Sony’s music division looks to make a mark where mobile gaming and music meet.
Announced today, Rockin’ Goat is a new release from Sony Music Entertainment. It serves as a big step for the group into mobile games, a market that is expected to hit $30 billion in revenues in 2015. It’s unique as it also fits within the $7 billion dollar music industry. The iOS and Android music-themed adventure aims to attract both gamers and music enthusiasts.
Brad Spahr, Vice President, Product Development, Global Digital Business at SME tells GamesBeat that artist promotion is its primary drive with this release.
“We view the game as a platform to promote new artists — that’s core to the strategy. We want to keep the songs fresh in the game to allow for continued music discovery,” says Spahr. “iOS users also have the ability to buy the tracks featured in the game through iTunes. We’ve used a similar approach with our Pinball Rocks game, where we rotate featured music in the app to keep it fresh and engaging.”
Rockin’ Goat is a 2D platformer that follows a goat name Elwood as he breaks out of the barn to follow his musical dreams. The game will feature tracks from artists under SME’s RED division, including Wildlights, Hark, Sin Sister, New Device, and several others.
This release is just the beginning for Sony Music Entertainment. It plans to expand the game and its soundtrack further out from launch with new levels and artists. Beyond this, the company looks to release additional apps.
“We anticipate putting out additional titles over time. We’ll look to do a mix of artist-focused apps and original IP apps like Rockin’ Goat,” Spahr said. “We like the idea of games that are fun that can also be used to discover and get information about new artists.”
Rockin’ Goat is available today for free on iOS and Google Play platforms.