Harmonix Explains Why Rock Band 4 Isn’t Coming to Wii U, But Doesn't Rule it Out

I think Harmonix hates us.

This would be interesting if this stuff didn't die out for a reason.

It's sad, yes, because this is a big franchise that could thrive on the console. Myself, I do have a couple actual guitars, a bass, and a MIDI keyboard lying around that I'd much rather use to get my music fix, so I don't really care on a personal level.

Though every once and a while I break out GH Metallica.

@ueI I was surprised when I received an email-survey from Harmonix about 6 mos ago, I expressed my interest, and I cant be mad at them for not trying to include us. Too bad...

“Where is the Wii U? I will absolutely throw money at you and I wanna buy it and preorder it!" I'm I doing it right?

Jokes aside, this is pretty unfortunate but not surprising. I think it's better they don't make a Wii U version at all because if they do, then I'm sure it'll be rushed to hell and infested with bugs because they will develop it quickly in order to meet deadline just like the last batch of 3rd party games from Ubisoft on Wii U. I've never played a Rock Band game before and looks like I'm still gonna wait for a loooong time...

I'm surprised 4 is even coming out, I thought everyone had given up on music games when RB3 and GH6 failed to make a splash.

@Asaki
It's great for people that still play the old ones but why the hell would anyone that sold or gave away all their old instruments buy them again for something they know they will get sick of?
I am tired so I am not sure that it is clear that I am agreeing with you.

I don' really care about the franchise any more but it's always alarming to know my money is not good enough to warrant my Wii U from having the 3rd party support I would like it to have. Oh well, hope Nintendo releases "Wii U Music" some time down the line.

Reason and a very good one,if we released Rock Band 4 for the Wiiu it would'ave sold like crap.Who can blame them for not releasing there game on this console?

I'd get it

The argument doesn't really work. Audiences from PS3/X360 aren't automatically on PS4/XBone.
I think the more difficult part would be to produce the instrument controllers YET AGAIN, and then selling them to the masses yet again.

Where is the Wii U? I will absolutely throw money at you and I wanna buy it and preorder it!

Well theres my vocal outcry for a Wii U version, so get on it Harmonix! In all seriousness, though, it not being on Wii U is a serious deterrent to me buying it. I had the last few on Wii and had invested in a fair bit of DLC for it. I'm not willing to buy it on another platform knowing that I'll have to rebuy that content if I want to play it again.

I still pull out RB1 for Wii occasionally when friends are over. And before the announcement, I had been mentioning to people how cool it'd be if RockBand or Guitar Hero were to be revived so this is really disappointing. Harmonix is dumb to think their audience isn't on Wii U. RockBand is a party game. Wii U has all the party games. I can't even think of any party games on XB1 or PS4 (Though I could be wrong.) so it might just be that they think they can sell more games if they make it online only or something like that. And more than half the fun of it is playing with other people there.

@AdanVC Ubisoft is not related to Rock Band at all, you're thinking of Rocksmith.

As for why Rock Band 3 was very bug heavy on Wii, Viacom forced a release date on Harmonix in which the game would not be released at all if not met (Viacom sold Harmonix soon after Rock Band 3's launch). There were a fair amount of bugs on the PS3 and 360 versions as well but of course most of them were fixed via patches, something that wasn't possible on Wii.

@Kaze_Memaryu Harmonix confirmed that last gen controllers will work in Rock Band 4.

I think this game will be a success. It's smart to keep it a stand alone release with a DLC focus as opposed to releasing a sequel every year. That's what killed the market 5 years ago: having a new Guitar Hero and Rock Band coming out every 6 weeks.

Anyways, I had too much with these games back in my university days; there's no way I'm not interested in getting this for PS4 some day.

well even if it came out on wii U I wouldn't have bought it anyway. I dunno about you guys but I didnt buy a wii U to play rockband. The nintendo discrimination from harmonix is unfortunate but not surprising

Good thing I've never gotten into these games in the first place. Not really my cup of tea.

Petition to bring this to the Wii u now,

I kinda hated his answer, "make them beg, then we'll bring it out" two years later. ugh!

