By now you have certainly heard that Activision is not releasing a 2011 Guitar Hero game and has no plans for any future releases. Although not written in stone, we can consider Guitar Hero a dead franchise. Whether you agree with Activision’s business plan of dumping all assets into the Call of Duty Franchise, movie themed games, and continuing to partner with Blizzard for World of Warcraft, the fact remains that Guitar Hero wasn’t even given a proper burial.
The music genre had hit its peak and we all knew this. It could not and would not last forever. Over saturated marketplace, increasingly expensive instruments, and a music library that was getting long in the tooth, the game that started it all had its best years behind it. Activision made a killing of off the GH franchise and some estimates say GH3 brought in a billion in revenue alone. This game was not a cash cow, it was a cash machine.
It appealed to the casual gamer because you didn’t have to play against anyone but yourself and it appeared to the hardcore gamer because you really wanted to play against other people. Though super lame, bars held Guitar Hero nights. This was the best party game since that game of Twister got called off when your pervy friend went: “Left nuts, Green”. Even South Park ripped on it.
It just feels that instead of a nondescript mention during an investor call, at least they could have done something bigger. Activision is always about PR, though not very good at it (see the Infinity Ward people about this one). Maybe they could have buried a guitar in a casket or had Slash play Taps on his axe. Anything. Anything but a “We are not going to make this game anymore” during a call with investors and press. I was never a huge fan of the music games because I never had the time in invest in learning how to play a plastic guitar, but at least have some respect for the recently departed.
Its to bad to see it go but everyone seems to be playing rock band now.