Hi gang,

I wanted to take a moment to say hello and introduce you to Season 8 of Rock Band Rivals. We take Rock Band seriously – we work on it like it’s our job. Actually, it is our job. That said, we love our jobs and endeavor to find elements of the process where we can get goofy and have some fun. One of those moments is the selection and curation of our Rivals Challenge themes. Each week, we essentially put together a mix tape (for those of you who aren’t old enough to remember what a mix tape is – it’s like a playlist, only made with more care and attention to detail). Our themes can run the gamut from super obvious (metal songs from the 1980s) to super oblique (songs that remind me of driving). Our goal is to focus the Rock Band community on a collection of songs that they may not play all the time. As a player, my favorite aspect of Rivals competition is that I’m focusing my plays on a different chunk of my song library every week. It’s WAY more fun than playing the same songs every week.

This Season starts tomorrow, 9/13, and we’ve developed a decadent assortment of sounds and will be suggesting some flavors as accompaniment. Yes, that’s right. We have created recommended food pairings for each Challenge of the Season. We hope you enjoy it. If you try any of the pairings, let us know!

And now, a few digestifs before I leave you:

1. We are bringing back the Spotlight Pass for this Season to help you load your plate up. This Season’s Pass will include 12 songs, all of which will be featured as Spotlight songs in Season 8. The Pass will cost $16.49 – a good deal for both competitive Rivals players and those who just love DLC. And remember, this deal goes away when the Season ends!
2. We’re making a handful of mechanical adjustments based on player feedback from Season 7.  Here are the details:
   • We’re reducing the Social Bonus from 2x to 1.5x.  All other elements of the Social Bonus will remain as is.
   • We’re increasing the LP values for 11-20th place finishes on song leaderboards.  We heard from folks that the drop off from 10th to 11th was too steep, so now the curve is more moderate.
   • We’re making a slight adjustment to the promotional tiers, making it slightly easier to get promoted from Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.  No changes to Diamond or Bloodstone promotion values.  You can check out the math below if you’re interested in the details.  

Tier	Promotion
Bronze	60%
Silver	50%
Gold	45%
Platinum	25%
Diamond	15%
Bloodstone

Bon Apetit!

Daniel