Beatles to Star in an Online Game?

Financial Times reports that the Beatles reps are negotiating with the creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The estimated desired result is millions dollar contract and the inclusion of the Beatles songs in an online game. If everything goes as planned, it will be the first time the Beatles catalogue reaches the cyber space legally.

The remaining Beatles, Paul and Ringo, and the legal inheritors of John and George are meeting with Activision and MTV, the owners of Guitar Hero and Rock Band (correspondingly). None of the companies has agreed to reveal the manner of the talks, yet SAI assumes that the deal will allow the popular games to use the Beatles songs instead of designing a new Beatles' themed game.

As for now, none of the Beatles material is accessible on the web, including on iTunes and (excluding illegal file sharing programs). This fact is not surprising due when looking back at the delay in transforming the Beatles albums into CDs, however, the band representatives did say yes to LOVE by Cirque du Soleil. According to estimations and annotativeness, the Beatles digitalization has two major incentives: the Apple Corps' new manager and the rise in album sales followed by their authorization to American Idol.

By allowing an online game using the Beatles' songs, Apple Corps and EMI, the legal owners of the Beatles catalogue, are guaranteeing their future incomes of traditional sales while broadening their target audience to a younger generation, a generation who may not have heard about the Beatles and may have hardly seen a record store from the inside.