Sound System pushes its plastic-guitar revival to November 4
Echo Foundry Interactive has moved the rhythm game's Steam Early Access launch back from October 16 to November 4, and laid out what the roughly six-month Early Access period will and won't include.
Sound System, the five-fret rhythm game being built by veterans of Guitar Hero, Rock Band and DJ Hero, is no longer arriving in mid-October. Developer Echo Foundry Interactive has set a new Steam Early Access date of November 4, pushing the launch back about three weeks from the October 16 date it locked in back in March.
What Early Access includes
The studio's announcement is unusually specific about scope. At launch you get guitar, bass and vocals, and it works with guitar controllers you already own as well as a standard controller or a keyboard. Up to three players can share one PC, either co-operatively or head-to-head. There are four difficulty levels plus a no-fail Classic mode and a Pro mode, and a chart editor called PulseMap ships with it.
Two notable things are not in at the start. Music uploads — the ability to play your own collection — come after launch, as the next thing the studio opens up. Online multiplayer for up to three players is being held back for the full release.
How long Early Access runs
Echo Foundry plans about six months in Early Access before the full version, which is set to go wider than PC: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch 2 and PC are all listed for the 1.0 release.
The studio has not given a reason for the three-week slip.
Why it matters
The plastic-instrument genre has been dormant at retail for years while the hardware sat in closets, and Sound System is explicitly built to work with those old controllers. A short delay matters less than the fact that it is shipping as an Early Access project with its own chart editor — which is how this genre tends to stay alive.
Why it matters
Guitar-controller rhythm games have had almost no new mainstream releases in a decade, and Sound System is being made by people who built the originals — with support for the peripherals players already own.