Highlights

  • Fortnite Festival brings Rock Band nostalgia to players already, and that feeling could only become deeper with Riffmaster, a wireless guitar controller compatible with Rock Band 4 and Fortnite Festival.
  • The return of plastic peripherals in Fortnite Festival will make for a more immersive experience, and ideally, their success could inspire a potential reboot of the Rock Band franchise one day.
  • However, the high cost (around $130 USD) and physical space requirements of the Riffmaster controller serve as some downsides.

Last year's additions to the Fortnite ecosystem have already had a massive impact on the title and Epic's continued success with the Fortnite IP, with Fortnite Festival particularly striking a chord with fans of Harmonix's past rhythm games. For all intents and purposes, Fortnite Festival is as close as players can get to a genuine Rock Band revival set in the live-service Fortnite universe. And, to further solidify that point, third-party peripheral manufacturer PDP has confirmed the upcoming launch of the Riffmaster – a wireless guitar controller set to arrive later this year for the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles compatible with Rock Band 4 and Fortnite Festival.

But for those who were around during the initial boom and bust cycle of Harmonix and Neversoft's Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises, the return of plastic peripherals represents a bittersweet moment. For about 5 years across the 7th and 8th hardware generations, both Rock Band and Guitar Hero eventually expanded into full-band functionality, complete with a slew of plastic peripherals that eventually clogged closets and wound up in the clearance sections of brick-and-mortar game retailers. Fortnite Festival is a welcome addition that makes good use of Epic's 2021 acquisition of Harmonix, but the arrival of plastic peripherals for use in the mode could very well see the past repeating itself.

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Pros of the Riffmaster Controller Coming to Fortnite Festival

Considering that even secondhand Rock Band and Guitar Hero controllers compatible with modern hardware are fetching what could be considered insane prices on the grey market, the arrival of the Riffmaster to the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles is a massive boon for players that still have a copy of Rock Band 4 and a vast library of songs. Not only is PDP's new plastic guitar controller compatible with Fortnite Festival, but it will also work with the console-appropriate version of Rock Band 4 right out the box. And, if the peripheral is successful, there's every possibility that PDP could expand into drums and microphones for the full Rock Band experience.

There are two major upsides to the return of plastic peripherals for use in Fortnite Festival. The most obvious benefit is that the controller is simply more intuitive to use than a standard one, feeling natural and increasing immersion for fans of Epic's rythym game. The other possibility is that the Riffmaster's success could eventually give Epic reason to allow Harmonix to reboot the Rock Band franchise in earnest, which would be a welcome surprise for the players who still have access to the thousands of DLC tracks released throughout the years.

Cons of the Riffmaster Controller Coming to Fortnite Festival

While there's no doubt that playing Fortnite Festival with the Riffmaster controller will be like a stroll down memory lane for anyone who grew up during the initial Guitar Hero and Rock Band craze, the fact remains that it's been less than a decade since the fad died out in spectacular fashion. The last mainline numbered entry in the Rock Band series, Rock Band 4, was released in October 2015, and both it and Guitar Hero are now relics of gaming's past, both franchises effectively dead. One of the primary reasons for both series' demise rests on the plastic peripherals themselves, which makes their return potentially perilous for the continued growth of Fortnite Festival.

The two major issues that surround the use of plastic peripherals in music games (and the two main reasons for the eventual waning of their relevance) are cost and physical space. The MSRP of a full Rock Band set grew from its initial $169.99 to $249.99 in just a few short years, presenting a prohibitive barrier to entry for many players. The Riffmaster, a single wireless Bluetooth guitar controller, has an MSRP of $129.99. While the peripheral is arguably worth the price for fans of rhythm games who no longer have controllers compatible with modern hardware, the controller's cost and size could end up being a case of history repeating itself.