Beatles Rock Band to Outsell Guitar Hero 5 in September, says EEDAR

Aside from console price cuts last month, another major event for the industry in September was the return of the music genre, as both Guitar Hero 5 and The Beatles Rock Band garnered significant interest. Guitar Hero as a franchise continues to outpace Rock Band, but EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich believes The Beatles had the edge in September with 1 million units sold compared to 800,000 for Guitar Hero 5.

"While many want to paint a David vs. Goliath scenario (MTV Games vs.  Activision), EEDAR feels that scenario presents an unfair comparison and suggests that one must be 'victorious' over the other.  That is certainly not the case, as both Guitar Hero 5 and Beatles Rock Band have both performed at levels ahead of retail expectations," he commented.

Although the music category as a whole has been way down in 2009, the positive response to both Beatles Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5 should offset the declines a bit. "With the Music & Rhythm category being down nearly 50% year-to-date, the successful launches of Beatles Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5, and the future release of DJ Hero, Band Hero and Lego Rock Band, should reduce the overall year-end decline for Music & Rhythm sales to -10 to -15% for 2009 vs. 2008," said Divnich.