I've never owned it on any system, but from what I understand, the Wii version had a good audience. Party games do well on Nintendo systems (look no further than Ubi's Just Dance) So I don't understand the logic of not developing one for the U.

@larry_koopa I wonder if they'll use the same model they have for Dance Central Spotlight? It was 10 bucks and you got a handful of songs to start you off with the option of buying DLC packs. All your previous DLC carried over as it became available in the new servers.

@TheSwagMaster98 ...Please tell me you're a troll

And so the cycle continues…

If anything, I have been more willing to buy games this generation since Nintendo made the switch to HD. I had given quite a few third party games a miss last generation as I knew that developers weren't putting in as much effort as the 360/PS3 versions. I wanted to give Assassin's Creed a chance but I suspected that Ubisoft wouldn't support the Wii U in the long term so I gave it a miss (and we all know how that turned out).

What exactly was there for Harmonix to research? Aside from Project C.A.R.S. (which will also be a late release and sell badly as a consequence), there are literally NO upcoming third party games whatsoever. We're not even given the option to buy any third party games for publishers to be able to tell whether or not they'll be successful, even after the small spike in Wii U sales following the releases of Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros.

I have never been interested in rockband, but it's a shame there isn't a wii u port. I kind of wish that Nintendo would step up and throw money to help get it to the Wii U, if nothing else to ensure its place as a viable in living room multiplayer console...

@Captain_Gonru Basically Harmonix are working with Madcatz to resolve the problem, I'd guess it would be some kind of adapter like how you could use wireless PS2 controllers on the PS3.

As for why Sony and Microsoft wouldn't add that compatibility themselves, money of course! Controllers are getting increasingly expensive each gen and not making your old controllers compatible forces you to buy new ones which means they get more profit.

Of course Nintendo felt the Wii Remote was still very central to Wii U despite the main controller being the Gamepad (like asymmetric gameplay and minigames in Mario Party).

That's pretty silly reasoning, if it doesn't launch on Wii/WiiU/PC the audience for the game are more likely to buy a PS4/X1 for it. The WiiU will never have that audience because Harmonix's release strategy ensures the audience is purposely built on a different platform.

If a platform gets the game late or never gets it how exactly is it ever going to gain that audience? It's a self fufilling prophecy, a platform will never get an audience for a series it isn't getting or gets late(or poor quality) because third parites seem to go out of their way to ensure they don't make their games system sellers on the Nintendo platform.

Nintendo has to build the audience by themselves with their 1st party software so the audience will mostly want Nintendo software, which is common sense and it's not Nintendo or the Audiences fault the audience don't want third parties titles. It's the third parties fault for not making their titles on WiiU appealing enough that someone will go "Oh I will buy a WiiU for [insert third party title]".

Maybe not Harmonix but many of these third party companies call themselves Industry leaders, how can a leader of the videogame industry be unable to sell a Nintendo system to their audience using their software instead of relying on Nintendo to build an audience for them?

RockBand died out because it was stale!!! Fun initially... sure!!! I don't know anyone who continued to play each iteration much or anyone who would want too!! Its a dead franchise!!! I couldn't go back to tacky plastic after rocksmith2014 which really is a great (and useful) app/game!!

I wish they stay dead, if I want to play music I find my own real rock band. Hopefully they die after this gen.

I would think the reason for the game skipping Wii U is pretty obvious, just look at the likely publisher (EA). There are plenty of other arguments that also apply but considering that EA has handled publishing duties on just about every entry of the series, it makes sense that Harmonix would have them help again. EA has made their stance on Nintendo and its fans pretty clear so while Harmonix will try and spin the situation in a different light, odds are high that they know EA would never bring the game to the system so they would just eliminate the possibility outright.

Yes! Someone start a tweet train or a get a petition or something! I want to play!

I have loved rhythm games for a long time. I remember playing Guitar Hero with corded, plastic instruments on the PS2, then I got Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock when it came out on the Wii. I sucked at playing the game, but I loved watching it with my older brother and cousins. That's how I know so much about rock in general. Those games introduced me to the whole genre and had me memorizing lyrics so that whenever I heard the songs on the radio, I could sing along with my dad like I knew what I was doing.

