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2010 Guitar Hero lineup trimmed to two

Following 2009 rhythm glut, publisher reducing release count to one Guitar Hero, one DJ Hero in back half of year, no PS2 versions; iPhone adaptation in the works.

Activision's 2009 catalog of rhythm game releases was beyond robust, including Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits, and Band Hero. Despite that retail onslaught, the publisher's sell-through of rhythm game titles was down 35 percent.

Activision's Guitar Hero SKU count for 2010 will not be going to 11.

Activision's Guitar Hero SKU count for 2010 will not be going to 11.

The lesson there has not been lost, as Activision Publishing president Michael Griffith today said the publisher would be offering a drastically reduced lineup of music games in 2010. In a post-earnings conference call with analysts, Griffith said Activision's strategy would be to focus on fewer releases that service a broader audience.

Specifically, Griffith said Activision will only have fewer than 10 Guitar Hero SKUs (stock-keeping units; a game with two different bundles on three platforms each would be six SKUs). Last year, the company released 25 SKUs in the series. On top of that, none of this year's Activision music games will appear on the PlayStation 2.

Griffith said this year's crop of games will be centered on two major releases: DJ Hero 2 and an as-yet-unspecified Guitar Hero game. Both of them will arrive in the back half of the year.

The executive added there would be no high-priced Band Hero game this year, stating that the music gaming market is moving away from hardware bundles and toward stand-alone software sales. As a result, he expects the genre's sales to decline even further.

Elsewhere in the call, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said the publisher would be bringing Guitar Hero to the iPhone, as part of the company's ongoing plan to "selectively expand brands" to Apple's handheld. Last year, Activision made a splash on the App Store with Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies.

124 Comments

  • ebookerd1

    Posted Apr 14, 2010 12:43 pm GMT

    @ Shadowkiller11

    Dude you are spot on it just seems like a waste everyone has the equipment and there is one comming out every other week if you cool it down people might feel like buying another version in a year or so. Let people get hungry for it.

  • shadowkiller11

    Posted Mar 25, 2010 11:31 am GMT

    I don't think they should kill the franchise and specially not the genre but slow it down by 1 every 2 years to still contain abit of impact. All the recent titles releasing every couple months makes it feel almost literally run-of-the-mill

  • PhonziWun

    Posted Feb 17, 2010 7:47 pm GMT

    Haha what a joke. Seen the South Park ep? Pretty spot on!!

    Playing this hero crap makes people look as pathetic and stupid as they do playing a Wii

  • hdi67

    Posted Feb 17, 2010 12:42 pm GMT

    If this were two years ago, I would have been psyched. At this point, I couldn't give a crap less. Activision need to just kill the genre off. They overmilked it. Nobody cares about it anymore.

  • BTroxell

    Posted Feb 13, 2010 2:42 pm GMT

    Any of you like me? GH, Rockband, cool in high school (great for weeknights and breaks); college starts.., then it becomes a pointless joyless waste of money? I think that maybe the people who were there from beginning have started to abandon it (not referencing my experience), and because of the price/weirdness/intimidating learning curve/late to the party syndrome/overwhelming number of choices, its really difficult to get new people interested?

  • bradlbauer

    Posted Feb 13, 2010 8:15 am GMT

    Stop making new games if the gameplay isn't different. Keep making more content if you release it as download content.

  • Markie75

    Posted Feb 13, 2010 5:34 am GMT

    How about supporting DJ Hero with a bit of DLC rather than bring another one out ?
    Activision never changes..........

  • pete_merlin

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 2:44 pm GMT

    Does anyone really care about this style of game anymore?

  • luffy11234

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 2:00 pm GMT

    still 2 games, when it was just 1

  • olliejuice

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 1:49 pm GMT

    the novelty of rhythm games has worn off now, activison just needs to let guitar hero die...

  • GatsuBlackSword

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 1:18 pm GMT

    They need to stop pumping out a new version every 6 months; just keep going with the DLC and people will buy that. I'm so sick of this genre now; I go to my buddies house who has Rockband and we used to play it all the time now it sits in the corner until some good songs we like come out. These band/Guitar genre is going the way of DDR and that's not a good thing.

  • Bortson

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 1:17 pm GMT

    Well thankfully they arent supporting PS2 anymore.

  • mrcharrio

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 1:17 pm GMT

    What did they expect, everyone to buy a new Guitar controller with each game? Talk about retarded, they can make money adding more music to the DLC if they got good bands like Pink Floyd or Devo

  • Paladin_King

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 1:00 pm GMT

    Only two GH titles in a year? It's not enough!
    /sarcasm

    In all honesty though, I'm glad they're giving DJ Hero another shot. At least it was something different.

