Guitar Hero axed by Activision due to declining sales

Games publisher Activision has confirmed that it is putting the brakes on its once-lucrative Guitar Hero franchise.

“Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011,” explains the company in its latest financials, as reported by MCV.

The publisher is also suspending development on its DJ Hero franchise, having confirmed that its ‘peripheral-based’ console games – which also include Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater – sold less copies than expected in 2010.

Activision itself is doing well financially, reporting $2.5 billion of revenues in Q4 – even if they were down slightly on the $2.55 billion in the same quarter a year before. However, the big bucks are now being generated by non-music franchises like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, hence the decision to axe (sorry) Guitar Hero.

The news comes shortly after Viacom sold Harmonix, the team behind the Rock Band games. Its decision to sell was seen as evidence that the music game genre has lost its lustre – something compounded by today’s news.

Source: Music ally