We recently reported on Viacom's comments that The Beatles Rock Band is "exceeding expectations" so far and that the full band kit could actually be sold out by November. EEDAR provided us with estimated first week sales of 650,000 units. However, Dan Rosensweig, head of the Guitar Hero division at Activision, does not appear phased one bit by Beatlemania. He stressed that the Guitar Hero franchise has beaten the Rock Band franchise by 4-to-1 in the U.S. and as much as 9-to-1 in other markets.
Rosensweig told the Financial Times quite simply that Beatles Rock Band "did not affect our sales.” He also talked about Guitar Hero 5 as a “value proposition” for consumers, considering that it's $99 and comes with 85 songs and a guitar controller.
It was recently revealed that Guitar Hero 5 took first place in the all-format charts in the U.K. while Beatles Rock Band placed fourth. We'll get a better sense of how this battle of the bands is shaping up once we receive the September NPD figures next month.
[Correction: When we first posted this story we interpreted Rosensweig's statement to mean that Guitar Hero 5 has been outselling Beatles Rock Band 4-to-1. However, we're told he was referring to overall franchise sales.]