Then Rock Band emerged from the shadow of Guitar Hero. I didn't know what to think of it at first, but I knew it was an offshoot of the "original" rhythm game. I was swayed immediately when my family bought the whole set for The Beatles: Rock Band. Drums, microphone, Paul McCartney's bass, and the leftover guitars from Guitar Hero then crowded the TV upstairs. The whole family played. We all knew the songs since we were all huge Beatles fans, and I finally found my calling in the bass guitar (plastic instrument only). I soon mastered how to play the bass and carried over my skills into Rock Band 2 when we bought it.

I played the game on Expert. Any score below a 90% was unacceptable to me, since I was relied on to carry the weight of the band during the more difficult segments on guitar and drums (my brother was on Expert guitar and my dad was on Medium drums). We beat the whole career together, unlocked every song, and enjoyed every moment of it together when we turned on the Wii every weeknight and start off with Fleetwood Mac. It was a magical time, something I don't think I would ever be able to experience again with a rhythm game.
Then we bought Rock Band 3. We played a little bit of the career together, but my brother was going off to college, I was going into high school, and my dad was not as passionate about it. I also really wanted to try out the piano, since that is an instrument I actually play in real life. Everything seemed to be drifting apart, including the rhythm genre as a whole. Activision had already driven it into the ground, and all Harmonix could do was sit and watch as the other company churned out an explosive amount of titles that inflated the market. The genre lost speed due to this inflation as well as evolving and changing interests in the audience it was trying to attract (mostly casual than hardcore consumer base).

Flash forward about 4 years to today. I am now about to head off to college. I am about to leave behind the plastic instruments that defined a large portion of my life, one that I enjoyed on my Wii for several years. Harmonix has fostered lifelong memories in me with the wonderful games they have made. I would like to have the opportunity to create new ones, with new people in a new place. I can't thank the company enough for what it has done over the years. So I would greatly appreciate it if I could continue to appreciate the music, the games, and the people if I could play the next game on the Wii U.

@kensredemption True, they have been independent since 2010 but I doubt an "indie" company such as them could handle the server infrastructure and licensing costs of both new and DLC songs needed for a game like Rock Band. Also, they would need EA's (or another publisher's) help to handle producing and marketing new instruments for the game. While they could rely on past instruments, most people have gotten rid of them making them a pain to collect again (not to mention possible compatibility issues with PS4 and XBOne hardware). Overall, if this is a full new entry in the Rock Band series, they are gonna need one of the major publishers to help them and EA stands as the most likely candidate based on their history with the series. Sadly this brings us back to the original problem, EA does not give two craps about Nintendo or its fans making the game a no go regardless of how much fans beg and plead for it.
This is the same issue that plagues the upcoming Star Wars games, Disney is relatively tight with Nintendo but their handing the video game licensing to EA ensures the games skip Wii U despite the massive success of previous Star Wars titles on Nintendo.

I may dislike their reason but I respect their honesty.

Honestly I'd rather prefer a Wii U version of Rocksmith.

I'm still playing rock bank 3 since there is nothing else that compares- heck ya I would pre order RB 4 for wii as soon as it's available - can't believe yu would leave us out in the cold harmonix!!!

Good thing I don't give as sh*t. Only music game I cared about was DJ Hero

I love the Rock Band games, though I never did own my own copy so it would be pretty expensive buying the instruments if it did come out for Wii U.

@BinaryFragger Yes, they are getting help from Mad Catz for the instruments (just like Mad Catz helped with Rock Band 3 instruments) with the potential for them to handle full physical publishing but it also clearly states that Harmonix has until April 15th to find another publishing partner to assist with the game. Again, EA makes sense as a possible company to help Harmonix but it is true that they could find help from a company such as Activision but I still think the music licensing/server infrastructure would require a company larger than Mad Catz. I never said there was proof to EA being behind the decision, it just makes sense that Harmonix would downplay a Wii U version if there was the possibility of them using a publisher that doesn't work with Nintendo anymore. Nintendo has been very welcoming to indies so if they were truly going independent, It doesn't make much sense to skip Wii U considering that all of the development bottlenecks from the Wii don't really exist anymore.

