thing that always annoyed me was that, no matter what I did when singing, even if I chose my band’s intended vocalist, I would still wind with my drummer on guitar, my guitarist on bass and my bassist on drums. Is it possible to assign characters to specific instruments?
Chester: Not at the moment. Early reports are that this is bumming people out, so I guess we could add a feature like that for a future update.
I’ve heard that, early on, dropping custom characters was considered. What lead to this consideration? Why was it ultimately decided to keep custom characters?
Chester: Honestly, this is not a feature that people use in the long term, and many don’t even look at it all. We know this by looking at player stats. But when we did an early survey, customizing an avatar was shockingly near the top of the list, so the team refocused on it.
I think it’s safe to say that the set list has had a few less than enthusiastic reactions. Personally, I find it on par with previous games and can’t believe that I’ll actually be able to play The Protomen in Rock Band, but everywhere I go, the Rock Band sub-Reddit, Facebook and even Twitter, there’s always at least a few people complaining about the set list. What has the reception been that you’ve seen, why do you think some people have had such a violent reaction and what would you say to the people disappointed by the set?
Chester: Music is subjective and you can’t please everyone. I think we have a really varied, interesting, and fun-to-play soundtrack, maybe one of the best. I’ve seen as many people excited about it as I’ve seen people disappointed.
Though, to be honest, I am a little disappointed that The Sword continues to elude the series.
Chester: Keep requesting them!
I think it was Eric Pope that pointed out on Twitter that The Protomen’s inclusion was based on song requests. What other artists are in the game or up for DLC based on these requests?
Chester: I’d have to look at the list and I don’t have access to it right now, but “Hail to the King” by Avenged Sevenfold was near the top, I know that.
This time around, the setlist is about a quarter smaller than Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3. Was that a conscious decision? Was it a result of the smaller scale focus?
Chester: Games are expensive to make. Music is really expensive to license. Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3 were games that were made when rhythm action games were at the top of the world. Rock Band 4 is our come back; we need to be smart about where we focus in order to make sure the game is successful and that we can support it in the long term, which is our plan.
A couple of artists on the set list are very much “why haven’t they been in the game before?”. This includes Van Halen, Elvis and Scorpions. Was getting these kinds of artists a conscious effort?
Chester: We’re always going after artists that have never been in the game, both new and old. So yes, it was a conscious effort. Those bands people are mad about that we haven’t gotten yet (“I can’t believe they’re not in the game! What is wrong with Harmonix?”)… we’ve tried. We’re trying. We don’t stop. Our music licensing team works hard.
Van Halen taking so long was probably the result of their deals with Activision, but clearly the team is quite proud of getting them. Were there any major hurdles to overcome to get them?
Chester: Nothing notable, but yeah, we’re incredibly excited to have their music in the game!
The Who hold the distinction of being the only artist to appear in all four main games. A distinction I’m surprised Rush and the Foo Fighters don’t share. Did the team intend to have The Who every time or was it something that simply happened?
Chester: Just a coincidence. We have a lot of fans, but I don’t think that was intentional.
How are songs chosen for the game? How is it determined if they will be on the disc or DLC?
Chester: Lots of fighting, really. Like I said, music is subjective, and the team all has their favorites. But at the end of the day, it’s about curating a well-rounded soundtrack that we think will be fun to play and to listen to.
I think that’s just about everything I’ve got today. Do you have any closing comments or anything else to add?
Chester: We can’t wait for people to get their hands on Rock Band 4… just two days!