News coming out of San Mateo is that Activision has gone on a budget slashing attack, axing the Guitar Hero series, canceling True Crime: Hong Kong, and severely cutting the DJ Hero 2 developing team. An announcement is expected tonight ahead of the publication of Activision’s financial results.
This gives lie to Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg’s claim following bad sales of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock that while the music genre is ebbing, the genre still had a future:
“It’s no secret that not just Guitar Hero, but also Rock Band, and the music category in general, do not have the same mass appeal today that they did a few years ago. That said, I think that we would be foolish to not try and build on the strength of the Guitar Hero brand…”
He went on to claim,
“I think the road to rejuvenating that category goes through innovation. The premise of Guitar Hero – that everyone has an inner rock star – it’s something that we’ve all done forever. Some version of singing into a hairbrush, or holding a tennis racket like a guitar, or singing karaoke, or singing into the bathroom mirror – we all do that.”
Innovation was hardly something Activision did with Guitar Hero; in 2009, Activision released no less than five Guitar Hero games, including the confusingly named Band Hero.
Geoff Keighley reports in his twitter:
Activision is also focusing on “the development of a best-in-class digital community surrounding the Call of Duty franchise.”
Translation: They’re going to milk the cash cow til people are good and sick of it, too.
Jonah Falcon is a blogger for TMRzoo and GameStooge.com and covers all gaming consoles and platforms including Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP and computer games designed for Mac OS, Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. Jonah provides his readers with reviews, previews and up to date gaming industry news and rumors.
