Activision Abused Guitar Hero, Says Former Publisher

[mxfox408]

Next franchise to run down to the ground is call of duty and world of warcraft.

 

[Woodsey]

Activision should have nurtured Guitar Hero, says the series' original publisher, rather than trying to make a quick buck.

I seriously worry if we need to explain this to top-end game developers.
Did they seriously need to be Told this? Really? Because if they did... Well.

Activision are the publisher, in the most stereotypical sense of the word; creatively-stifling, and quick to shake you for change.

They're practically the only ones left like it - EA turned around a few years ago. They may milk the sports division, but that essentially helps to fund other stuff.

If you look at the quality of most stuff published by Activision then 'average' would beat the nail through the plank and out the other side.

 

[8bitlove2a03]

Oh my, Activision mishandling a franchise to rape their customer's pocketbooks for a quick buck? This is news? If it wasn't for the amount spent on World of Warcraft every month by it's addicted player-base, Activision wouldn't even be in business.

 

[Ca3zar416]

If guitar hero is going to make a recovery it's going to need to do two things. A) take a break from the ridiculous frequency of releases. B) use said break to figure out a plan to do something that Rockband hasn't done itself. Possibilities could be in more instruments or a new interesting mechanic being introduced to game play. The point is they would have to be DIFFERENT and not just shadow.

 

[Nexus4]

Activision abuses everything, is anyone really surprised this came out?

 

[Nexus4]

Maybe next time the developer won't sell out to a bigger company and reap the rewards of their labor. Imagine what could have been had they not sold the company over to them.

"Reap the rewards of their labor" which would be the money they received right? So why not go to a bigger company if their goal is to get money doing what they love? Their problem was that they went to Activision who genuinely like to butt-rape everyone under them.

 

[moretimethansense]

Naw, really!? you see I thought they did a fantastic job and they weren't releasing too many in the slightest!

Sereously about the only onee that didn't see this coming was probebly Kotick, the stupid twat that by all rights should have plowed Activision in to the ground already but for some undecipherable reason is about the wealthiest publisher out there.

 

[Gazisultima]

RIP Guitar Hero.

Now awaiting the inevitable death of Call of Duty. There's only so many times people can buy the SAME GAME before even the most stubborn people will realise they're being ripped off.

 

[SultanP]

It's a game based on hitting the right buttons on qeue... how the hell do you abuse that? There is only so much you can do with that. GTA could go 3d, and constantly get better and better gameplay, which is did. What the hell can you do with an instrument based simon says game, that hasn't already been done.
I do't really know if I'd agree that it was mishandling of the franchise. Milking as much money as possible from it before people realised what they were going nuts over seems like a smart move to me.

If you can't tell, I'm not really a fan of the franchise or type of game.

Edit: Also loving people going "Imagine what could have been", like there is some huge potential for creativity or innovation in that type of game. It's hitting buttons on queu dammit! Not some amazing adventure, rpg, sandbox, or any other type of game that gives the player any kind of freedom in how to play, or let the developers showcase some new amazing breakthrough in game development..

 

[Diligent]

OR Activision did exactly what they intended to do, and all the should have could have and would haves wouldn't change their decision one bit. Obviously they intended to just totally strip mine the guitar rhythm games while they were around, because they saw them for the fad that they were, and understood that they couldn't possibly last.
And you can't possibly blame the fact that people became tired of banging on a plastic toy guitar on Activision either.

Don't get me wrong, I have no love for Activision or their methods, and I don't even buy their products, but like it or not as a business strategy what they did is sound and Activision is very good at making money.

No one is saying this was a mistake or that it didn't make Activison money, they're saying it was bad for the franchise and genre. The Escapist is a website for people who like video games, not accountants, so "it made money" isn't an argument-ending statement.

I wasn't really making an argument for accountants, I was saying that in my opinion rhythm games were doomed to burn out on their own accord no matter who was behind the wheel.
I don't think they would have lasted any longer with another company, (because really, less guitar hero games means less songs and how many times can you replay the same stuff?) so Activision just greedily pumped it for as much money as it could until it died, which I think they correctly saw it was going to do of its own accord in a short time.

