We recently reported on Viacom's comments that The Beatles Rock Band is "exceeding expectations" so far and that the full band kit could actually be sold out by November. EEDAR provided us with estimated first week sales of 650,000 units. However, according to Dan Rosensweig, head of the Guitar Hero division at Activision, Guitar Hero 5 has beaten Beatles Rock Band by 4-to-1 in the U.S. and as much as 9-to-1 in other markets. 

If EEDAR's estimate of 500,000 units in the U.S. for Beatles Rock Band is accurate, then Guitar Hero 5 may have already sold north of 2 million units. Rosensweig told the Financial Times quite simply that Beatles Rock Band "did not affect our sales.” He also talked about Guitar Hero 5 as a “value proposition” for consumers, considering that it's $99 and comes with 85 songs and a guitar controller.

It was recently revealed that Guitar Hero 5 took first place in the all-format charts in the U.K. while Beatles Rock Band placed fourth. We'll get a better sense of how this battle of the bands is shaping up once we receive the September NPD figures next month.

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