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Interview: Scratch: The Ultimate DJ Gets New Developer, 2010 Release
by Leigh Alexander [PC, Console/PC, Exclusive]
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August 6, 2009
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Scratch: The Ultimate DJ now has a new developer. Turntable maker Numark and publisher Genius Products announced they've tapped Commotion Interactive, the music and party game division of Toronto-based Bedlam Games, to finish developing the embattled music title.
Scratch has been almost from the start at the core of a complex and contentious legal battle with publisher Activision and its rival product, DJ Hero. Activision acquired the game's original developer, 7 Studios, amid accusations that it was motivated to delay the competing title's release, and 7 Studios returned fire with claims of "unsavory business practices."
A court has since ordered 7 Studios to return the game's source code to Genius and Numark, but speaking to Gamasutra, Numark gaming product manager Fred Galpern says that order remains unfulfilled.
"To date, we still have not received everything the court ordered to be returned," Galpern told us. He declined to comment on how much, if any, of the original assets and code Commotion will have to work with, stating only: "We are moving forward aggressively to complete the game."
Scratch is now slated for an "early 2010" release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; although it looked like the game, when announced, was set to beat DJ Hero to market, it's clear this won't be the case, as DJ Hero is part of Activision's Fall 2009 release portfolio.
But Galpern's still confident in the game's prospects, and in its new developer. "I cannot comment on anything related to our lawsuit against Activision; however we are confident Scratch will be a superior DJ gaming experience," he says.
All of the company's previously-announced music partnerships still stand, Galpern adds, most notably the involvement of renowned musician-producer Quincy "QD3" Jones. "It is all moving forward nicely and we will have more music announcements in the future," he says.
So why was Commotion, established as part of venture-funded Bedlam in 2006, chosen to pick up where 7 Studios left off? "We chose Commotion from among several leading development teams, because they bring an excellent mix of experienced game development professionals and young, passionate talent," says Galpern. "Their experience includes developing games at Rockstar, Ubisoft and EA. The Commotion team includes game development pros who also DJ and produce hip hop music when they aren’t making games."
Bedlam CEO Trevor Fencott also commented, in a statement alongside today's announcement. "The combination of the game and the proprietary Scratch Deck controller will bring the art of DJing to the masses," he said.
Fencott highlighted the authenticity of the peripherals involved, and Scratch's intended realism, as a primary competitive advantage. "The Scratch Deck combines a touch sensitive turntable from Numark with the drumpads from the iconic Akai Professional MPC," he notes.
"This combination delivers an authentic music gaming experience unlike any other. We are thrilled to embark on this venture with Scratch, and can’t wait for this exciting title to hit store shelves."
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Personally I love electronic music (it's my favorite style...well, it and its' subsets) and would probably buy one of the two games, but I won't be in the financial position to get them given all the other stuff I'll be paying for this fall and onward. Not only that, but I've just lost interest in the current music genre as a whole; give me Um Jammer Lammy and I can play that almost every day or so but for some reason I haven't even come close to bothering to pick up a GH, and it's not just on nostalgia.
Consider the sales to date of the original Guitar Hero is 2.13 million copies, while rock band sold 5.26 million for its original version to date although rock band was released a full 16 months later. But if you add up all the expansion packs and new titles, the GH franchise beats RB 4:1. RB was still able to sell a total of about 10 million copies which is a significant market share.
Now, i don't think that DJ Hero and Scratch are going to sell nearly as much as GH or RB, but as I said before, the competition is going to force both companies to out-promote each other, increasing the penetration of these kind of games.
I'm predicting that in DJ Hero is going to come on top in the near future, for a few reasons:
1) Its coming out first and during the holiday season while Q1 is always a period of lull;
2) Scratch's value proposition given its more realistic experience is not going to appeal to the masses, especially if it's going to be much higher priced (which considering its tech superiority is more than likely, don't forget this is numark, their core competence is music tech, and as a musician I know this stuff doesn't come cheap). Scratch is going to come out as an even smaller niche product. It would be lucky enough to break even.
In the long term, its all about strategy. I don't think either of these products can survive by themselves. And they may not necessarily are meant to. I think that NUMark is seeing this project as a way to increase potential players to crossover into their real music tech products. (I'm not sure its going to work so well, DJ equipment is very expensive and its competing with a host of other cheaper solutions to deliver music. But that's besides the point). DJHero could possibly integrate with GH for a more full experience, which would sounds like a good time.
It's certainly going to be interesting...
I don't think Activision is hoping that Scratch sells well, that is the whole point. Most likely they acquired the studio simply to put it out of business and thus out of competition with DJ Hero.
So from that standpoint this a big win for Activision, and a big loss for the developer.