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DJ Hero 2 confirmed by Activision CEO

Bobby Kotick says he "can't wait" for next installment in tepidly received rhythm franchise; publisher refocusing on quality vs. quantity.

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick's outspokenness is legendary. Last year, the cash-flush executive became a lightning rod for game-industry frustration when he declared that his company had taken "all the fun out of making video games." He also didn't win any friends at Nintendo, Microsoft, or (especially) Sony when he declared that Activision's ultimate goal was to bypass consoles altogether with game/peripheral hybrids.

DJ Hero will be back for another spin.

DJ Hero will be back for another spin.

Now, Kotick's loose lips are making news again--albeit in a less polarizing manner. In a "recent" interview with Game Informer, he confirmed rumors that a sequel to DJ Hero is in development.

"I think DJ Hero is a really innovative product," said Kotick. "I can't wait for you to see next year's." Though it was in the February issue, it was unclear if his comments were made in 2010 or 2009. Like most magazines, the GameStop-owned publication releases the following month's issue during the current month--in this case, January.

DJ Hero's return is somewhat surprising, given its disappointing performance in an oversaturated rhythm game market. Activision and developer FreeStyleGames had high hopes for the original, enlisting such top acts as Daft Punk, Cut Chemist, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Grandmaster Flash, and the late DJ AM to mash up nearly 100 hip-hop, pop, dance, and techno songs. However, the game sold only 175,000 copies during its first month in release in the US, thanks in part to its steep $120 price tag. During its second month at retail, it sold only 123,000 units--a far cry from the $2 billion bar set by its sibling franchise, Guitar Hero.

That said, DJ Hero's sales haven't deterred Kotick's enthusiasm for the property. "We're sticking with it," he declared. "We'll stick with it and get it right." He also obliquely addressed Activision's flooding of the rhythm genre: "It's going to be less games, better games. That's our strategy."

413 Comments

  • coolkid93

    Posted Apr 15, 2010 10:08 pm GMT

    That's cool. Hopefully there will be a pretty good amount of improvements in this one. AND they won't charge you an arm and a leg for it especially with the SE all because of two artists. The price could've been lower. Sure they're some of the best rappers (at the moment, I've heard better but they're good) but that doesn't mean you should charge people out the butt for it. If it was the so called jayz and eminem renegade edition, then it should've came with the jayz and eminem DLC before it even hit XBL or PSN. Sure it included some of their songs in the game but for $200 it should've came with those songs and still kept it at $200. A little bit more than 2 CDs you can't play with, a different looking controller, the game, and the case could've came with it. Great game though. BTW if you don't like the game, you don't have to buy it. NO ONE is forcing you to.

  • ColbyColbs

    Posted Feb 19, 2010 6:25 pm GMT

    And another thing . . . If you all don't care to play the game, then don't buy it. It's as simple as that. You all make it sound like this guy is going to put a gun to your heads and force you to go out and buy the thing. If activision is "milking" then I guess EA should stop making new sports games every year. Maybe car companies should not come out with new versions of cars every year . . . ?

  • ColbyColbs

    Posted Feb 19, 2010 6:15 pm GMT

    Ok folks. I usually don't comment on these things, but I have to chime in here. First of all, they comfirmed rumors DJ Hero 2 was in development, which means it may not be out for yet another couple of years. You think they just throw these games together in a week? Secondly, DJ Hero is a great game. The music is excellent, and shows a very high degree of skill on the part of the contributors that produced it. All they do for other music games is pull songs that have already been done. This is stuff you CANNOT find anywhere else. And to say that DJs are "pretending" to be musicians? Please! Just becasue they aren't playing the guitar, does not mean they don't know music. Hell, if you could do it, you'd be producing some records, right? So, I guess it takes alot more skill than you are giving credit for.

  • An-Archist

    Posted Jan 30, 2010 4:18 pm GMT

    @GothaChu

    Thanks! I really appreciate that, despite it being completely uncalled for etc etc

  • oneligas

    Posted Jan 21, 2010 9:34 am GMT

    maybe for DJ Hero 2 Activision will include those wicked glow sticks scene at every rave, a hand full of X, goggles that make the room look like a tiny cramped night club with a thousand tripping ravers, and a vile of air spray that smells like a million sweaty armpits... ha ha ha

  • dl1085

    Posted Jan 20, 2010 3:17 pm GMT

    all we need now is a orchestra hero... and possibly heroine hero lol

    these games are getting old, so much hidden talent is being lost playing plastic instruments. ive mixed records and this game dont come close to the real thing.

  • kostoar

    Posted Jan 20, 2010 9:01 am GMT

    ikari22 i totally agree man they needed to make more techaz with it , hardstyle especially , names like donkey rollers ,showtek, DJ Isaac etc etc

  • ikari22

    Posted Jan 20, 2010 7:33 am GMT

    "...to mash up nearly 100 hip-hop, pop, dance, and techno songs." Ha, this couldn't be farther from the truth, you should feel robbed if you bought these game thinking you'd get any techno/rave/house/dance fix out if it. 99% of the music is hip hop, they should have called it Hip Hop DJ Hero.