  • room234

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 12:38 pm GMT

    After watching them whore out GH this last year... what did they think was going to happen? Activision acted like there was some contract between gamers and them that obligated us to buy every GH game they released.

    Well surprise, morons.

  • wiiplay1

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 12:38 pm GMT

    Good. We don't need tons of music games without any major changes released. It's called DLC.

  • Waldkrieger

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 12:35 pm GMT

    Do the world a favor and trim it to 0. I'm sick of hearing about this genre of "games".

  • MUSH_IS_PWNs

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 12:24 pm GMT

    The only music games i want is The Rolling Stones Rock Band which we all know will eventually happen and The Beach Boys Rock Band which we all know will never happen.

  • King_Gamer19

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 12:13 pm GMT

    It's simply nobdy cares anymore Activision you kill the GH brand & music games for most people like me why

  • CharlesSteak

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 11:56 am GMT

    GH: Metallica - still the only GH I'll ever need to play. The only bands that might change that: Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin.

  • yman173

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 11:54 am GMT

    Thank God they finally seem to be getting the message! Rock Band's model of DLC is the best, which is why it's more successful. We're all sick of paying $60 for what basically amounts to different expansion packs...many of which contain songs we would otherwise not want to play. I got Band Hero because my daughter wanted to see Taylor Swift...I saw it for $29.99 just the other day and my stomach felt ill. Never again!

    When GH 6 comes out, thats when Ill think about GH 5 because it'll be in the bargain bin for less than $20...just as GH: Aerosmith & Metallica are now.

  • Bangerman15

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 11:51 am GMT

    i like rockband games but geese... guitar hero sure knows how to milk the crap outta their games and they still lose money..

    same thing will happen with their call of duty series too cuz now they're gonna expect each one to make a billion dollars like mw2 did so that means more cod each year.... :/

  • enragedrenegade

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 11:45 am GMT

    OMG. enough with the release of new guitar hero games already. i still play guitar hero 3 and i'm happy with it. activision should just release new DLC songs and i'll be happy with it. i don't wanna keep buying new hardware to play these games. thats why their sales are down. they are just ignoring the gaming community and are starting to pay the price for it. i mean it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that if you want your business to succeed, give the people what they want and how they want it. its as simple as that. note how rock band is succeeding more than guitar hero.

  • Polaris_x1A4

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 11:32 am GMT

    What? Only 2? You mean I can't have another million different Guitar Hero's this year?

  • XanderZane

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 11:00 am GMT

    They don't need to release anymore. Just release some decent music packs for $5 and we'll be happy. I'm not payign $60 for another Rock Band or Guitar Hero game, I can tell you that right now. I've saving my money for Halo: Reach, God of War 3, FF XIII, Crackdown 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

  • HBC14

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 10:59 am GMT

    Cool.

  • R41N_M4K3R

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 10:51 am GMT

    im sick of all guitar hero and rock band games now

  • Flame_Blade88

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 10:48 am GMT

    Oh wow, just two?! /massive sarcasm

  • wolvklaw

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 10:40 am GMT

    About time. I enjoy my "rock band" fix from time to time. Not as much as in the past but its a piller of my collection. Rock band though gets my cash. Why? Because not only do I just have to put in 1 disk, but the DLC over the last year has allowed me to build a guitar game that fits me. Stop with the disks, allow us to import songs from other disks and step up your dlc program. Then maybe. However ONLY if you have great music, which rockband has now acomplished.

  • InsertWittyID

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 10:38 am GMT

    That's still two too many. Everyone who buys music games every year should just get Rock Band 2 and satisfy their itch for new content with DLC.

  • oneligas

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 10:15 am GMT

    less toy guitar games is a good thing, no more toy guitar games would be best

  • htehtrhrtjrgjyj

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 10:07 am GMT

    @enoslives7

    I agree with you Bobby Kotick the ceo is an idiot, it even said in last months game informer(i think it was last months) that he doesnt like starting new IP's he goes with stuff that works until its dead, like CoD modern warfare there was an interview with Infinity's ceo he said that Kotick didnt want it modern they wanted it still in WWII but Infinity threated to break the deal and find a new publisher because they wanted something new so that made Kotick cave and now look at CoD. So in short Booby Kotick needs to eat s*** and leave activision.

  • threedown

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 9:49 am GMT

    i enjoyed the guitar hero and rockband series. if i want to play new songs ill download them on rockband. new guitar hero games dont interest me anymore, they released way to many and burned everyone out. there was nothing much new or exciting in the last few

  • enoslives7

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 9:36 am GMT

    Activision has really turned to crap lately. They need new leadership.

