MTV Games Scores Rights to Beatles Music
Rock Band Developer Harmonix to Create First Interactive Experience
Oct 30, 2008
MTV Games, Harmonix and Apple Corps. announced an exclusive partnership today that will see music by The Beatles appearing in a video game for the first time in 2009. Specific details on the game were not revealed, though MTV said in a public statement that it will "be an unprecedented, experiential progression through and celebration of the music and artistry of The Beatles."
The official statement also revealed that the two living members of The Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as the spouses of deceased John Lennon and George Harrison, had all been involved in the creative conception of the game and have given the project their full blessing.
Beatles Game is Not Rock Band
Rumors about the deal spread quickly through the internet yesterday after the gaming enthusiast press received a media alert about a pending large announcement between the companies. Numerous outlets speculated that music by The Beatles would be appearing in MTV Games and Harmonix's current hit video game, Rock Band, in the form of downloadable content.
The Wall Street Journal specifically reported yesterday that the music would be appearing in the Rock Band series, siting sources close to the deal.
However, Harmonix founder Alex Rigopolus stated during a conference call this morning, that The Beatles game would be a brand new game built from the ground up, making use of existing Rock Band technology. No mention of Rock Band was made in the official announcement.
Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero
The music genre of video games has evolved into a near war between MTV Games/Harmonix and Activision, who owns and publishes the Guitar Hero franchise of games. The latest installment in that franchise, Guitar Hero World Tour, is a direct competitor to Rock Band, offering the ability to play instruments other than guitar for the first time in the series' history.
It's an interesting dynamic to watch as Harmonix actually created the Guitar Hero franchise with Red Octane before the latter was bought by Activision. Once Harmonix was purchased by MTV Games, Activision took development of Guitar Hero in house, in a sense, forcing Harmonix to compete with their own creation.
In fact, representatives from Apple Corps. said on the conference call today, that one of the reasons they decided to go with Harmonix was that they felt the developer had spearheaded the music genre and had an unmatched passion for music.
Signing Big Bands
This deal is the just the latest news in what has been a growing battle to get major music acts to sign exclusive deals with one or the other of the two companies. Activision has already succeeded in obtaining exclusive content from bands like Metallica and Aerosmith.
But The Beatles have long been coveted as the biggest prize because of their universal popularity and massive catalogue of music. Having The Beatles exclusively in their games is a huge coo for Harmonix and big blow to Activision.
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