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EA Gets Into the Music Game

Priya Ganapati

Music-based games are the video game industry's current trend.

Just ask Activision(ATVI - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), which produced one of the industry's biggest hits with its Guitar Hero franchise that lets users simulate playing an electric guitar. The Guitar Hero series, first released in 2005, has sold more than 2.5 million copies.

Surprisingly, video game leader Electronic Arts(ERTS - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) seemed content to let rival Activision take the lead. But it's now developing a title that could rival the Guitar Herocraze.

Along with Harmonix, the developer of the Guitar Hero franchise and Viacom's(VIA - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) MTV unit, EA has unveiled Rock Band, a game where users have their own virtual band and perform music using drum, bass/lead guitar and microphone.

Rock Band is expected to be released for Sony's(SNE - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's(MSFT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) Xbox 360 console during the holiday season.

EA has deals with almost all the major record labels and music publishers including EMI Music, Hollywood Records, Sony BMG, and Universal Musicto make master recordings by their artists available for use in the game.

As with Guitar Hero, Harmonix will brand and sell the peripherals for the Rock Band game.

Racing, sports or shooter games, the video game industry's staple genres aren't going away, but as the industry looks to expand its user base, it's turning towards titles that meld music and games together. In February, EA acquired SingShot Media, an online karaoke community in a bid to step into this territory.

With Rock Band, EA can potentially integrate SingShot and take it a step further. Harmonix suggests music tracks could be made available for download through the game potentially offering gamers a new way to get access to their favorite tune.

Meanwhile, Activision plans to release Guitar Hero II in April for the Xbox 360, and the third installment of the series could be out next year.

Shares of EA were recently up 63 cents, or 1.3%, to $50.99; Activision was off 19 cents, or 1%, to $18.75.