  • ranman1990

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 9:27 am GMT

    i really dont care about this stuff anymore .. its dying , i can play real instruments anyway so its all the same stuff to me now

  • Lostboy1224

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 9:19 am GMT

    Alot of people I know just kind of got tired of it all and are on to other games.

  • -Fromage-

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 8:49 am GMT

    There, now you got it.

  • JERMINITIS

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 8:47 am GMT

    I guess this means that Kenny G Hero is now out of the works. Bummer

  • drangel_jam

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 8:37 am GMT

    Like I said, the best way is always to speak with our dollars. That's the only way publishers get it.

  • mrzero1982pt2

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 8:17 am GMT

    @dragonballzmanx true but from a person who owned every ps console, and now an xbox 360, the ps2 is still a solid seller. just because you are a gamer does not mean that you have the newest system. the ps2 still outsells consoles some months, and still has tons of quality titles for it. gh was born on the s2, so why ditch it? ride it until the ship sinks. do you see ea and 2k abandoning the system? no.

  • Rottenwood

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 8:06 am GMT

    I'm not a big fan of the genre, but Rock Band seems to do it right. It's still running on the Rock Band 2 software, right? All you need then is DLC, which is perfect. People can buy the songs they like and not worry about compatibility. (Or deceased legends doing Ashlee Simpson songs with a backing band of dancing Lego people.)

    The company as a whole really needs some strong new properties. World of WarCraft and Guitar Hero have generated a fortune, but they don't have that pop anymore. Market saturation has taken its toll. Even Call of Duty isn't immune; it opened huge but is already disappearing from the gaming conversation. Hell, a 2D Mario game is curbstomping it on the charts. When a 2D Mario game seems fresher than your current product, you've gone to the well too often.

  • Darkmoone1

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 8:02 am GMT

    2 is stilll to many...

  • FarmFreshDX

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 7:51 am GMT

    Here's what needs to happen in my humble opinion:

    Activision puts their nose to the grindstone, taking *MASSIVE* fan suggestions and works all through the year for a quality game. Come Christmas, they release a *SOLID,* *UPDATED,* *WELL-PLANNED,* Guitar Hero with *NEW IDEAS,* *FUN-TO-PLAY SONGS,* backed with *LOTS OF GOOD, CHEAP DLC.*

    I highlighted all the keywords for you, Activision. You'll never get back what you lost from spamming the market with crap, but if you manage to make as big of a splash as you did with GH3 (before you started milking that as well) or as big as Rock Band made, you could at least gain some of your rep and not look like children anymore.

  • karloss01

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 6:52 am GMT

    i've never been interested in this for the simple reason i could pay for a second hand guitar and actually learn to play for the prices they charge (or a new one for the price of rock band) so if i ever get the urge to play guitar hero i'll be going to a guitar store.

  • Rev8691 posted Feb 11, 2010 6:27 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Rev8691

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 6:27 am GMT (hide)

    am i the only one that thinks rock band sucks? i mean really, the hardware is horrible. the note bar is less responsive, as well. guitar hero has the hardware and the note bar gems down; rock band has the marketing and overall mechanics down better. put them back together, recreate the original guitar hero experience, and then maybe you will have a good game. these companies separate haver ruined the genre. and its pretty clear everyone is over it. i wont forget the fun times ive had with friends, but there is no excitement for a new installment anymore.

  • GNWPCD

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 6:20 am GMT

    Here's an idea Activision. How about no new games for 2010 in this genre and let those who actually want to buy a game in the series (not me now or ever) do so with all the various versions available. As much as you wish you had the next Madden or MLB series here where you can make one every year (or even more due to all the band specific spin off versions you are doing) you are just a nice little niche market that is finally drying up due to over saturation and high prices of the silly plastic equipment you have to buy to play the games. Let people who want to buy a game in the genre do so with all the ones currently out there. But hey its your money to throw away and I'm grinning all the while as you do, still not getting the hint that you blew it. You could have milked this for years to come if you played it nice and slow. But no, all you big heads there who just saw the big $'s had to over do it and now the stores are going to be filled with all of these versions just collecting dust. I love it. Activision used to mean something, now it just means greed. LOL! Oh well. Good luck on your two releases this year, you will need it.

  • TripSe7en

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 6:19 am GMT

    "Activision trims '10 Guitar Hero lineup to two", Yeah, two too many...

  • Viper_1989

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 6:10 am GMT

    less games, more downloadable content. turn potential new games into dlcs, we don't need more standard guitar hero games!

  • racing1750

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 6:00 am GMT

    How about no guitar hero games activision? The milking is ridiculous.

  • theslimdavylp

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 5:56 am GMT

    Good... too many games and too many instruments! My living room is full!

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