Report: Aerosmith only rocking Guitar Hero

Ever since Activision and Aerosmith confirmed the rumours that there was going to be an installment in the Guitar Hero franchise dedicated to the self-styled bad boys from Boston, questions have been asked about whether the deal extended beyond the scope of the game. A recent article by a US magazine indicates that the deal locks in Aerosmith to the Guitar Hero series for some time to come.

Newsweek reports, via its Level Up blog, that Aerosmith's publicist has confirmed that the deal is "exclusive...for this game." Activision's vice president of music affairs was then moved to extend this, explaining, "We do have the band exclusively, and their catalogue should be exclusive to us beyond the one or two tracks they had licensed out to Rock Band before we made our deal." To date, only one Aerosmith track, "Train Kept A Rollin'," has appeared in Rock Band, and even then only as a cover version.

It is likely that the success--or lack thereof--of this exclusive tie-up will have a significant bearing on any future deals of this nature. It has been suggested that The Beatles may feature, but nothing has been confirmed.

Those worried about never being able to sing along with Aerosmith in-game due to the lock-in should remember that Activision's chief executive, Bobby Kotick, recently confirmed that Neversoft was working hard on providing options for "a lot of other instruments [and] vocals" in future iterations of the franchise.