Rock Band 4 is ready to keep rocking on with next gen support confirmed
Ah plastic guitars, there was a period of time when you couldn’t enter any video game store, without seeing stacks of the things and while the ‘I am in a band’ phase has passed, Rock Band 4 has keep the music coming, with a constant release of songs.
Harmonix have now announced that Rock Band 4 will be ready to play on your next gen platforms the day those consoles release, meaning November 10 for Xbox Series X|S and November 12 for PlayStation 5. The best news is that all your save data and DLC will go with you, meaning that library of songs you have obtained over the past decade will make the jump, letting you rock out still.
Of course in order to rock you, you will need guitars, drums and more and that is where the instruments come into play, Harmonix have said that almost all the existing controllers and adapters will work, meaning if you are someone who uses an e-kit or is using the legacy wireless adapter for the older gear, you will be fine.
For reference, here is the full list of instrument controllers they tested. This is not a comprehensive list. Generally, if it worked on Rock Band 4 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, it should work on next-gen.
Mad Catz RB4 Fender™ Stratocaster™ Guitar (Xbox)
Mad Catz RB4 Drums (Xbox)
PDP RB4 Fender Jaguar™ Guitar (Xbox)
PDP RB4 Drums (Xbox)
Mad Catz RB4 Fender Stratocaster Guitar (PS4)
Mad Catz RB4 Drums (PS4)
PDP RB4 Fender Jaguar Guitar (PS4)
PDP RB4 Drums (PS4)
Mad Catz RB3 Fender Stratocaster Guitar (Xbox, Mad Catz Wireless Legacy Adapter required)
Mad Catz The Beatles™: Rock Band Gretsch™ Duo-Jet™ Guitar (Xbox, Mad Catz Wireless Legacy Adapter required)
Mad Catz RB3 Drums (Xbox, Mad Catz Wireless Legacy Adapter required)
Mad Catz RB2 Fender Stratocaster Guitar (Xbox, Mad Catz Wireless Legacy Adapter required)
ION® Drum Rocker (Xbox, PDP Wired Legacy Adapter required)
Mad Catz RB3 Fender Stratocaster Guitar (PS3, Dongle required)
Mad Catz RB3 Drums (PS3, Dongle required)
Mad Catz RB2 Drums (PS3, Dongle required)
Mad Catz RB2 Fender Stratocaster Guitar (PS3, Dongle required)
ION Drum Rocker (PS3)
Of course being next gen consoles, load times will be faster and the game will look slightly better, but the there is one little catch on PlayStation 5. With that beast of a console comes a microphone in the controller, and the console defaults to that microphone, which Rock Band 4 recognizes. If you want to use a regular USB mic, you'll have to change that in your console settings. Also, just as a heads up, any USB mic should still work. Also on PlayStation 5, if you're using the PlayStation 4 era instruments (Mad Catz/PDP guitars and drums), you connect them to the console the same way you did on the PlayStation 4 - via the Bluetooth accessories spot in the options menu.
