Feature: The rise and fall of 'Guitar Hero'

Last week Activision shocked the video game community by announcing that there would be no more encores for the Guitar Hero franchise. Despite generating billions of dollars over a relatively short five-and-a-half year career, the series was unceremoniously dumped by its label following declining sales and a perceived lack of interest from the general public. Expect plenty of music industry analogies, rock and roll clichés and band references as we look back at the rise and fall of the rhythm-action sensation. From the chart-topping early years to its legal battles with widowed rock chicks, Digital Spy goes behind the music to look at the lasting legacy of Guitar Hero.

The formation and debut game

Heavily influenced by Konami's popular GuitarFreaks franchise in Japan, RedOctane's Kai and Charles Huang approached Harmonix about launching a similar product in North America. With RedOctane's experience of manufacturing music video game accessories and Harmonix's record of making addictive rhythm action games such as Frequency and Amplitude, Guitar Hero was almost certain to be a critical success. It was still a huge risk, however, because critical acclaim doesn't always equal huge sales, and with nothing quite like it available on a worldwide scale, a number one hit was by no means a guarantee.

Fortunately for both companies, Guitar Hero was released for the PS2 in 2005 in North America (the European release was in 2006) and was a monster hit. Bundled with a plastic guitar and featuring more than 40 tunes - mainly covers of popular rock songs such as 'Iron Man' by Black Sabbath, 'Killer Queen' by Queen and 'I Wanna Be Sedated' by The Ramones - the game made millions of dollars and kick-started the music game phenomenon. A follow-up game was inevitable.

The difficult second release

With Guitar Hero gaining more and more fans, Harmonix began working on a sequel which would improve on the original by offering more songs, better game mechanics, new multiplayer modes and even a few master recordings by the likes of Jane's Addiction and Primus. However, perhaps the most important change to the series was the addition of an Xbox 360 version, which was released in 2007 - roughly five months after the PS2 release. The Xbox 360 port opened up the franchise to millions of new customers and also took advantage of the machine's online features, allowing for new songs to be downloaded from Xbox Live Arcade.

Guitar Hero II proved to be another massive hit, selling even more copies than the original and winning the praise of numerous critics. However, before the series would reach the height of its fame, a number of acquisitions would take place that would change the face of the franchise forever.

The split

In between the release of the first and second game, Activision purchased RedOctane and MTV acquired Harmonix, essentially breaking up the original partnership. The final Harmonix offering was the first of many GH spinoffs called Rock The '80s, which featured a reduced setlist comprised purely of songs from the decade of decadence. With Harmonix out of the picture, Activision handed the franchise to Tony Hawk developer Neversoft, while Harmonix would attempt to evolve the genre by introducing new instruments in a brand new franchise. The resulting Rock Band was released in 2007 in North America, a month after Neversoft released the Guitar Hero game that would take the franchise out of the arenas and into the stadiums.

Guitar Hero-mania

Despite the looming threat of Rock Band and certain scepticism regarding the new developers, Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock would propel the series to the height of its fame. Featuring more than 70 songs - most of which were master recordings - the latest sequel would reportedly become the first game to generate more than $1 billion in sales. Its success was helped by the fact that it was available on most platforms, including - for the first time - the Wii, PS3 and PC.

During the next year Guitar Hero fever was rampant. The game became an indelible part of popular culture and began to attract the attention of the music industry. Some musicians loved it, others hated it, but everybody was talking about it. The franchise was growing and would spawn its own range of action figures, become the subject of bizarre movie speculation and even have an episode of South Park dedicated to it.

Expansion and new members

In 2008, the series would expand and be released on new formats such as the mobile phone and Nintendo DS. Classic rock band Aerosmith had a whole GH game dedicated to their long-running career, while heavy-metal band Metallica decided to release their latest album Death Magnetic as a Guitar Hero download on the same day as it was released in stores. Bands associated with the game saw record sales improve by up to 843%, which saw a raft of famous faces sign up for the next true sequel Guitar Hero: World Tour.

World Tour was released at the latter end of 2008 and was the first GH game to feature drum and microphone support, making it a rival to Rock Band. The new instruments gave the series - which from a gameplay perspective was starting to feel a little stale - a much-needed boost. However, the following year would see Activision's GH addiction get the better of them, causing fans to overdose on new releases.

Hero to villain

2009 started off well with the excellent Guitar Hero: Metallica. Unfortunately, from a quality point of view, things trailed off and the series began to suffer from a severe case of saturation. Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits was released a short time after the Metallica game and proved to be little more than a cheap cash-in, while another DS title - the third in a year - hit the shelves not long after that. Keen to appeal to even more people, Activision announced (and quickly released) the pop orientated Band Hero, as well as DJ Hero, which would require the purchase of another plastic peripheral. Guitar Hero: Van Halen became the second band-centric release of that year (it was released in December in North America), but wasn't greeted with the same kind of enthusiasm as the Metallica edition.

In between all of the spinoffs came Guitar Hero 5. The latest sequel introduced lots of excellent new multiplayer modes and tweaked the core gameplay just enough to ensure that it was met with a positive response from critics. The game wasn't as well-received by Courtney Love and the surviving members of Nirvana, who objected to the use of Kurt Cobain in the game as a playable character and joined Gwen Stefani's band No Doubt (who appeared in Band Hero) in taking Activision to court.

Back to the studio

With so many games on the market, including countless clones and cheap knockoffs, public interest in the rhythm-action genre was waning. Clearly feeling the pinch in the tough economic climate, Activision had a reshuffle, closed down RedOctane and admitted that it had made a mistake by not working with Harmonix.

Despite the doom and gloom, rumours of new GH games were constantly circulating. From the Red Hot Chilli Peppers to Megadeth to Queen, every band worth their salt would be linked with a game until Kiss frontman Gene Simmons revealed that he would be the voice of Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock.

The farewell tour

Warriors Of Rock was released in September 2010 and would prove to be the final game in the franchise's history (unless you count DJ Hero 2). Featuring an entertaining storyline and possibly the greatest tier to date in the form of Rush's entire seven-part song '2112', the heavy soundtrack hearkened back to the good old days of Guitar Hero 1. However, the balls-out, back-to-basics affair was unlikely to appeal to anyone other than die-hard fans, which was reflected by the game's poor sales.

Activision closed Wii and PS2 Guitar Hero studio Budcat Creations in November 2010, before killing off the entire GH division on Wednesday February 9, 2011. The final batch of DLC will officially mark the death of the franchise which at one time was bigger than Jesus. Activision remains open to the idea of reinvention, but the odds of a comeback tour look slim.

Do you have any fond memories of Guitar Hero? Add a comment to the space below!