Activision Driving Guitar Hero Into the Ground?

[INACTIVESamusAranX]

I am a big fan of Guitar Hero, and have played since the very first title. I've loved most of the games so far and the franchsie until recently was doing well in my opinion.

Although I ignored cries of "the next tony hawk!!11" concerning the predictions that Activision was going to milk the series and eventually drive it into the ground at first, now I am concerned.

This year alone, six, count them, six Guitar Hero's will be released. Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, Guitar Hero: Metallica (already released), an unnamed DS title and Band Hero. Another has been confirmed, Guitar Hero: Hendrix.

I am already growing boggled by the sheer amount of games this year alone; and I've become less and less entranced with playing Guitar Hero often, and now I really am asking: is Activision purposely trying to pull another Tony Hawk?

 

[JonathonWally]

It's what they do best.

 

[firehawk12]

As Kotic is oft quoted as saying, you've got to exploit your franchises.
But it's not like Harmonix isn't whoring themselves as well. Beatles and Lego Rock Band? Yeah... it's sad, it only lasted two years, but the band game is pretty much dead now.

And there's proof - There was a report that came out a few weeks ago that Rock Band revenues were down 30% from last year.

 

[INACTIVESamusAranX]

As Kotic is oft quoted as saying, you've got to exploit your franchises.
But it's not like Harmonix isn't whoring themselves as well. Beatles and Lego Rock Band? Yeah... it's sad, it only lasted two years, but the band game is pretty much dead now.

And there's proof - There was a report that came out a few weeks ago that Rock Band revenues were down 30% from last year.

A couple games in a year is one thing, but six?

Regardless, Harmonix is doing the same thing. You may be right; the band game may be in for a painful demise soon.

 

[Timby]

And there's proof - There was a report that came out a few weeks ago that Rock Band revenues were down 30% from last year.

A huge amount of this, however, can be attributed to the fact that most of the people who bought Rock Band 2 were people who had already purchased Rock Band and its assorted instruments, and as a result the game-only sales of Rock Band 2 were far higher than its predecessor, while the bundle sales were significantly lower.

Unfortunately, this -- that is, the rhythm genre's fall in popularity -- was cemented from the day that the two unquestioned leaders in their respective parts of the genre split and went in separate dimensions. Harmonix produces a game that is by far better than its now-direct competition, but when Activision grabbed Red Octane and the Guitar Hero license itself, there was no question of which game would be the sales leader.

It's unfortunate, really; if Harmonix had the backing of Activision's wallet, we would probably see the best rhythm game, in terms of set lists and quality, ever released. Unfortunately, we get Guitar Hero being developed by a bunch of functional retards who wouldn't know how to chart songs if their lives depended on it.

Thankfully, we have Rock Band 2.

 

[Aragorn]

Guitar Hero: Falco will totally tip the competition to their side.

 

[firehawk12]

And there's proof - There was a report that came out a few weeks ago that Rock Band revenues were down 30% from last year.

A huge amount of this, however, can be attributed to the fact that most of the people who bought Rock Band 2 were people who had already purchased Rock Band and its assorted instruments, and as a result the game-only sales of Rock Band 2 were far higher than its predecessor, while the bundle sales were significantly lower.

Unfortunately, this -- that is, the rhythm genre's fall in popularity -- was cemented from the day that the two unquestioned leaders in their respective parts of the genre split and went in separate dimensions. Harmonix produces a game that is by far better than its now-direct competition, but when Activision grabbed Red Octane and the Guitar Hero license itself, there was no question of which game would be the sales leader.

It's unfortunate, really; if Harmonix had the backing of Activision's wallet, we would probably see the best rhythm game, in terms of set lists and quality, ever released. Unfortunately, we get Guitar Hero being developed by a bunch of functional retards who wouldn't know how to chart songs if their lives depended on it.

Thankfully, we have Rock Band 2.

Yeah, I'm sure game only sales were significantly higher than bundle sales, but I seem to remember that Rock Band 2 (and Guitar Hero for that matter) not making as much of a dent on the NPD top ten last year as they did the year before. Too bad there really isn't an easy for an unpaid enthusiast to track down that data (blah vgchartz) so I'll have to leave it at that.

As for Neversoft vs Harmonix... I honestly wondered what happened at Neversoft. Did they fire the skateboard people and hire musicians or something? Hah.

 

[Skywalker]

I'm looking forward to Guitar Hero: Milli Vanilli.

 

[Aragorn]

^ But in that game, you only get points by how well you pretend to play.

 

[TheBrew]

Honestly... I think it's because they've released so much content already that there isn't really a need to get more. Plus I've gotten a little bit tired of it after playing the series from GHI through RB II. I've probably put in literally days into the games when it's all said and done and it hasn't changed that much since GHI.