You read the title right, folks. After six years of button-pressing, plastic-guitar shredding, Reanimated Kurt Cobain band playin', Activision is pulling the plug on the "Guitar Hero" franchise. Citing the decline of the music/rhythm genre, Activision is disbanding the "Guitar Hero" business unit and will not be releasing any more games as of 2011. This following the rather luke-warm reception of "Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock," as well as declining sales in games prior. More after the jump:
Activision plans to release 500 of their employees associated with "Guitar Hero," as well as, "...other games for casual players," according to an article in the Los Angeles Times. Also taken from that article, it seems like Activision will be focusing on an online social feature for their blockbuster "Call of Duty" franchise, as well as a new online project from Blizzard Entertainment, the developers behind the mega-giant "World of Warcraft."
The destruction of the "Guitar Hero" franchise doesn't come as too much of a surprise to me. Even with the stellar reviews Harmonix's (The original creators of "Guitar Hero") "Rock Band 3" and "Dance Central" received, Viacom still sold the team off, citing a net loss on the deal. Music games are just on the decline. However, I'm glad Activision has stopped with "Guitar Hero." Since the 3rd installment of the game, Activision has crammed it down our throats to the point of nausea. They effectively flooded the market with unnecessary spinoffs , shallow celebrity endorsements, etc. They more-or-less drowned themselves.
Harmonix still plans on supporting RB3 and DC, and have quite a bit of unreleased DLC to put out. However, future titles in the aforementioned franchises are yet to be seen. John Drake, their manager of communications, had this to say:
We’re excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio. As for what it means for you, the DLC schedule marches on for Rock Band, we will continue our support of previously released titles and we’re hard at work on some unannounced projects that we think you’re going to be pumped about.
How do you guys feel about the decline of the Music Genre and/or the death of "Guitar Hero"? Feel free to comment below. As a fan of the music genre, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Full article from the Los Angeles Times below:
Activision Axes Guitar Hero franchise.
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