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“With the video gaming sector having evolved from its male-dominated roots towards a more family-oriented demographic,†said Douglas Glen, Head of Digital for The Really Useful Group, “we’re very pleased to partner with Microsoft in releasing some of the best-known brands in musical entertainment to their global Lips audience.â€
It is possible that this news won’t mean a lot to most of you, but it is indicative of how these casual games are going. “Casual games†not necessarily meaning games which are casual, but games that are played by a casual audience. Games like Rock Band, Karaoke Revolution, Guitar Hero, Lips, and a number of others are eagerly buying up the rights to every musical act they can find. Forcing casual gamers to pick and choose between a variety of games that are only distinct in the music they provide for selection.
Of course, this group of casual gamers lacks a voice online except for in a few, rare instances and they can’t put any real pressure on publishers. What is more, they may not be fully aware of the difference between Karaoke Revolution and Lips.
“Why does one have Glee music and the other has Andrew Lloyd Weber?â€
The publishers are not really doing anything wrong, or even unethical. However, they are treading the line of dishonesty. There is no good reason to make a Glee Karaoke Revolution, other then that was what the accountants thought would make the most money. They could have made it DLC, and slapped the Glee logo on all future versions of the game.
In the end, this IP grab is only going to hurt gaming. As casual gamers slowly come around to realizing that the market is splintered in four or five different ways, they won’t have patience for our funny little hobby anymore. That doesn’t seem to be stopping Konami and Microsoft, though.
