Harmonix announces that Rock Band 4 will finally receive the much-wanted feature of online multiplayer, with the content expected to arrive in the form of an expansion.
Although Harmonix found some love from within the gaming community with the release of Rock Band 4, the title did not quite live up to expectations set from previous iterations of the Harmonix-developed franchise. In particular, there was one feature that was noticeably absent when the game released last year: online multiplayer. Now, it’s been revealed that the game will finally be on the receiving end of this content.
Harmonix announced the news in a post on the official PlayStation blog, stating that an expansion including the content can be expected at some point during holiday 2016. The developer’s community manager Criss Burki explained the plans for synchronous online multiplayer in more detail, explaining that soon users would be able to "literally rock the world." Revealing that a request for online multiplayer has been the Rock Band 4 community’s most-wanted addition to the game, it seems as though the time has finally come for users to take the game online.
As well as confirming that the multiplayer mode is coming, Burki also went into more detail about exactly how this online functionality would work. "Synchronous online multiplayer will be like Quickplay," explained the community manager, before continuing to state that it will be "modified to provide a fair and streamlined experience for console friends looking to play Rock Band 4 together online." It looks as though Harmonix is also going to address the issue of different song libraries for different users, with the developer "implementing enhancements on the back end to address issues for folks who don’t have the same DLC libraries."
Although an official release date for this expansion is yet to be announced, Burki suggested that fans of the game should look out for news during E3 2016. The community manager also hinted towards more content on the cards. Suggesting that this synchronous online multiplayer is not even the true focus of the DLC, Rock Band fans should no doubt stay tuned for more information in the coming months.
Rock Band 4 was released in October of last year, to a mixed reception from gamers and critics alike. Although there was a lot of love for its party focus and addictive gameplay, there was plenty of criticism still aimed at the title over its content, with many disappointed that online multiplayer was not included at launch. This was particularly contentious, given that previous games in the franchise had included online multiplayer.
Should online multiplayer arrive and work as well as fans hope, however, then Rock Band 4 could see a new lease of life. Although many will still wonder exactly why this content was not included in the first place, the allure of playing Rock Band 4 online could be more than enough to bring in plenty of new players. Let’s see exactly how this expansion shapes up - and whether its release goes better than the core game's launch.
Source: PlayStation Blog