Guitar Hero took the world by storm when first released back in 2005, spawning a ton of sequels and ports to almost every gaming device available. It would have been absurd to think that something as big as Guitar Hero could fall off the radar so easily and unceremoniously as it did.

 

Activision publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg stated last December that, “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, because as you said, it's a pretty strong brand with great recognition and great likeability, and there's a lot to work with there.”

 

There was initially another Guitar Hero game planned for 2011, but development on this has also been discontinued.

 

The music genre has been seeing a general decline in recent years as the novelty of the games start wearing off, with new entries such as DJ Hero trying to pump life back into the segment, usually unsuccessfully. The last title in the Guitar Hero franchise was Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, which released last year to some fairly average reviews.

 

Activision's rampage didn't end here though, the publishers also layed off a number of employees at DJ Hero developers Freestyle Games as well as cancelling its True Crime series.

 

Do you think there's a future for the music gaming genre after Guitar Hero? Share your comments below.