    Where's my DJ Tiesto, DeadMau5, R.I.O., classics like ATB, Sven Vath?

  • Dav_id83

    Posted Jan 20, 2010 6:57 am GMT

    I'm thinking DJ Jazzy Jeff Hero, & DJ Tiesto Hero are coming over the grassy nol mid year 2010

  • Khoo1992

    Posted Jan 20, 2010 1:33 am GMT

    The game industry is overloaded with music games, can they stop for a year or two?!

  • krosfyah1

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 11:45 pm GMT

    Bobby Kotick reminds me of a cross between Jabba the Hut and a crack dealer - completely unscrupulous pusher of junk, revelling in the disgust and filth he has created. Anyone get that too?

  • DitkaKenobi

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 10:57 pm GMT

    It's only a matter of time before some horrible monster of a creation comes from combining DJ Hero with Guitar Hero. For example: Limp Bizkit Hero or Linkin Park Hero. Ugh.

  • ECWMANIAC

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 8:41 pm GMT

    @NICKKELANIUS

    Yes, we know you and other people have bad taste in music!

  • Trogeton

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 6:22 pm GMT

    Well seems the Band is dying and the Hero is still rising no surprise.

  • darkhenry69

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 6:05 pm GMT

    We'll probaly see Dj Hero 5 by december.

  • GameBeaten

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 5:39 pm GMT

    I'm not surprised there is going to be a sequel.

    I managed to try out DJ Hero in a Fry's Electronics and I liked it. Seems like it would take a while to get used to, plus I don't really have room for the stand and turntable to buy it just yet.

  • NICKKELANIUS

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 4:55 pm GMT

    this game is was suprisingly good for you haters

  • Dav_id83

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 4:11 pm GMT

    How Ironic Anybody Want To Guess Whats Coming Out 1st Quater 2010 "Scratch The Ultimate DJ" The Original Concept Before Anyone At Activision Even Thought Of DJ Hero. Remember A.V Did By Out The Company That Was Making The Controller & Had To Give Back Code To The Scratch Devs I'm Amazed That DJ Hero Was Even Allowed To Be Released. Since Its The Same Dam Game In A Way Didn't Sell Well Anyways As People Are Not Stupid Now & Know A.V Are Milking Everything They Have.

  • Eazy1891

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 4:10 pm GMT

    NoLifeGamin: lol i call it Cowbell HERO!!! be ready for Cowbell HERO 2 as well next year

  • Markie75

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 3:20 pm GMT

    @Quadster

    Isn't that the same with all games?

  • Markie75

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 3:08 pm GMT

    DJ Hero IS overpriced, but after playing it its definatly worth the £80 tag..

    Rather than drag this into sequels they should just support the 1st one with more DLC?

    Oh yeah Activision...RIDE sucks.....

  • ItsBriskBaby

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 2:13 pm GMT

    Another milked IP that will have sequal after sequal, hell if we're lucky we might even see DJ hero 4 by next christmas. Of course they'll do something like GH and bring out soundtracks seperate for $60, but won't call it an actual sequal.....COME ON! Let a game be out for a while for cry'n out loud before you start pumping out sequals!

  • im-a-roustabout

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 2:10 pm GMT

    @ jshaas "sure the frequency can be reduced"

    This is all I was talking about anyways when you made that comment. People don't like Kotick b/c he is making too many too fast, and sucking the soul out of the gaming industry. I was kind of agreeing with you mane.

  • im-a-roustabout

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 2:07 pm GMT

    @jshaas

    Well that's kind of what I'm getting at. COD is a beast of it's own though but even then I doubt they will be doing as well as they are now if they keep churning out a new MW every year like Kotick wants. You mention the GH franchise which is how I came to that conclusion to begin with. GH went from being one of the biggest entertainment properties that was said will never die, to being cast down in the blame game when sales figures weren't up to par this last x-mas. DJ HERO failed because the market is done with rhythm games. Even Halo wars (whatever the rts is called) and Halo ODST didn't sell as well as Halo 3. There is wayyyyy too much Tony Hawk as well. Yes MW2 is the best selling game ever, but really, how? It was all hype man. Their was nothing differ about that game that we didn't see in COD:4. Most people agree with that. So sorry to say that I don't think future iterations are going to do as well, maybe the next one yea I can see that, but not if we see a new one every year. Think of the genre in general. Their is an abundance of shooters out there, and anytime a new IP tries to make it, it usually doesn't fair that well.

  • Jak_Napier

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 2:03 pm GMT

    cool

  • Babywarrior5

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 2:00 pm GMT

    Ugh. Anybody who knows me knows my disdain for Activision. They used to be such a great company till they began to milk their franchises to death. Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero. "It's going to be less games, better games. That's our strategy." Took them long enough to figure out, good lord. Media Molecule, Insomniac. Look at how their games are doing. They don't pump out 15 sequels a year, but instead concentrate on the quality of the game as a whole.

    But it doesn't matter anyway because no matter how giant of a fail DJ Hero was, Activision probably already had a sequel in the works. Next it'll be Tony Hawk Ride 2.