I was hoping to see this reboot for Wii U. Darn won't get it for PS4. Too bad so sad.

This fad died out for me years ago.

Didn't this franchise die years ago.

I think the problem with bringing it to the wii u is that the Wii U won't be around as long as the PS4 and Xbox One. If I had my choice, I would buy it on my PS4, mainly because i feel like Nintendo will come out with a new console, making this one obsolete long before the PS4 will. I just wish Nintendo would drop some money into 3rd parties and have them make some exclusive Wii U titles that people would clammer after. ..... And Bayonetta wasn't it.

Don't really care about Rock Band. I only bought the Beatles edition for the Wii. Here's to bringing Guitar Hero 7 to Wii U.

We have all the Rock Band & Guitar Hero games as well as two sets of guitars and drum sets for BOTH series and a lot of extra mics. We picked up most of them used. I even scored a brand new drum set off ebay at a great price

I had read in the past that the instruments are not compatible with the Wii U however there are still Wii owners such as myself who already have a boat load of instruments. I was hopeful the new game would include the Wii platform.
My husband loves rockin out on the drums and since I can't play an instrument I pick up the mic and scare the heck out of the neighbors.
I dont care how lousy I sound, it's just plain fun.
And when my brother and twin nephews drop in, we have enough instruments for everyone to join in and have a great time.

Sure we all know the Wii isn't for hard core gamers but it's great entertainment, in our house that's what matters.
I would have bought this.

Though I have Rock Band 1 and 2 to thank for me picking up the bass back in 2008 I really don't have any interest in playing a new game in the series when I can get my music fix elsewhere. Still will remember the good times and I still have my old instruments for Xbox 360.

I would absolutely pre order RB4 for the Wii U! Add me to the list!

@Darkness3131 If my 360 DLC will unlock the same songs on my Wii U, then I will throw my cash at them!

What a tragedy lol. I really would actually have spent time on this hitting on a fake drum like an idiot... What would I do now oh no....

I didn't know people still played this game... A lot of my friends played the first one when it came out, then when 2 came out, they swarmed to get it and then with 3.... none of them got it because it was stale and just the same thing.

I'm okay with this I'm not shelling out $200 for the rock band set a second time just to have the drums and guitar crap out in 6 months again.

@Grumblevolcano That's nice and all, but who actually still owns that stuff? Almost everyone I know threw their ensemble away eventually, and it's not easy to find new guitar controllers nowadays (except for Amazon).

Because begging for games has clearly worked out so far for us.

I remember when this came out along with Guitar Hero and they were like the biggest things to ever be created at that time. People shelling out ridiculous amounts of money for fake instruments. You could buy a real (lower end) beginner guitar for $200, and learn to play for real.

Will that sad to hear, but oh well no money from them
here hoping GH7 is coming, but then again.

No Wii U version, no buy.

9.2 million wii u owners 11.5 million xbox one owners ummm that's not a huge leap so why is it on xbox one then

@PinkSpider Realistically looking at quantity of Rock Band 3 users on 360, PS3 and Wii is a better indication. Plenty of Rock Band fans on 360 will buy an XB1 solely for Rock Band 4 as all existing DLC and exports that have been purchased will be transferred for free.

If they do decided to bring it to Wii U, it sounds as if they would be committed to really putting the effort in. Exclusive features perhaps

I have my dlc and instruments on Xbox so I'm going with the Xbox One version, but it would be great for Wii U to have such a game on the platform. I think it would cater more to newcomers because majority of the series fans come from other platforms. But Rock Band is a great asset and its presence on Wii U would not isolate Nintendo's console from the rest. I hope it will eventually come out on Wii U.

@dumedum

"What a tragedy lol. I really would actually have spent time on this hitting on a fake drum like an idiot... What would I do now oh no...."

Take some grammar lessons?

It's because no one will buy it. And I hope the same thing happens on the ps4 and xbone.

