Only the hardcore enthusiasts, such as ourselves, would have already made this assumption, since there have been no formal announcements of new songs.  So to the surprise of nobody, Harmonix have confirmed to Joystiq that they have ceased production on DLC tracks for the PSP’s Rock Band: Unplugged, which signifies the end of the road for the first mobile version of everyone’s favourite music gaming franchise.  DLC was coming out regularly on Tuesdays since June 2009, with an astonishing 57 DLC tracks released.   The game itself came with 46 songs, several of which were exclusive for a short time to boost interest and sales.  The available music on the PSP platform amounts to roughly 10% of the overall Rock Band catalogue, and appears to be made up of the ‘top selling’ DLC tracks throughout the past two years.

Was the game a success?  VGChartz shows that the game has sold 120,000 units to date (contrasted with 3.5 million+ combined sales of Rock Band 2), and you can currently find the game for under half-price in most retail vendors, 6 months after its release.  Sony’s handling of the PSP hardware may have contributed to the low sales figures;  it probably didn’t help that Sony released the PSP GO so quickly after the PSP 3000, as comparably fewer people would be in the market for replacement hardware.  Why buy the PSP at the time that Unplugged was released, when you would be better off waiting a few months for the new hardware?

We all know by now that the PSP is a notorious favourite of game pirates, because the ease of modding the PSP, the low cost of memory sticks,  and the relatively small size of the game disc images.  Not unlike every other PSP game, the title was heavily downloaded weeks before its retail release while Sony continued their efforts to curb piracy.  Unplugged even featured a brand new attempt at copy protection, but it proved only a minor annoyance.  All platforms experience varying degrees of game piracy, but the PSP platform is a standout example of how too many unscrupulous hackers can kill the market demand.
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I don’t think Unplugged was a total failure- the game is pretty fun to play, I’ll admit.  I am both a Rock Band fan, DLC enthusiast,  and a PSP owner, but I could not be convinced in the slightest to pay for more DLC.  Who among you are willing to pay twice for the same DLC?  The answer is obviously, nobody.  I’m sure that the only people who play Rock Band: Unplugged today, also play a lot of other music games, and would rather spend their DLC money on the ‘big screen’ versions.  I hope that Harmonix applies the lesson learned here to their new mobile version and takes steps to establish a longer term brand, perhaps by expanding compatibility with existing player’s DLC libraries, or maybe more free tracks.