Harmonix made a huge and shocking announcement today, saying that they have signed a new co-publishing agreement with Performance Designed Products - PDP - for future Rock Band 4 and Rock Band VR products.
The Rock Band series instruments were previously made by Mad Catz, who recently announced they were having to lay off over half of their staff due to budget cuts and restrictions. Harmonix and Mad Catz had worked together since 2010 when Mad Catz designed the 102-button six string pro guitar controller for Rock Band 3.
Harmonix stated that "PDP will help create new hardware for a major Rock Band 4 feature update..." which will release later this year.
"As we look to fully achieve our goal of creating this console generation's category-defining music gaming platform, we need to partner with a truly world-class manufacturer that can operate at the scale that Rock Band requires...PDP has a well-deserved reputation for innovation, customer satisfaction, and quality. They have the logistical and technical expertise to support Harmonix's ambitious plans for the future of Rock Band, with new hardware alongside a major Rock Band 4 feature update coming this Fall."
Harmonix has also been working to bring Rock Band 4 to PC, with no anticipated release date as of this writing.
We have reviewed many PDP products right here on our website and have loved everything we've seen from them in the past two years at E3. Its an exciting time for fans of PDP and Rock Band for sure. We cannot wait to see what PDP and Harmonix have in store for the latest in the Rock Band series. We will bring you more as we get it.