Tech giant Microsoft bought Activisiom Blizzard in January 2022, the acquisition is due to be finalised this year. They paid over $68billion for the company and with that they acquired some of the biggest game titles in the world.
These include but not limited to:
Call Of Duty
Prototype
Tony Hawk
DJ Hero
Guitar Hero
Crash Bandicoot
Doom
Spider-Man
Now this list is not exhaustive but some of these games are the biggest reasons for the Xbox success. Now we know Call of Duty plays a big part as most gamers head straight for Xbox when it comes to this franchise, however, Guitar Hero played a big part in both Microsoft's, Sonys and even Nintendos console success. Of course Nintendo is mostly all about the Mario games but Guitar Hero was even available on the Nintendo Wii and their DS Consoles.
Guitar Hero fell on its face pretty hard and it's due to the fact they kept releasing too many titles linked to this franchise. Activision acquired the Guitar Hero IP from RedOctane in 2006 after releasing the first original release of the game, they worked on releases up until 2009 with their final game being Guitar Hero 5 & Guitar Hero Smash Hits. In the same year Activision revealed that the series was suffering from poor sales and in 2011 they announced Guitar Hero was on hiatus. The final game of the series was released in 2010 titled Warriors of Rock, which to me is my favourite of all time.
The next series was released in 2015 titled Guitar Hero Live developed by FreeStyleGames who had developed the DJ Hero games. However, it did not go as planned and Activision ended up laying of staff and sold the studio to Ubisoft and shut down the games DLC service.
Personally, I believe this was due to Guitar Hero Live being too much of a big change. I was excited at the time it was announced but I ended up selling my copy of the game to CEX a week after receiving it. I didn't like the guitar controller, it didn't feel or look like the Guitar Hero that I know and love.
So, what do I think Microsoft should do with Guitar Hero?
Take it back to how it was, think of the graphic style we had before, just modernise that make it look awesome, bring back the customisation and maybe even introduce real life venues such as Download Festival, Rock Am Ring, Electric Ballroom and any other staple venues across the world. The platform could even be used to help support upcoming artists, bands like As Everything Unfolds, InVisions, I Prevail and of course bringing in the titans, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, Metallica. I know this all costs money but a lot of companies are now doing micro transactions which I don't like but with this it could work. Obviously, ensure there are free tracks available but having a store where you can buy tracks so not only does the game developers make a profit but the artists get paid too, it's a win-win.
Take a look at all the good things that came from the original series and bring them back to life, just please for the love of the Demi-God of Rock, bring back the old guitar format. This way you'll bring back original fans and it just makes sense, the latest guitar wasn't just a challenge it restricted many peoples playing capabilities and required much more finger movements.
With that, also bring back the designs of the guitars, the Warriors of Rock guitar was awesome, bringing back those sort of styles that people can enjoy, rather than a plain black guitar with little to no customisation (stickers, bring back the stickers!). Guitar Hero is meant to be fun and put you in the shoes of a rockstar. A new game could introduce a new generation to awesome music.
Microsoft don't even need to release multiple titles of the game, they could create one game that they constantly add to it. I mean, Rockstar did it with GTA V, just make sure it doesn't become stale and keep it up to date.
What do you think should happen? Do you think Microsoft should revive the Guitar Hero series? Should they take it back to the bare bones?
Let us know the in the comments below!