Marking two decades since the legendary game debuted across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the means to feel like rock legends. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who's nailed Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by the developers, the game gave players a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes moving along the display synchronized to the music. Every sequence mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of a genuine performance.
The studio previously experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later purchased by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they laid the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar franchise that had a significant impact for many musicians featured, introducing decades-old groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the initial financial challenges of licensing the songs – despite the fact initial releases primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he says. “Even with the necessary permissions alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher had virtually no money, and our team was fairly certain it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero became a hit, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch expressing gratitude for exposing their children to the songs they loved. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Finds a New Audience
Northern Irish blues-rock band the Answer included their track in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist Paul Mahon remembers how the series brought older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been seen as outdated material, but then when it was featured on the game and teenagers discovered it, abruptly it was cool. This validated the genre, eliminating the outdated label. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the Answer’s first record was still not available stateside, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group as they went on a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us thanks to the game,” Mahon says.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Impact
Rock’s biggest acts soon took advantage of the game's success, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in specialized spin-off titles centered around their music collections and related lore, visuals and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the group more money than any of their studio albums. It sold well over 500,000 units in its first week, while sales of their songs rose of up to 40% at a time as the industry was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough power-metal song made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar gameplay but an array of personalization features. This track is difficult enough on expert mode, let alone played at increased tempo and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer claimed requiring nine months of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you should use a real gun and go to war,” says musician Herman Li.
DragonForce previously completed a successful tour before their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into widely recognized. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that our selling albums rapidly,” he shares. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it risked overshadow all other the band has done. Recently, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has their own path in music and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Iconic Controller
The best promotion, whether it’s for cars, clothes or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators believed there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to participate”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, except for a brief comeback in 2015.
Titles such as the fan project and newer releases have maintained the scene alive, and there’s set to be a new product from the founders on the way. A new studio has begun production on their first music game. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace another game following the classic?
“We thought those games might become similar to sports games where you can update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant fresh tracks that it could be perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”
