WTF - no more Guitar Hero

[Harper]

Activision Cancelling Guitar Hero Franchise

Activision has announced it will be scrapping the Guitar Hero franchise later this year, saying it was no longer possible to produce the games at a profit.
The company will continue selling previously-released games, including DJ Hero, along with downloadable content. However, there'll be no new material after this month.
According to the company, “we have seen rapid declines in the music genre, and unfortunately, based on current demand, we simply cannot continue to profitably make these games given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs.”
That appears to suggest that most bands and publishing companies were getting large flat fees rather than working on a purely royalty basis, and aren't prepared to change that set-up. Activision once claimed that Aerosmith made more money from their dedicated Guitar Hero game than from any single album.
The changes, which follow a $233 million loss in the last three months of 2010, will mean the closure of an entire Activision division with the loss of 500 jobs.
Debate is already underway about what caused the decline in sales and in turn this cancellation. The most popular theory is simply that the concept had run its course: it wasn't easy to come up with new changes to the fundamentals of the game without making it too complicated for the casual audience, but when it came to new song content, the sure-fire hits had been exhausted.
As well as the music games, the company also says it has abandoned work on True Crime: Hong Kong, which would have been a sequel to the PS2-era Los Angeles and New York games. In a remarkably frank comment, Activision chief Eric Hirshberg is quoted as saying that “to be blunt, it just wasn't going to be good enough.”
It's been reported that the game was still in development but had reached a point where it was playable from start to finish. Given how much has already been spent on the game, the fact that Activision considers it better to ditch rather than release it and risk a flop tells you something about how much of the costs of a game must lie in launch and publicity.

I would of thought Guitar Hero was extremely popular.

 

[Yami]

The last two weren't.

 

[Abstract Hero]

Ya I posted one of these articles in the news section. It turns out GH is hemorrhaging money from activision. I personally think it's because you only buy one for new music and there isn't enough major changes.

 

[Harper]

Ya I posted one of these articles in the news section. It turns out GH is hemorrhaging money from activision. I personally think it's because you only buy one for new music and there isn't enough major changes.

I do look at GH from a point of view that if you have played one, you have played them all.

 

[Baez]

GH3 was the peak of their success. But after that the games got easier and surprisingly even more boring. Songs were plain and the features were always the same.

 

[Kharn]

This is a bubble in a microcosm, the idea was hey every one likes music let's get a load of songs that most people like and rework a controller and make a killing, worked for a bit then ever one say's yea been there done that and I only liked a few tunes anyway sales and public interest start to drop off but cost's keep mounting so they are pulling it before it goes pop.

 

[Yerfdog]

The demo for Warriors of Rock was pretty fun. Didn't play the full game, though.
Guess we'll just have to learn how to play the songs on a real guitar now.

 

[Yami]

Guess we'll just have to learn how to play the songs on a real guitar now.

That's what Rock Band 4 will bring, if Harmonix have their way

 

[Yerfdog]

How will it show what to do if it's like a real guitar?

 

[PP Mguire]

Activision tried milking this cow to hard and to fast and eventually the market dried up. I'm waiting for the day when this happens to CoD. I shouldn't have to buy new crap all the time just for new songs every 6 months. GH3 was the best and after that it all died. I guess you could say it's kinda like the Wii. It just gets old after a while.