Rock Band 4 going ‘back to basics’ in the battle for retail shelf space

Mad Catz has dismissed fears that there won’t be enough shelf space for Rock Band 4.

The popular music title returns to retail at a busy time for peripheral-heavy products, which will see LEGO Dimensions, Guitar Hero, Skylanders and Disney Infinity all vying for attention.

But the firm told MCV that it is being careful not to bombard the High Street with plastic add-ons – at least initially – and will only be releasing a couple of SKUs.

Retail space is an interesting challenge for us due to the footprint of the hardware,” European marketing manager Rachel Gordon told MCV. We have been strategic in our offering at launch, so we are not flooding the market with a whole range of products.

You can’t make the form factor any smaller. But what we have done is reduced the SKU count. We have two
focus bundles, which are proven to be the most popular consumer choices: the band in a box and the guitar bundle. By not having things like the microphone stand, guitar straps and all the additional accessories, we’ve gone back to basics.

We are also working closely with our retail partners to maximise additional promotion and exposure outside of simple shelf space, including digital and pre-order campaigns.”