For years, PC gamers have been deprived of some of the world’s best games because of a perceived risk of “piracy”. Now, we’re not going to get Rock Band 4 because the creators believe there are “music piracy concerns.”
That news comes from Rock Band creator Harmonix. Harmonix’s product manager, Daniel Sussman, recently said there were a range of security issues associated with the open nature of the PC that didn’t sit well with music rights holders.
In other words, it was the music rights holders who were nervous about the PC – not Harmonix.
The game will be published on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 exclusively.
Harmonix, however, isn’t giving up on the PC just yet. They claim they can build a DRM platform that will protect songs on the PC and satisfy the needs of music rights holders. Harmonix says such a thing is “not off the table for the future”, but right now, they need to focus on bringing the game to consoles.

Rock Band Has Never Been on the PC

Nobody really expected Rock Band 4 to be released on PC. After all, the original Rock Bands 1 through 3 never came out on PC either.
Beyond music piracy concerns, it’s easy to think of some other reasons why Harmonix wouldn’t want their stuff on PC: modders could introduce their own songs, which would take away valuable DRM revenue. Every Rock Band has come with dozens of downloadable songs for $1 to $3.
That means PC gamers have no scheduled release date for Rock Band 4. The console version, however, should pop up later this year.
What other games do you want to see on PC that you can’t get because of piracy? EA refuses to publish its EA Sports games on PC due to piracy concerns. With PC gaming growing faster than ever before, however, it may be time for major franchises to reappear on PC.