My thoughts on the Rivals Mode in Rock Band Rivals

2 DLC songs per week is not permanent
There is more coming this year for Rivals than just online multiplayer
Harmonix has wanted to do a music documentary mode since the original Rock Band
Delisted songs from last gen are still coming
“Probably Not” on a PC port
Spotlight songs will include DLC
Spotlight songs will always be songs that are purchasable at the time the challenge is active
Signing in with multiple instruments in Rivals will only post a score for the first instrument that is signed in on that profile
No plans for Rock Band Blitz backwards compatibility
Still no plans to make songs from RB1/RB2/LRB available as DLC
Issues with Amazon pre-order songs should be fixed already
They’re currently brainstorming ideas for expanding the character creator, but no specific timelines, or features to mention right now
Harmonix is working on unifying some of the song meta data
It is in their backlog to map right on the d-pad to change the sound effects now that the FX switch is missing on the new guitars
Venue selection in quick play is possible in the future, but would require a lot of UI work
No specific announcements about additions to the Companion App, but they do have a bunch of ideas for future features
No plans for a Rock Band Blitz sequel
They’re going to add a section to the in game store for songs that are part of the current Rivals theme.
There will be a blog post coming soon about the changes to Through the Fire and Flames
They’re working on adding more character animations
Unlikely to get a precision bass controller like Rock Band 3
The intro scene playing behind the main menu was originally a bug, but they liked how it looked, so they kept it
The ‘All Songs Score’ section was removed because of Rivals UI considerations. That info is still available on the companion app.
Future album DLC is not off the table
Challenges won’t just be based on things that pull from meta data
There will be a patch soon to fix some minor issues
Rock Band VR will not be coming to PSVR because it is funded by Oculus
No crossplay plans on the table
“The original list of venues included a Bar/Bat Mitzvah party, back alley, living room, and space station. Also a “sad wedding” – the white balloons in the Owl Lodge came from that original venue concept…”
You’ll be able to earn XP for your crew and Spotlight Scores in online multiplayer
They’re not against the idea of versus multiplayer coming back
Not being able to change your favourite instrument on the stats screen is a known issue that they’re working on fixing