Rock Band VR was a costly flop, with only 700 players purchasing the game

Sometimes failures in the entertainment industry go almost unnoticed, but that doesn't make them any less telling. One such case came to light again with the commercial failure of Rock Band VR, a virtual reality version of the once-popular rhythm game series.

Commenting on layoffs and studio closures, Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey noted that such processes are typical for the industry and don't always indicate strategic mistakes. He cited his own experience with Rock Band VR as an example. He explained that tens of millions of dollars were spent on the project's production, and each Oculus headset was bundled with a guitar adapter. Despite the massive investment and ambition, the result was shocking: only about seven hundred users purchased the game.

Rock Band VR was released in 2017 and was the final release in the series from Harmonix. The project was conceived as a demonstration of the potential of virtual reality, but ended up becoming a clear example of how difficult it is to anticipate audience expectations, even with a well-known brand and significant resources.