NPD figures show MTV Games The Beatles: Rock Band beat Activision’s Guitar Hero 5 in September sales units. Speaking to Gamasutra, MTV Games general manager Scott Guthrie clarified just by how much their franchise beat Activision’s, underlining the growing competitiveness between the two music game brands. According to Guthrie, their title outperformed Guitar Hero 5 two-to-one on revenue basis despite being released eight days later. NPD figures show 360 versions of both titles in the top ten, with The Beatles: Rock Band at number 5 with 254,000 units and Guitar Hero 5 at number 9 with 210,800 units. Accounting for unit sales on all platforms for the latest iterations, NPD says Rock Band outsold Guitar Hero by 20 percent.
The better revenue performance cited by MTV reflects more purchases of peripheral hardware with their game, which Gamasutra points out would mean more new adopters that had to buy Rock Band instruments. Guthrie says the marketing plan for The Beatles title is two-pronged, with launch activity geared at hardcore and a more mainstream effort planned for a holiday push. He also discusses MTV Games download strategy.
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