It has been 20 years since Guitar Hero first launched in North America, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who's mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by the developers, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues moving along the display synchronized to a song. Each riff mimicked specific notes, creating the sensation of an authentic performance.
The studio previously tried its hand in the music genre before partnering with RedOctane, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Together, they laid the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series that had a significant impact on numerous of the artists included, introducing decades-old bands to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music because the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain it would fail. But once the game became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “One of the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they loved. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act included Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician Paul Mahon remembers how the series brought classic rock back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, younger audience. Typically this had been seen as music that was past it, but then once it got included in the game and teenagers were finding it, suddenly it was cool. This validated the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the band's first record was still unreleased stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the group during their a North American tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song on the tour bus, and some of them knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Influence
Rock’s biggest acts soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold well over 500,000 units upon release, while demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.
The series continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Recently, a streamer completed a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive customisation options. This track is difficult even in the hardest setting, not to mention played at increased tempo and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed it took nine months of practice.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up a real gun and enlist,” says DragonForce guitarist Herman Li.
The band had already wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, but Li says it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that we were records were moving rapidly,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it threatened to eclipsing everything else the band has done. Recently, the song was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just listen to a single track, that's fine – each person has their own path in music and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what our team aiming to achieve,” he confirms. “That thrill of being a music icon on the stage. From day one, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural human desire to create songs, and their goal was to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs like DJ Hero, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles like the fan project and newer releases have maintained the scene active, with set to be a new product from the founders in development. A new studio has begun production on its debut rhythm-based title. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed those games might become like Madden where you can releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue for future fans.”
