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Activision axes Guitar Hero franchise

Duece

Duece

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Did you hear that? It's the fat lady, singing her heart out. Activision released a bombshell today during their latest earnings report by announcing that the once-vaunted Guitar Hero franchise will be unceremoniously put to rest for the forseeable future.
"Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," the company said in a statement.


It's just the latest bad news to hit the ailing music game genre. The most recent Guitar Hero game, Warriors of Rock, failed to ignite the sales charts, and in December of 2010, media giant Viacom sold off Rock Band developer Harmonix. Just last week, longtime Rock Band publisher MTV Games was officially shut down.
In addition to Guitar Hero, Activision has halted development on its True Crime: Hong Kong action game.


"These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences," they explained.
In a conference call, Activision said about 500 employees -- roughly 7% of its work force -- will be laid off by the cancellations.



It's not all doom and gloom, however, as Activision also revealed plans to support its Call of Duty franchise by forming a new internal studio. Dubbed "Beachhead," the team is tasked with creating a "best-in-class online community, exclusive content, and a suite of services" for the best-selling shooter series. The company will also be investing in a new online multiplayer game from World of WarCraft makers Blizzard.


First released on 2005 for the Playstation 2, Guitar Hero ushered in a lucrative era of music gaming. According to Activision, its 2007 iteration, Guitar Hero III, set an industry record by being the first video game to earn over $1 billion in retail sales. It's all been downhill from there, however, as the one-two punch of an economic downturn and an oversaturated music game market resulted in stagnant sales and dwindling consumer interest in the franchise.
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http://blog.games.yahoo.com/blog/374-activision-axes-guitar-hero-franchise/
 
What use do Americans for a game based on an instrument they do not know how to play?
 
J Storm said:
December of 2010, media giant Viacom sold off Rock Band developer Harmonix. Just last week, longtime Rock Band publisher MTV Games was officially shut down.

:(
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Viacom wanted out of the video game business, so they sold off Harmonix, and closed its video game publishing company MTV Games. Harmonix will continue to operate under new ownership and a new publisher. This is totally different than Activision saying that its giving up on a franchise..
 
They milked the franchise until it became stale. If they would have stuck to 1 per year or 1 every 2 years the franchise would still be strong. If they keep it up the same thing is going to happen to Call of Duty also.
 
Deuterion said:
They milked the franchise until it became stale. If they would have stuck to 1 per year or 1 every 2 years the franchise would still be strong. If they keep it up the same thing is going to happen to Call of Duty also.
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Yup. and they didnt include enough songs that you actually wanted to play.

Good riddance to that sucky shit.
 
How did the game play modes work in music games?
people would say they had a career mode but I didn't get how that worked?

Was it like, you score such and such and more songs unlock?
 
Duece said:
How did the game play modes work in music games?
people would say they had a career mode but I didn't get how that worked?

Was it like, you score such and such and more songs unlock?
Click to expand...

Yeah as long as you didnt get booed you moved on and unlocked more songs. do well enough you do an encore that unlocks another song. and then you could buy songs or make them.
 
Deuterion said:
They milked the franchise until it became stale. If they would have stuck to 1 per year or 1 every 2 years the franchise would still be strong. If they keep it up the same thing is going to happen to Call of Duty also.
Click to expand...

True. It seems like their releasing COD games every 6 months.
COD: The UFC of the gaming world :(:smh:
 
I don't own any Guitar Hero games, but I do have DJ Hero for the Wii and that game is pretty fun. I don't know, GH has so many different games, it just seemed likely they would burn out.
 
can't say i'll miss it.. never really cared for those music games...
 
Nathan704 said:
Rock Band >>> Guitar Hero
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Rock Band is likely dead too. Viacom recently sold Harmonix for $50. No kidding. The last game's sales wasn't great, so Columbus Nova has to deal with that, and pay for song clearances. That, and all the other clones sold poorly last year. The genre is dead.
 
*looks @ sig*








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