Guitar Hero may not be ad supported but the music video game brand certainly knows about using ads to lure consumers; that's the subject of the panel its CEO, Dan Rosensweig, participated in during Advertising Week'smorning session today.
Music video games have suffered far more than the overall video game business, with sales in the niche down 46 percent in the first half of the year.
The business has slowed as cash-strapped consumers opt to buy add-on songs for a few dollars to games they already own instead of investing in altogether new games.
The fact that some 25 million Americans already own the controllers has raised questions about whether the market is saturated.
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Rosensweig couldn't give any promises about the return of consumer spending but he did say that he wants Guitar Hero to continue to snag the top marketshare in the business. He also pointed to the value Guitar Hero offers; the new games come with so many songs, it's cheaper to get all those songs through Guitar Hero than buy them individually through, say, iTunes.
Rosensweig says he isn't concerned about the market being saturated, and this fall they're rolling out four new games which he expects to grow the market more than ever. (He was particularly excited about the kind of audience Taylor Swift on Band Hero can bring).
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