The golden age of music video games is well and truly over. The U.S. publisher Activision has announced the cancellation of game development for the Guitar Hero franchise after slowing sales of the latter. A decision which is accompanied by the loss of 500 jobs. Activision wants indeed to focus on its most popular franchises, like Call of Duty or World of Warcraft, while sales of Guitar Hero: Rock Warriors of the last installment of music game, was deemed disappointing.
Therefore, "the directors of the Company approved February 3, 2011 a restructuring plan including (...) the end of development of any music game, closing the associated division, cancellation of titles in development, and a reduction in payroll (...) approximately 500 employees, "according to an official document filed with the SEC, the U.S.
financial authority. This restructuring also affects other music games publisher, as DJ Hero or Band Hero, but also the franchise Tony Hawk (skateboarding game) or the game True Crime: Hong Kong, whose development was canceled a few months of his output. REMOVAL OF ITEMS FROM THE DEVELOPER OF ROCK BAND Stars sells it five years ago, music games, whose main representatives are Guitar Hero and Rock Band, saw an erosion of sales over the years, before being replaced in the heart of the audience by dancing games.
Among the elements of explanation, the high cost of accessories (guitar, keyboard, drums ... sometimes not compatible between different series), but also to increase the excess output. In 2009, no fewer than six music games have been marketed by Activision: Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits, Band Hero, and DJ Hero.
If Activision Guitar Hero concludes, the situation is much better for the license competing Rock Band. While the Harmonix studio has been sold by media giant Viacom to an investment company in late December, it was announced this week that a restructuring plan was underway to remove about 15% of payroll or thirty posts. 
Therefore, "the directors of the Company approved February 3, 2011 a restructuring plan including (...) the end of development of any music game, closing the associated division, cancellation of titles in development, and a reduction in payroll (...) approximately 500 employees, "according to an official document filed with the SEC, the U.S.
financial authority. This restructuring also affects other music games publisher, as DJ Hero or Band Hero, but also the franchise Tony Hawk (skateboarding game) or the game True Crime: Hong Kong, whose development was canceled a few months of his output. REMOVAL OF ITEMS FROM THE DEVELOPER OF ROCK BAND Stars sells it five years ago, music games, whose main representatives are Guitar Hero and Rock Band, saw an erosion of sales over the years, before being replaced in the heart of the audience by dancing games.
Among the elements of explanation, the high cost of accessories (guitar, keyboard, drums ... sometimes not compatible between different series), but also to increase the excess output. In 2009, no fewer than six music games have been marketed by Activision: Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits, Band Hero, and DJ Hero.
If Activision Guitar Hero concludes, the situation is much better for the license competing Rock Band. While the Harmonix studio has been sold by media giant Viacom to an investment company in late December, it was announced this week that a restructuring plan was underway to remove about 15% of payroll or thirty posts.
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- Activision Discontinues Guitar Hero And True Crime Franchises (10/02/2011)
- 'Guitar Hero' franchise gets its plug pulled (10/02/2011)
- Activision disbands Guitar Hero business, cancels True Crime (09/02/2011)
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