  • fascinationjx

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 1:04 pm GMT

    This just in... "Activision confirms Tony Hawk RIDE to be greatest game of all time"

    gotta love marketing.

  • jshaas

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 12:04 pm GMT

    @im-a-roustabout...

    Isn't MW2 the best selling game ever? If it's not it's pretty close I'm sure. That tells me that people are not growing tired of the CoD series. I also seem to remember plenty of GH games being sold last year... I got GH5 myself. I know GH hasn't had the numbers of GH3, but it's obviously still selling well enough for Kotick to think he can make a profit from it. I believe his thinking now, due to the recession, is "we should make games that are already selling well, instead of risking a lot on a new IP." If ain't broke, don't fix it... right? I don't really agree with this type of thinking, but I can completely understand why he would think that. Just because they make a new game every year or less, doesn't mean you have to buy it. Personally, I had GH3 and then got GH5... I also had CoD4 and then got MW2. If more people only bought their games every other year or so, they wouldn't make them so frequent. Judging by the full article (I get the magazine), he's starting to see that a new GH every six months isn't really a good thing... especially after World Tour.

  • ECWMANIAC

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 12:02 pm GMT

    I HATE DJ HERO! Guitar Hero/Rock Band(except for The Beatles and Lego!) 4 Life!

  • racing1750

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 11:35 am GMT

    The milking of these music games are ridiculous.

  • Legion4Hire

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 10:57 am GMT

    Bobby Kotick has made some a-hole remarks but at least you know where he stands...

    Also if people want to get rid of Kotick... its pretty simple... Stop buying Activision Games... But good luck with that b/c they continue to make cool stuff... the numbers don't lie.

  • Buttons1990

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 10:50 am GMT

    OtakuMistress... They probably had the sequel in the works before the first game even came out...

  • imperial_agent

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 10:44 am GMT

    i don't like Kotick anymore than the average person, but heck, at least he's one of the CEOs actually making money instead of running their company to the ground and asking the government for a bail out.

  • devinlush

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 10:32 am GMT

    why dont they stop making these corny music games and make actual video games instead..playing plastic instruments makes you look like a retard

  • im-a-roustabout

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 10:09 am GMT

    @jshaas

    That's just it though.....they're not selling well anymore. The main reason? Saturating the market! We don't like Kotick because his company makes descent games, we don't like him because he is going to suck the soul out of the games, making a Call of Duty every year is going to turn upside down on him. Just wait.

  • AnnoyingBoy

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 9:19 am GMT

    bloody McRhythm games

  • volcomstoner180

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 9:06 am GMT

    kotick is a bum

  • jshaas

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 8:59 am GMT

    It's funny to me how many people here blast Kotick for "milking" an IP. As long as they continue to sell reasonably well, they should keep making them. Activision is a business, and in order to survive they must make money. Kotick may not "know games," but he's one hell of a businessman. He could take over a tampon company, and still make billions.

    Think of it like this... you create something that's the best thing since sliced bread (i.e. Guitar Hero, Rock Band, etc.), and it sells out by the truck-loads. Wouldn't you continue to make a "new" version of that product? Sure, the frequency can be reduced... but, like I said if it sells...

  • angelGP32

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 8:47 am GMT

    can i get piano hero first? packed in with full key piano, or how about cello hero, or pipe organ hero, that'd be awesome..yeah.

  • Mr_Versipellis

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 8:32 am GMT

    I'm surprised.

  • OtakuMistress

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 8:29 am GMT

    wow, shocking I didn't know DJ hero sold enough games to even consider making a sequel

  • viewtifuljon111

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 8:13 am GMT

    I bet you can't wait Kotick. Can't wait to release 5 versions a year, remove features with every release, and charger more.

  • Kan0nF0dder

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 7:02 am GMT

    No, this fad is over. So let's have some new IPs - Not Hero or CoD.

  • exray

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 6:16 am GMT

    The biggest problem with DJ Hero is that the majority of the music just plain sucks - even tracks from big names (Tupac, 50 to name two) are from their 'b list' of songs. The fact that every song is in at least 3 mixes also saps the fun out of it.

    The core gameplay is pretty fun however - there is some potential here if you can afford the turntable and if they can improve the music quality.

  • Dualmask

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 6:03 am GMT

    Hmm. It's my understanding that only profitable titles get sequels... otherwise, the developer is taking a chance on them. I suppose Activision can afford to take chances, but it sounds a bit like arrogance coming from this Kotick guy.

  • Colepachi

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 6:02 am GMT

    Give us something original for once....

  • ARAM_28

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 5:58 am GMT

    the biggest failure this dj hero

  • Abecale

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 5:56 am GMT

    Here in down under its still got the insane price-tag of nearly $200 with the Mixer controller thing. But come on activision, dont try to milk this.

  • star-stratus

    Posted Jan 19, 2010 5:06 am GMT

    DJ Hero - where you pretend to be a guy pretending to be a musician. Oh, and Bobby Kotick CAN STFU.

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