Guitar Hero rocks out to the tune of $1 billion

The first Guitar Hero game was released on the PlayStation 2 in the US in November 2005, and since then a slew of sequels have followed, including Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, and most recently, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

According to figures released today by Activision, the Guitar Hero series of games have been rocking across America--to the tune of $1 billion in the 26 months since it was first released.

Quoting NPD figures, the company states that the franchise has sold over 14 million units in total in North America alone, and that since the launch of Guitar Hero III, some 5 million songs have been downloaded.

Additionally, Guitar Hero III was the number one title in the region during 2007, both in terms of units and in dollars--according to the data, which means the game has sold the most copies of any title in one single year.