Rock Band DLC a big success

By Robert Purchese Published 18 January, 2008

More than 2.5m songs downloaded.

MTV has said more than 2.5 million Rock Band songs have been downloaded from Live and PSN.

Developer Harmonix has added fresh content regularly since the game's US launch last November.

Songs can be downloaded in packs of three for 440 Microsoft Points (GBP 3.74) or USD 5.49 on PSN. Or you can buy them individually ranging from one to two dollars, depending on current offers.

Most popular so far is a Metallica pack with masters of Ride the Lightning, Blackened and Justice for all. The Police and David Bowie combination bundles (two covers, one master) also sold well.

The individual crown went to the Juke Box Hero cover by Foreigner, while Buddy Holly by Wheezer stood out as the only master among the runners-up.

Full album downloads will be out "very shortly" according to MTV boss Paul DeGooyer (talking to GameSpot), although a price is still to be mentioned.

He also promised standalone instruments "shortly", as currently you need to buy the entire bundle to play.

Rock Band was released on 20th November in the US, but recent NPD yearly sales figures showed rival Guitar Hero III was currently winning the rhythm-action battle.

The game won't face in Europe until sometime this quarter, but clever clogs Tom managed to get a US version to play and decided it was worth an 8/10. Pop over to our Rock Band review to find out why.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (14) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • TheWretched #1 4 years ago

    And that's without Europe (since it still isn't released here, is it?)

    But the prices seem quite nice, compared to the ripoff that is Guitar Hero 3.

    At 1€ a pop, I'd be hard pressed not to download at least some songs!

  • Mr_Dodger #2 4 years ago

    They see the demand and have the right business model to deliver.

    Guitar Hero really should learn the lesson, but at this point the seem to have given up.

  • BM #3 4 years ago

    How did clever clogs tom manage to get a US version working? US 360?

  • sd99 #4 4 years ago

    Cheaper DLC sold more? Hold the front page :)

    Publishers should learn from this...

  • skillian #5 4 years ago

    Weezer. It's Weezer.

  • moggsy #6 4 years ago

    How did clever clogs tom manage to get a US version working? US 360?

    PS3 games are generally region free. Plus Tom may be using a debug console anyway (which will play any game from any region thrown at it).

  • moggsy #7 4 years ago

    The GHIII content only costs 51p extra for the 3 song bundle, hardly a rip off...

  • DUFFKING #8 4 years ago

    This is about fuck all cheaper than the GH content and hardly anyone moans about it.

  • hiddenranbir #9 4 years ago

    Hmm, buy some music we might already have to be played in a game?

    Guess I was in good to wait for Audio-surf.

    Props on a business level, though.

  • TuftyMcTavish #10 4 years ago

    There's more content in each Rock Band song (4 difficulties * 4 instruments, including voice) *and* it's cheaper! And there's way more selection.

  • Mike1980 #11 4 years ago

    Am I the only one who wants the live version of Deep Purples Child in Time as DLC. Or maybe Godspeed You Black Emperor at a push.

  • Nithron #12 4 years ago

    I seriously regret getting GH3 for christmas now, as the downloadable content is quite frankly wank.

    They only ever come in packs of three, priced at about a fiver, and usually it's two songs i don't want for one that i do. A fiver a song just aint worth it.

    Also, you can't play the downloadables from GH2, which is just shite, as it had a ton of songs i actually wanted to play. Sigh...

  • kangarootoo #13 4 years ago

    @DUFFKING

    The problem with GH DLC is that it always comes in packs of 3, so if you only like out of the three songs in a given bundle, it suddently seems rather more expensive. The GH DLC pricing was a total cock up, hopefully they are learning a lesson here.

  • Gurgeh #14 4 years ago

    Hmm but GH3 outsold it by a lot:

    NPD top 5 games by sales for 2007:

    1. Halo 3 (X360) 4.82m
    2. Wii Play (wii) 4.12m
    3. Call of Duty 4 (X360) 3.04m
    4. Guitar Hero 3 (PS2) 2.72m
    5. Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) 2.52m

    Rock Band wasn't in the top 10 - but GH2 and 3 were.