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Guitar Hero: R.I.P.


guitar hero.JPGNot so very long ago, Guitar Hero seemed like an unstoppable video game juggernaut. Now, gamers are penning its eulogies following the announcement that publisher Activision Blizzard is pulling the power cord on the game that let millions of fans indulge in a virtual rock star fantasy.

Introduced in 2005, Guitar Hero (and soon after, its main competitor, Rock Band), ushered in the so-called rhythm game revolution. Soon everyone, it seemed, was picking up a plastic axe and trying their hands at rock classics like “Smoke on the Water” … and just about every other guitar-oriented hit from the last 40 years. Bands and songs that many people had either never heard of or already forgotten enjoyed a brief renaissance. And some folks even argued that the game was influencing sales of real guitars, for players who decided they wanted a go at the real thing.

Along the way, the franchise netted $2.47 billion (as of the end of 2010) according to the NPD group, a market research firm.

But the game’s initial growth proved unsustainable, and sales of the franchise’s many different titles have been falling for the last couple of years. Industry analysts believe competition from other broadly similar games, such as the iPhone rhythm game Tap Tap Revenge (which has been downloaded more than 50 million times) and new motion-controlled contests such as Dance Central for the Xbox 360’s Kinect, ultimately contributed to Guitar Hero’s eroding sales.

In the end, Activision Blizzard decided that it needed to focus fully on the thoroughbreds in its stable that are still moving millions of units, namely the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft franchises.