A few months after rumors hinted at a possible return of the Rock Band rhythm game franchise, Harmonix has officially announced that Rock Band 4 will be released later this year for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Harmonix helped define the music rhythm game genre with early titles such as Frequency and Amplitude, but its biggest contribution came when it joined up with the now-defunct RedOctane to create the first Guitar Hero game. Harmonix developed the software that combined music notes with timed button presses from the guitar controller, an innovation that spawned a hugely successful genre that all but vanished almost as quickly as it arose.

It has now been several years since the release of the last Rock Band or Guitar Hero, largely because the market became oversaturated and then moved on. But with the announcement of Rock Band 4, Harmonix looks like it is hoping the long break has left people ready for a new game.

“We think Rock Band 4 will hit all the right notes with our most dedicated fans, and we look forward to rocking out alongside you later this year!” Harmonix community manager Eric Pope said in a statement.

“Since the beginning, we’ve called Rock Band a music platform”

While Harmonix promises that the new game will support legacy controllers from previous games, it will also be making new hardware specifically for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The game will also support all previously purchased DLC songs, meaning players will get to keep their music library from all of the previous Rock Band games.

“Since the beginning, we’ve called Rock Band a music platform. Players responded by downloading hundreds of their favorite tracks, and building a massive library of playable music,” said Product Manager Daniel Sussman. “It’s important for us to respect those purchases and enable our fans to bring that content over to the Rock Band platform on new generation consoles.”

The legacy controller and DLC support only apply to consoles of the same family: Xbox 360 to Xbox One, PlayStation 3 to PlayStation 4. The DLC songs will also not necessarily be available at launch, as they will be downloadable “only after the DLC is released on next-generation consoles.”

photo credit: guitar hero via photopin (license)