As a side note, you called it a franchise. A franchise is a a business model which is easily copied and relies on established success, and can be reproduced quickly because of the established model. I think it's funny that this business lingo has somehow been inexorably linked to game talk and we don't even bat an eye: franchise, intellectual properties(IPs) etc.
You don't hear people going "have you seen the Matrix franchise?"
But as soon as you look at games as a business, which they are by the very terms marketing departments have taught us gamers to define them by, you're wrong.

 

[elvor0]

Rock Band saw regular - almost yearly - releases, but far fewer of them and much better support for each release.

And yet each release wasn't as good at Guitar Hero. Odd.

OT: This is just perfect. More fuel for mindless GH hatred. -_-

I'm a little confused here. Are you saying that Rock Band was never as good as the original Guitar Hero, or that the Rock Band series was never as good as the Guitar Hero series?

The latter. Sorry for the confusion.

I dunno man, general consus is that rock band was the superior series, especially when you compare rock band 1 2 3 to Guitar Hero 4 5 6, the note charts on rockband were more accurate and didnt add extra notes (like GH has and frequently did) and it was alot more polished, had far more support and DLC, as well as lonjevity. On top of that Rock Band 3 added pro mode, wheras GH 6 added...man beast things, stupid amounts of power ups and potential stars, and become so much more arcady, wheras Rock Band always seemed to be more about the music.

Rock bands games are all backwards compatible, wheras GH took ages to even bring that in, and even when they did alot of songs from previous games were missing when you exported, wheras rock band only lost 6 in total.

 

[duchaked]

Activision should have nurtured Guitar Hero, says the series' original publisher, rather than trying to make a quick buck.

hahaha gee I wonder what else is new...and not common knowledge

 

[v3n0mat3]

Blizzard is the only company in that merger that won't be shut down by Activision. A small team of Spectres will show up at Bobby Kotick's house before that happens.

Related: Activision is really pissing me off with these franchises getting the plug pulled on them. I loved Guitar Hero, and now it's gone. Wow. Awesome job.

 

[kajinking]

Naturally if you make a lot of games very quickly they tend to suck. Just look at Starcraft 2! 12 years to make but it was heavily refined and the closest thing to a videogame masterpiece I've played in a long time. What would happen if they released a new Starcraft as often as Guitar Hero? Answer: They would get worse and worse till the lineup looked something like this.

Starcraft 2

Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void

Starcraft 3

Starcraft 3: Retribution

Starcraft ODST

Starcraft 4

Starcraft: Greatest Hits

Starcraft 4: The Dominion Strikes Back

Starcraft: Greatest Hits Vol II

Starcraft 4: Reach

Starcraft 4: Mineral Twilight

Starcraft 4: Remix

Starcraft 4: Give us more money edition

 

[Shale_Dirk]

inb4 MadManonFire tries to dismiss Pro Mode.

I'll just throw this out there again:
Major Rock Band releases, console: 6
Major Guitar Hero releases, console: 12 (including Band Hero)

Major Rock Band releases, console + mobile: 10
Major Guitar Hero releases, console + mobile: 20 (including Band Hero)

 

[Ranorak]

I seem to be the only one that thinks this franchise would have died regardless of activisions rush tactics.

I mean, I own Guitar Hero 3 and Metallica. And even as a big Metallica fan I hardly played the guitar hero version. Why; It was bloody the same as GH:3.
I seriously doubt that putting a year between every release could drasticly change the notion that you're still just playing the same game again with different songs.

 

[ArchBlade]

Well, that IS Activision's strategy after all.

1. Acquire Franchise.
2. Lower the quality of the Franchise's games by forcing development along quickly and tacking on additions that only serve to make the game clunky and unfinished.
3. Release crap games, watch consumers eat it like candy for the first two or three games.
4. ???
5. Profit!
6. Discontinue franchise at the first sign of profit decline and then deny that any of it was our fault.

Am I close?