It's a garbage game anyway. Nuff said

@Sir_JBizzle its going to be full price but they plan on supporting it for the entire gen, all songs bar rock band 3 game disc songs will transfer to new games

There reasons are vaild, the Wii u isn't close to X1/PS4 to make the port quick and seeing as just dance still sells better on Wii than Wii u its easy to see why they haven' . However they have said if people want it or if there's a l sales boom they'll port it unlike other devs

@MasterBlaster Also he picked the worst example because real drums are supported in Rock Band 3 with the expert chart being exactly what the drummer plays (excluding double bass pedal).

I'm glad this isn't touching Wii U.

I don't think this is a big loss. The music genre died from oversaturation and I don't see it making a comeback with Rockband 4 at all.

If they read Nintendo forums then maybe they would see that

OH come on! Release it on Wii U, dang it! I need me some Rock Band

Would have been nice to have a use for these instruments again.

I had fun with Rock Band. I think those times are gone, though.

Well, they were polite and honest about it. I really respect that. Good communication.

Admittedly, not a genre I ever liked, but I do hope there's enough clamour for it for those who do.

This is not a surprise. Nintendo hasn't given 3rd parties the freedom, hardware power, storage space, or sales to give 3rd parties a good reason to come over, and the bulk of the fanbase told 3rd parties that no matter what, they will not be supported here, regardless of those of us (the small minority that we are) who did buy a lot of 3rd party content.

It might be different if Nintendo still had the casual crowd propping the system up, but at this point, Nintendo is selling only to the already-converted (pre-existing fans) and no one else. Hey, maybe Nintendo will crap out another dreadful Wii Music to make up for it.

Skill-free public domain music gaming for everyone!

Read between the lines.

We are skipping Wii U, because everyone else does.

Nice to see that Rock Band still has the stigma of being "fake plastic instruments for people who can't play a REAL one."

Speaking as someone who has played guitar for over a decade, I absolutely love the Rock Band games, and I play it with my family of real-instrument-players all the time. Rock Band is a video game, and we all know that. The experience of playing RB with a guitar controller is nowhere near comparable to playing an actual guitar. My brother is a much better guitar player than me, but I am better than him at RB because they require different skills.

It makes about as much sense as saying "why play Madden 2015 when you could go play REAL FOOTBALL with your friends?" or "why play Street Fighter when you can punch REAL PEOPLE in their REAL FACES?"

Furthermore, what's "fake" about singing in Rock Band? You have to use your actual voice, you know.

Wii u! Wii U!

Again, people saying "don't be a loser and play real instruments" are being ignorant. Playing rhythm games has no similarities to real instruments, the most it does is perhaps influencing one to pick up real instruments, which it most definitely did for me.

Why play sports games when you can go outside?
Why play simulation games when you can just live life?
Why play Diner Dash when you can open a restaurant?
Why play shooter games when you can go out to war?

@Blakenator Well said. I too played rockband obsessively and it really made some great memories for me and my friends. I suspect youll have a blast with the new one at uni. Good times await.

Hard to argue with the truth. It'll have to be the xbox version for me since that's where all my stupid DLC is hours.

Hours and hours of DLC... that's where my money went for four years or so!

I'd definitely get it if it has a decent track list. Preferably more modern tracks.

@PinkSpider 11.5 million Xbox consoles shipped to shops - not sold to customers. In reality I'd say your talking the Wii U is still ahead of XB1 in terms of install base - not by much though. The Wii U fanbase don't really look at 3rd party games either.

I just picked up FIFA 13 on Wii U from Argos for £4.99 - it's the best version of FIFA I've played to date and that includes 15! The touch screen extras are fantastic.

The Nintendo official Magazine et all were terribly down on this amazing football game, not to mention every 'good' 3rd party title. Mass Effect 3 is another cracker that was hit hard as was COD. Nintendo's gaming publications certainly have alot to answer for in the destruction of 3rd party support.

