Guitar Hero and DJ Hero dead; Rock Band might endure

In February, once-blockbuster game “Guitar Hero” is going to be shut down. Activision is shutting down production of the "Guitar Hero" video game along with "DJ Hero." Similar series "Rock Band" hasn’t declared plans to turn off – yet.

‘Guitar Hero’ to be turned off

"Guitar Hero's" death was something that video game maker Activision declared Thurs morning is over. Everybody wanted the "casual-gamer" title before. It was a big hit among people. In Jan of 2009, “Guitar Hero” was the first game to hit more than $1 billion in sales. The company lost $9.36 billion past year with U.S. sales dropping over 8 percent. In February, Activision can be shutting down sales. "DJ Hero" and "Guitar Hero" will both be shut down. Activision will be laying off a staff of approximately 500 people.

’Rock Band’ might survive

“Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero”, while very similar, are created by two different companies. Viacom and MTV Games own “Rock Band” and are able to make deals with musical distribution systems much more very easily and cheaply. "Guitar Hero" controllers can be used to play "Rock Band" although the company is able to stay profitable with the more expensive setup pack. “Rock Band” has maintained stronger download sales than “Guitar Hero” over time, also. This doesn’t mean “Rock Band” is in a comfortable position, however. When "The Beatles: "Rock Band"" came out in 2009, millions were expected to sell. In three months, only $1.7 million in product was sold with the game.

Music gaming in the future

In the shutdown announcement, “Guitar Hero” cites the “rapid decline in the music genre” as the major reason for the decision. Motion-based gaming systems such as the Wii and Kinect have been selling musical genre games since their release. Most motion-based music games, however, are depending on dancing, not being a part of the band. As the hardware component of sales is reduced (no controllers to purchase) corporations could have to focus on lower-profit, higher-sales software in order to stay solvent.

Information from

Investor Place

investorplace.com/30610/activision-blizzard-atvi-guitar-hero-sales/

USA Today

content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2011/02/activision-dropping-new-downloads-for-guitar-hero-dj-hero/1