Activision has made a statement concerning the Guitar Hero franchise, seeming to backtrack on the idea that the series had been killed off for good. I guess the publisher realized there's money to be made from a big comeback later on.

"Actually, just to clarify, we're just putting Guitar Hero on hiatus, we're not ending it," claimed Acti's Dan Winters. "We're releasing products out of the vault -- we'll continue to sustain the channel, the brand won't go away. We're just not making a new one for next year, that's all."

Winters also addressed True Crime: Hong Kong, saying that even though the game was looking good, it was too "mid-tier" for a company that wanted to focus on bigger prizes: "That would have been, and still might end up being, a very successful mid-tier opportunity for someone. But, as I said, we changed our business model to where we were going to change our business model to focus disproportionately on three big, huge monsters. Those three monsters are the Bungie, Call of Duty and Spyro titles."

It comes to something when being good and having a chance at being decently successful isn't enough to save a game. That's Activision for you.

Activision: "Guitar Hero on hiatus, we're not ending it" [GI.biz]

Legacy Comments (will be imported soon)

tuoman

Sexualchocolate

Maybe now that Rockband completely takes the piss out of it, Guitar Hero has also become a "Mid-tier" game too?

It's certainly no longer the top tier music game around, not by a long shot.

salamagogo

Yep...so are elvis and tu pac.

Danzflor

Monster. Spyro Title. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Black Nexus

So they got rid of true crimes, a decent - good looking game for.......spyro?

TurboPhoenix

Well it is a game about bands... they always have comeback tours.

nanowerx

Scumbag Activision:
Says they will retire Guitar Hero, doesn't retire Guitar Hero. Jesus Christ, let it go already, Harmonix won.

sofik88

"But, as I said, we changed our business model to where we were going to change our business model to focus disproportionately on three big, huge monsters. Those three monsters are the Bungie, Call of Duty and Spyro titles."

so basically, rest of the games they will be making/releasing will launch without any marketing and no info about those games what-so-ever? it happened with Singularity, BloodStone, Wolfenstein, last Tony Hawk game and many more. there were no trailers, release info and you didn't even bother sending copies of those games for reviews(most of those games got their first reviews weeks after launch or not at all). then you bitch about those games not selling bazillion copies you were expecting and are closing studios that made those games. Singularity was amazing title(definitely one of the best shooters of 2010).

also True Crime Hong Kong too "mid-tier" for a company? i'm sorry, but you're making Prototype 2, for god's sake(i loved the first one but it was a b-rated title simillar to Singularity or BloodStone). it was the most interesting title in your entire line-up and you cancelled it?!

Drakengard

Singularity was a pretty awesome game. I'd hardly call it the best shooter of 2010, mostly because I found the game far too easy even on Hard, but that game deserved far better.

And yeah, Spyro is going to be big? That's rich right there considering how the internet universally mocked the new look they gave poor Spyro...

sofik88

Drakengard, well i'm singleplayer guy and in terms of that Halo Reach, GoldenEye 007, Metro 2033, Bioshock 2 and Singularity are the best shooters(i would also add Call of Pripyat if you didn't have to instal nearly 1gb of mods to make it work and actually fun).

ZeroTM

Happy to hear that, I've always liked guitar hero more for being more arcade style. Warriors of rock also had the better tracklist for a metalhead like me.

Gamescook

If it's not dead yet, I'll bash its head in myself.

Sonic9jct

We had a deal!

Reil

Spyro? That hasn't been a 'big' title since the era of Crash Bandicoot and Banjo Kazooie.

cbarrentos

WHY

Davedude

I still hate you, Activision. You're a monster

Fugly Duckling

I predict an Axl Rose-like comeback: Nobody will give a damn.

Epic-Kx

What sofik said?

scouserboots

Spyro? Really? Not as if they haven't already milked that sucker dry too. I think the general feeling is that the COD series is already headed the way of the Medal of Honor series. Plus COD feels very old school to the more recent shooters out there. Crysis 2 brings something new to the table, as does Homefront multiplayer to name but two games that IMO are better than COD in terms of gameplay and holding interest.

Fuzunga

But it's not like they PLANNED not to release Guitar Hero this year. Wasn't development cancelled on it? And then weren't they going to completely stop releasing new music tracks for the games until people complained? Yeah, I don't buy it.

KingSigy

Wow, Activision just cannot let go. Give it a fucking rest!

Blasto

Fuck Singularity/ Yay, Spyro?

...yeah, ok. Kind of says it all in a nutshell, doesn't it?

Capsule

Just let it die already

whosjohndonut

gh aerosmith was the lamest shit i had ever seen someone be excited to play

jProtege

Sofik summed it up nicely... Hmm, didn't think I'd be typing that today. But really, why bring back GH at this point. Music games aren't doing too great, why fight over the scraps.
Let Harmonix have they're niche, and funnel the money into something useful.

Perfidious Sinn

I'm sure we're all dying to play the new Guitar Hero in 2012.

brod

Assuming Jim is trolling with the Spyro edit.

JimmyDanger

They're just waiting for the buying Harmonix back deal to go through. No guitar hero until - what time does the bank open? 9am? No Guitar Hero til 10am!

JimmyDanger

They're just waiting for the buying Harmonix back deal to go through. No guitar hero until - what time does the bank open? 9am? No Guitar Hero til 10am!

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