@liveswired Don't know about FIFA 13 but the other 2 examples you gave do not have the complete package. Mass Effect 3 automatically gives you the worst ending if you don't have a Mass Effect 2 save file imported (a game which was never on Nintendo consoles). As for CoD, that franchise thrives upon DLC yet Wii U only got the preorder map for both games whereas other consoles got 4 DLC packs.

That sucks. I only have a WII U and i never had my own rock band. This was my chance.

Come on, they have to do rock band 4 for WII U!! PLEASE!!!! Where would you like me to sign to order it???

@liveswired I believe FIFA 13 on the Wii U is actually FIFA 12 on the other Consoles, and Mass Effect 3 came out on the Wii U (at a higher price) at the same time Mass Effect Trilogy (at a cheaper price) on the other Consoles.
These are the reasons I personally didn't invest in these titles on the Wii U, perhaps this was the same for other Wii U users

I miss Rock Band! As much as I would want a Wii U release, that is only because I haven't picked up a PS4 yet for... ya know, lack of games I want to play. I still cringe thinking about the $200 boxes that have most of the instruments bundled in with the game. I had the first 3 on 360 before I had to sell them all with the console to pay rent.

I bet it has more to do with them wanting to sell more plastic instruments, and since the Wii U is still backwards compatible with all the instruments already released for the Wii, the potential to rip customers off by making them buy everything all over again isn't there.

@Cobra Isn't that what rhythm game companies nowadays want to do? Rockband was fun when it originally came out, but right now, not many people including me care about it anymore.

@Cobra That's wrong because backwards compatibility will be present for all Xbox 360 and PS3 instruments (HMX confirmed it). The people trying to rip you off are infact Microsoft and Sony for not making standard Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers work with the new consoles.

This sucks for anyone that put A LOT of TIME and MONEY into DLC and Instruments! Hopefully we can convince them to release this on Wii U! It would be a day one Pre order for me. I refuse to buy another console just to rebuy everything all over again.

Sign the Petition!
https://www.change.org/p/harmonix-music-systems-rock-band-mad-catz-create-a-wii-u-version-of-rock-band-4

@Grumblevolcano That's interesting, I did not know that.

@MasterBlaster nothing wrong there idiot.

This means all wii u owners that want GH or rock band should support GH for them alienating us.

@FilmerNgameR get the new guitar hero instead as that is coming to wii u

@JTTHEGAME wow I didn't even know a new guitar hero is in the works too! Thanks.

I signed up to this site specifically to say I would throw money at a Wii U version of Rock Band and I will preorder it. Come on!

There's no way i'm even buying the Wii U unless i can play rock band with it, and every new one that comes out. I play mine all the time on the wii. i've broken my pedal a few times and replaced pads. GET ON IT, HARMONIX!!

I would buy Rock Band 4 for the wii u. I have all the rock band games as well as guitar hero games with the guitars, drums, etc. I was debating on Rock Band 4 or Guitar Hero Live. Since Rock Band 4 is backwards compatible with Guitar hero instruments, but since my instruments are on the Wii U guess that makes up my mind to purchase Guitar Hero Live instead.

I would buy Rock Band 4 for the wii u. I have all the rock band games as well as guitar hero games with the guitars, drums, etc. I was debating on Rock Band 4 or Guitar Hero Live. Since Rock Band 4 is backwards compatible with Guitar hero instruments, but since my instruments are on the Wii U guess that makes up my mind to purchase Guitar Hero Live instead.

Way to discriminate against Wii U users Harmonix. Not all of us jump on the Sony, or Microsoft band wagon. I have had and own every Nintendo system, and am loyal to the Zelda franchise. I have also bought every rock band game and peripheral for the Wii but after reading this article, I feel discriminated against by Harmonix.

In the end, Yarn Yoshi outsold RockBand 4 on PS4 and XBox One combined in October. HaHa...

That whole rock band is more popular on the other consoles is a load of crap because guitar hero is the popular choice for Microsoft and Sony users while rock band is more popular with Nintendo users harmonix

ROCK BAND 4 FOR JUST THE REGULAR WII PLEASE I WILL THROW MONEY AT YOU CUZ I WANT IT SO BADLY BUT DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO BUY A DIFFERENT CONSOLE