Considering that Beatles fans are primarily one generation behind even the "Pong" generation of gamers I am not shocked. Hopefully this will not dissuade publishers from putting out future band-centric games that will appeal more to gamers.

Tom,

It should "dissuade publishers from putting out future band-centric games" at the same high rate as we have seen in the past couple of years.

However, the "underperforming music genre" is not "an ominous bellwether for holiday sales," as analysts claim.

See my post from last week titled, "Explaining the Decline of Guitar Hero and Rock Band"

In truth, economic conditions play a role, but other forces are at work that better explain the recent decline in music sub-genre games.

Considering that The Beatles - Rock Band was the 2nd best-selling title in September, I don't know why everybody is poo-pooing the sales. Is only the number 1 selling title allowed to be considered a success? If it fell short of analysts predictions, well, that's why they are analysts. They are notoriously wrong.

I'd say the reason why it was the 2nd best selling title in September is precisely because it is The Beatles. They are the biggest selling act of the 21st century, 40 years after they broke up. So it's not really a surprise it was the 2nd best selling title.

If there are any lost sales, it's not because it's The Beatles. When the second best selling title is deemed "disappointing" by some, it most likely has to do with the current economic conditions and the drop-off in music games in general. I personally believe that Xmas sales will boost it closer to 1 million in sales (maybe 800-900K).

To be fair, success from the publisher's perspective doesn't really have much to do with what position in the top ten a game has held; it has to do with whether it's earned more than it cost to make, and that's what's being discussed here.

I'm a Rock Band junkie. I bought Rock Band and Rock Band 2 on day-one. I even bought Lego Rock Band on day-one. I've downloaded almost all of the DLC (725 songs and counting.) But I steered clear of the Beatles version. The reason? You can't export the songs and play them in Rock Band 2 along with all of your other songs.

I know that it was very likely a licensing issue that prompted this (and possibly the harmony vocal feature), but I have to wonder whether the fact that it was a totally separate game factored into anyone else's choice not to purchase it.

Isn't the lack of sales due to market saturation? A lot of people already own Rock Band (or some version of Guitar Hero). The only new customers that are going to be attracted to Beatles Rock Band are, frankly, older, and not a major game-buying demographic (with the exception of the Wii Fit).

Market saturation is definitely one of the involving factors. Everyone that wants to play Rockband already own the peripherals, which is why they were more focused on getting the software sales up, and not so much on the hardware sales. There's been too many Guitar Hero and Rockband games and track packs all over the place. Clutter is making people bored.

Beatles are quite timeless. Even myself who doesn't listen to much music from previous generations really like this. Everyone's heard of the Beatles. However, it's definitely more of a niche genre. They expected too much out of it, and it cost too much to make.

It's definitely selling well. It's just not profitable.