The music boom died out during the current generation, but that doesn't mean franchises like Rock Band are gone forever.

Harmonix brand manager John Drake told Everybody Plays that in fact, it's their favorite franchise and because they own the Rock Band IP, they'll "hopefully have something to say" concerning a next-gen installment.

Many believed that after the music genre crashed, companies like Harmonix killed off the once billion-dollar franchises but in truth, the ideas have just been temporarily shelved.

Said Drake:

"It's more like we put it on the shelf than we killed it. We still have 4,500 songs for DLC. We'll see how hardware install goes for the next generation – I mean, if people are out there, and ready to rock, I think we'll be out there with good ideas.

We're not in production on Rock Band 4, we're not making another Rock Band right now, but we're always thinking about it. We spent 4 to 6 years of our life working on it, depending on if you worked on Guitar Hero as well, before it got sold off, making Rock Band all the time. I spent three years just travelling with Rock Band, so it's in our hearts. Maybe in the future. If people want it, they should let us know. I'd love to come back and play some Rock Band here."

The last iteration was the downloadable, old-school Rock Band Blitz , which didn't involve any plastic instruments, but embraced the good ol' days of Frequency and Amplitude ; i.e., just pressing gamepad buttons in rhythm. It was lots of fun, but we imagine Harmonix has bigger ideas for the new generation. I was never big on the plastic instruments, though.