Thus far, the Rock Band series has always been a console-centric game. Harmonix wants to change that by bringing Rock Band 4 to the PC. However, to do so, they’ll need money, and they’ve decided to raise some of that money via crowdfunding.
Launched yesterday, the Rock Band 4 PC crowdfunding project is hosted on Fig, the same website that hosted the Psychonauts 2 crowdfunding project. The difference between Fig and other crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter is that Fig allows users who invest in a project to potentially share in the profits.
For the porting, Harmonix will be teaming up with Sumo Digital to bring the game to the PC. The UK-based game developer will be handling a the porting of Rock Band 4, allowing Harmonix to keep the core Rock Band engineering, design and production teams to develop new features and content for both console and PC. The Harmonix engine team will be supporting Sumo in porting the game to the PC, and it will also be working on the Rock Band Network features.
Aside from Rock Band 4 being a port from the conosle, Harmonix is aiming to add some new features to the PC version of RB4. For starters, Harmonix plans to revive the Rock Band Network on the PC, allowing users to submit user-generated content to Rock Band. As the PC version will be released on Steam, Harmonix aims to leverage the Steam Workshop to allow users to create and sell their own songs.
Should the project be successful, Harmonix aims to have Rock Band 4 out on Steam by Fall of 2016. Of course, they have mentioned that there might be delays on the project. Currently, the project has 10% of its USD 1.5 million goal funded with 34 days left in the project. If you would like to rock out on your PC, you may want to pledge your money within the next month.
