Marking two decades after Guitar Hero debuted in North America, providing players everywhere the tools to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, but try convincing anyone who's mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.
Developed by Harmonix, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen synchronized to the music. Every sequence mimicked specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic performance.
The studio had already experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, which was purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the groundwork for an unlikely massively profitable series that had a remarkable impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, recalls the early budgetary hurdles in securing the songs – even though initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music because the cost prohibitive,” he says. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like legendary groups – RedOctane was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. But once Guitar Hero took off, and record sales airtime were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “Among the remarkable aspects was the number of parents got in touch and thanked us for exposing their children to the songs they loved. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Gains a New Audience
Northern Irish group the Answer included their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist remembers the way the game brought classic rock to the forefront: “The game offered a bigger, younger audience. Typically such music was seen as music that was past it, but then once it got included in the game and teenagers discovered it, abruptly it became trendy. This validated it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ label. It provided all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the band's first record remained not available stateside, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on US tour opening for AC/DC. “The roadies had on Never Too Late during travel, and several knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs and Lasting Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on their music collections and associated stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It moved more than 500,000 units in its first week, and demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% at a time when the music business was already collapsing.
The series still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer achieved an impressive attempt featuring Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar mechanics but an array of personalization features. The song is difficult even in expert mode, let alone performed at increased tempo while hitting every one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took nine months of practice.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you should use a real gun and enlist,” notes DragonForce guitarist the artist.
DragonForce previously wrapped up a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames appeared in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we were playing just before the headliners at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the track featured in promotional material for a major film. “Previously I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only hear a single track, that's fine – each person has a unique path in music and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
The Lasting Impact from the Iconic Controller
Top-tier promotion, be it for cars, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Was the game able to harness this? “Precisely what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators believed humans have a natural human desire to make music, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to participate”.
Most installments were released over a mere half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including spin-offs like DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, corporate focus on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games such as the fan project and Fortnite Festival have maintained the scene active, and there’s set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has entered production on their first music game. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome a new entry following the classic?
“Our team believed such titles might become like Madden allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason for it to persist for future fans.”
