Harmonix has announced that Rock Band 4, its DLC, and current-gen instruments will all be compatible with next-gen systems. According to the initial blog post, Rock Band 4 (DLC included) will work on day one, putting to rest any worry about the game's transition come November.
As far as previous save data, we're in luck there too. All Xbox data saved on the cloud will instantly transfer over; cloud saves will also work for PlayStation Plus members. Otherwise, hard drive transfers should do the trick.
The team at Harmonix also promises "a sizable performance increase," with particular emphasis on faster load times. Reportedly, both the new Xbox and PlayStation consoles are comparable in speed. Multiplayer will also function seamlessly across generations; if a friend is stuck on the old generation, they'll still be able to play with you.
Katey Farmanian, the community manager at Harmonix who penned the update post, mentioned that the "team has been diligently testing a bunch of old gear on the new systems to make sure everything works exactly as it does today."
Here is the full list of tested instruments that Harmonix has successfully tested:
- 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)
Although not a comprehensive list, the developers have tested a significant amount of relevant hardware. As a disclaimer, Harmonix added "We were not able to test peripherals from other games, but we believe previously supported instruments should work as expected." All-in-all, it looks like Rock Band 4 fanatics have nothing to worry about when the new consoles drop.
Source: HarmonixMusic