What Went Wrong With DJ Hero

The gaming industry has had its ups and downs this week, that's for sure. First came the EA layoffs, then the news that game sales were down 11 percent in October, the eighth month in a row that sales were down year-over-year.

Of course, there were also the sales of the latest Call of Duty game, which were so huge that they made the national news, with anchors loudly predicting that it could be the biggest-selling game ever.

And then, there was DJ Hero, a game that suffered sales so bad they were embarassing. It looked at first like a formula that could at least be a cult hit - hip-hop, a "Hero"-style music game, a huge promotional push during the world series. All this resulted in total sales, to date, of less than 150,000 across four platforms.

The question is, where did they go wrong, and what can aspiring gaming industry types learn from this?

Well, for one thing, there was the fact that the game was released in what seem to be the declining days of the music game. Beatles Rock Band was very successful, but not quite as big as predicted, and Guitar Hero 5 performed below expectations. Bands like No Doubt are starting to sue gaming companies for unauthorized use of their images.

The lesson here: Look before you leap on a bandwagon. Following a hot trend is a smart thing, but study the progression of the trend carefully and get in before it peaks.

There was also the matter of cost. The thing costs over a hundred bucks - two hundred for the deluxe "Renegade Edition." Plus, unlike Beatles Rock Band, you can't invest in the hardware and then reuse it for another game, because DJ Hero is the only one of its kind. Not a good thing to do in a recession.

The lesson: Give people bells and whistles, but also make sure they're getting true value for money. If they perceive your game as a frivolous extravagance, they will be less likely to buy the product - especially in a down economy.

Finally, there's the matter of the gameplay itself - while some reviews raved about it, some people found the controls of the game confusing, especially when compared to the Guitar Hero games. Given that music games are usually pitched to casual gamers, not the hardcore, the old "keep it simple, stupid" adage definitely applies here - casual gamers want to get playing without having to study a long line of tutorials.

The lesson: Know your audience's expectations and what difficulty level they're expecting, and stick to it. As a wise man once said, "Don't bleep with the formula."

There's plenty of ways a seemingly sure thing can end up less than sure. Careful planning and thinking through can help avoid a sure hit turning into a massive bomb.

- Bonnie

Comments

[Ewen Cluney]

So, I was one of the few people who got into music games in the late 90s, before they became remotely mainstream in the U.S., and even then Guitar Hero and Drum Hero got far more play in arcades than BeatMania. I think, along with the factors you've listed, rock (and the surrounding mythos) seems to be more mainstream. That's also probably why Double Fine went for something like Brutal Legends, where Psychonauts was a critical success but a commercial failure. That's not to say that mainstream-ness is a predictor of success, but then I suspect music games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band depend on the appeal of playing with popular songs more than innovative gameplay.

[Kouban]

I think the major underlying problem with DJ Hero is that the scope is stupidly narrow. "Combining songs for awesome mashups! Hell yes! ...Wait, I can only combine specific pairs? Fuck that."