Rock Band 4 players report several major issues with the game including lag, choppiness and freezing songs. The game's mics and drumkits also have input lag.

Finally released on Tuesday, Harmonix' music rhythm game Rock Band 4 is a game that fans have been looking forward to for years, but upon purchasing the game and its plastic instruments, many were frustrated to learn that the title has several game-breaking launch issues. On the software side of things, players on the Harmonix forums and on the Rock Band subreddit have stated that, on Xbox One, the game has serious lag with one user saying that the game is "ridiculously choppy and freezey to the point that I can't even calibrate the system". For this user, a song has even frozen mid-gameplay.

Meanwhile other users say that "the entire game is lagging" and that there are serious framerate drops as well, with Rock Band 4 going as high as 60 FPS (frames per second) only to drop back down to 20 FPS and it's "very noticeable."

Rock Band 4 players are also reporting problems with the game's accessories as well. Earlier this week, the game's co-publisher Mad Catz did apologize for the lack of Rock Band 4 instruments and legacy adapters available, but on top of that, it seems that those who have been lucky enough to get their hands on the instrument bundles are experiencing problems too. Destructoid editor Patrick Hancock reveals that the guitar bundle he bought didn't include a copy of the game, while the publication reports that another users actually ended up with PS4 instruments in their Xbox One bundle.

On top of this, input issues have been reported with the game's drumkit and microphone. The microphone apparently has some vocal lag for some Rock Band 4 players, while the drumkit has hit detection trouble that's so severe that one user had to come up with a makeshift fix – folding a paper towel into a rectangle and sticking it where the magnet meets the sensor.

In terms of official fixes, Mad Catz has apparently released several firmware updates for the instruments but unfortunately, in order to get those firmware updates, players will have to connect their plastic instruments up to a PC using a USB to USB micro cable (Xbox One instruments) or via Bluetooth-enabled PC (PS4 instruments) but a USB to USB micro cable isn't included in the box and not every PC has Bluetooth, so it leaves many players unable to access the solution.

While it's disheartening to see Rock Band 4 join a growing list of games that have launched in unfit states over the past 18 months (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 being another recent example), some are also concerned that this will see Harmonix lose sales to Guitar Hero Live, which launches later this month.

It's also worth considering how this will impact the newly rebooted music rhythm genre overall. Hopefully Harmonix will be looking to fix things and make it up to the Rock Band fanbase soon, so Game Rant will update on any new developments.

[UPDATE: A Harmonix spokesperson has come forward with the following message:]

“The Rock Band experience is as important to Harmonix as it is to our players. We are passionate about Rock Band, and we'll support it with bug fixes and feature updates for years to come. We're working hard to identify and address the problems that players are reporting, and in most cases we are able to resolve them quickly. We care very much about the small number of players who have reported issues with both Rock Band 4 hardware and software, and we're fixing those problems. We encourage players to visit our FAQ at rockband4.com/support and to submit a ticket here so we can work directly with each individual to resolve their specific problem.”

Source: Destructoid, reddit, Mad Catz, Harmonix (1), (2)