Activision Pulls the Plug on Guitar Hero Franchise

[Cursed Frogurt]

I couldn't care less about the GH franchise, but I hope DJ Hero continues.

I used to download DLC for Rock Band almost every other week, but I think I downloaded under 10 songs in all of 2010. Still waiting on Goo Goo Dolls... (I heard Name came out for GH, but I would never buy a whole game for one DLC song)

 

[ProfessorLayton]

That's a shame that people are going to lose their jobs for this, but dang... there were just too many Guitar Hero games. Sure it was great when it was brand new because it was a fresh idea, but releasing two games every year with the same exact formula was too much. It's a shame, but rhythm games are pretty much over and this proves it.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

Good. Guitar Hero ceased being able to compete with Rock Band years ago.

That makes about as much sense as LBP being able to compete with Mario. Try again. (Hint: Other way around)

OT: GH6 was the perfect swan song for the franchise. If it weren't for oversaturation, GH could've been an amazing thing. Instead, it's just a great thing. Hopefully RB dies as well, as it's still a few years away from being able to match GH3, let alone GH6. We don't need such a downgrade continuing in GH's place.

I want to know how Rock Band is a downgrade from Guitar Hero. If Harmonix(who I'm going to hope you do know created Guitar Hero and all) hadn't made Rock Band, there is a very good chance that you'd probably just now be getting drums and whatnot in Guitar Hero. Rock Band also set the precedence to import songs from previous titles, as well as DLC carrying over.

Quite a lot that Guitar Hero has, infact was on Rock Band first.

Rock Band now boasts a musical library of 2,500+ songs, has pro-modes which allow people to get a start on learning instruments and songs within the game, and one more instrument over Guitar Hero.

Quite frankly I was expecting an announcement on how they were going to fail at attempting to top Rock Band this year, but instead they just gave up. Rock Band totally sounds like a downgrade.

 

[thenoblegaunt]

I'm sure this has been said already, but why did they release a Guitar Hero every year? They could have kept this going longer if they... i dunno... paced themselves better.

 

[tautologico]

Why couldn't they have gotten Stairway to Heaven BEFORE this happened? Now I'll never get to play it on Guitar Hero.

You know Stairway to Heaven will never (or at least not in the next decades) be in a music game, right?

 

[tautologico]

That's how the free market works I guess, no profit, no product. Still, Harmonix seems to be doing fine, I wonder if it has anything to do with them making games instead of money.

Also, I wonder if when we look back on the '00s in 20-30 years, if Guitar Hero will be one of those iconic decade specific trends that just kind of disappeared...

Harmonix is not doing too well either. Viacom/MTV put them up for sale, no one wanted to buy them. They bought themselves out, and recently laid off some people. The news were here on the Escapist, but I'm too lazy right now to look for links.

 

[invitationofchaos]

I feel sorry for those who lost their jobs, but indeed, as it is kind of the key point stated here, Activision's to blame. Liquidation of a company has been the MO of the company recently [http://www.gamezone.com/news/item/activision_true_crime_guitar_hero_no_more_plus_firings/], but Guitar Hero lost it's way between Harmonix leaving, and the DLC swag-fest that was Guitar Hero 3.

 

[Emo-Hawk]

This makes me sad

 

[Mogule]

That's how the free market works I guess, no profit, no product. Still, Harmonix seems to be doing fine, I wonder if it has anything to do with them making games instead of money.

Also, I wonder if when we look back on the '00s in 20-30 years, if Guitar Hero will be one of those iconic decade specific trends that just kind of disappeared...

Harmonix is not doing too well either. Viacom/MTV put them up for sale, no one wanted to buy them. They bought themselves out, and recently laid off some people. The news were here on the Escapist, but I'm too lazy right now to look for links.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107593-Harmonix-Layoffs-Confirmed

 

[SinisterGehe]

About fucking time.

Whole heartly seconded that. I was very much sick of it after just 5 minutes, I don't know how that game is enjoyable. It's a minigame put together with music, there's a billion other games worth more than the game that was so ..yeah you get where I'm goin' with this.

I third this, or something like that.
But yeah, I was amazed this thing got wings to fly to begin with.

 

[GamerRelic]

I'm hoping that other kinds of music games,namely indie ones such as turba,beat hazard,and audiosurf keep getting made.

OT:This took way tooo long.

Why couldn't they have gotten Stairway to Heaven BEFORE this happened? Now I'll never get to play it on Guitar Hero.

You know Stairway to Heaven will never (or at least not in the next decades) be in a music game, right?

damn we need a bitches dont know bout my beat hazard.

 

[MrJinks]

Ok Activison, before you pull the plug, please release "Stairway To Heaven" as DLC?

How about just buying a guitar? I don't understand any of these games, why not learn something instead. The exception to this that I'll make is DJ Hero because you could ruin a decent set of turntables and vinyl to find out that you're still crap at doing it.

 

[Dimensional Vortex]

About fucking time.

Whole heartly seconded that. I was very much sick of it after just 5 minutes, I don't know how that game is enjoyable. It's a minigame put together with music, there's a billion other games worth more than the game that was so ..yeah you get where I'm goin' with this.

Really? Because I played it with 3 friends and we all had lots of fun, far more than we would when playing Call of Duty and mindlessly shooting at one another, or far more than we would grinding our way to level 85 in Wow. Personally I think that Guitar Hero is really fun when playing it with friends, but by your self it gets old fast.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

After Guitar Hero 3 the track lists were pretty crappy anyway. I would have liked a metal one, something like the Brutal Legend sound track. Yes I know there was the Metallica, but I'm not really that big of a fan of them and they were the majority of the songs on it...

 

[senobit]

With 23 game since 2005, Guitar Hero must be one the most milked games in history.

 

[-Samurai-]

Damn. My hopes of Guitar Hero: Coheed and Cambria(or Neverender) have been destroyed.

Ah well, the series has been dead for awhile and I haven't enjoyed one since GH: Metallica.

Still a great party game, though. A few friends and a few drinks and you've got yourself one fun night.

 

[Arafiro]

Good. Guitar Hero ceased being able to compete with Rock Band years ago.

I think this contributed to the situation a great deal. Rock Band simply leads the genre.

With that said, I hope Harmonix actually keeps Rock Band up, or at least continues DLC production.

 

[Togs]

Haha! That's gold right there.

In what sense of the word?

 

[Negatempest]

Maybe someone else said it, but during it's what 6 year existence, it had over 10+ games. That is equivalent to Nintendo making super mario 1-Super mario world in the course of 1 year. Oh yea, they beat that franchise to death even more brutally than what Nintendo does.

 

[Madmanonfire]

Good. Guitar Hero ceased being able to compete with Rock Band years ago.

That makes about as much sense as LBP being able to compete with Mario. Try again. (Hint: Other way around)

OT: GH6 was the perfect swan song for the franchise. If it weren't for oversaturation, GH could've been an amazing thing. Instead, it's just a great thing. Hopefully RB dies as well, as it's still a few years away from being able to match GH3, let alone GH6. We don't need such a downgrade continuing in GH's place.

rock band 3 is better than any other music game. due to the fact that i can actually play a guitar... so no it isnt a downgrade. better tech. better(and more) songs. i think rockband has some life left.

You're saying it's a better "game" because of the tutorial that's apart from the "game"? Great logic.
- Better tech? Nope. Gameplay and mechanics are superior in GH6.
- Correction: More songs, not better songs. The RB3 on-disk setlist is similar to GH5. You'll have to pay extra for all of the good songs on DLC, and even those often have questionable charts. Provided you can see what you're trying to play, with all the blinding background crap in the way.