Briefly: All the way back in May of 2014, Guitar Hero creator Harmonix took to Kickstarter in an attempt to reboot their classic, critically acclaimed, and beloved rhythm game Amplitude. The campaign was a huge success (because the game is freaking awesome), raising over $840,000 of its $775,000 goal.
So the game is coming, and is well on its way through development. It just won’t be coming out as soon as we’d hoped. Here’s what Harmonix had to say:
As you all know, 2015 is the year we bring Amplitude back to Sony consoles. While our expected delivery date according to our Kickstarter page is “March,” our release plans have changed. We’re currently targeting a summer release.
WAIT, WHAT? WHY?
This is our first time working on PlayStation 4, and it’s been a big learning experience for the team. We’ve put a lot of work into our proprietary engine to support some of the new, awesome content we’re bringing to the reboot. These factors combined have bumped production out a few additional months.
In a traditional scenario, we’re sometimes tasked with shipping a game to meet publisher demands or in some cases, meet a deadline to make sure the game is available to be purchased during the busy holiday season. In these cases, developers have to re-evalute production needs and make difficult calls to meet deadlines, including removing or shrinking features and – in the worst cases – sacrificing quality in other areas.
With Amplitude and our promise of open development, you’ve given us the opportunity to create the game we want to make and, more importantly, make the game that you want. In order to meet that goal, we don’t want to cut any corners, and we want to stay true to our vision and deliver the best Amplitude experience possible.
We had an amazing showing at PlayStation Experience in December, letting fans play the game for the first time, and we got amazing feedback. We know we have a ways to go, and we’re committed to getting there and making this truly feel like a worthy successor to the game you remember from 2003.
SO WHAT’S NEXT?
We’re still making solid progress and look forward to sharing what we’re working on during production, as promised over the coming months. We also have some exciting plans for PAX East in March; backers who backed at the VIP party level – that is totally still on so please check your inboxes.
You can also expect a far more polished multiplayer mode that will be available for hands-on at PAX (those of you who joined us at PlayStation Experience know that even though multiplayer was playable, it needed some serious work). We hope you can join us in March and challenge us to a multiplayer match!
Thanks so much for your continued love and support. We’ve hit the ground running upon returning to the studio after the holiday and look forward to getting Amplitude in your hands as soon as we can.
-Team Amplitude
So, not a huge delay seeing as the game was originally slated for March, but in any case we’ll be waiting a few more months to play the reboot of what’s possibly the most fun music game, ever.
Are you looking forward to Amplitude? Sound out below!