Music genre revenue down, EA expects Rock Band to lose $400m in 2009

During EA's earnings call yesterday, some interesting things involving the music genre of games emerged. NPD numbers reported by COO John Pleasants show the music genre has been way down this year compared to 2008, falling 36% during this year's first quarter and 42% in March alone. As a result of this sharp downturn, EA is expecting Rock Band to lose $400 million in 2009. The Cut Scene makes a very valid observation: During these periods last year, there were no major music titles released, whereas this year saw Guitar Hero: Metallica arriving in late March.

So what does this mean for the future? Well, EA is hoping that Rock Band: The Beatles can help turn this ship around, and produce some of the cash that Rock Band 2 wasn't able to, but it would appear that the music genre is losing its luster. Is it over-saturation? We know it isn't Legos. They make everything better ...