Marking 20 years since Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the tools to become rock legends. Not in reality, but try telling that someone who has nailed the epic four-minute instrumental break in front of a packed crowd of friends.
Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to match coloured notes scrolling down the display in time with a song. Every sequence mimicked specific notes, producing the feel of an authentic performance.
The studio previously tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later acquired by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the groundwork for a surprising billion-dollar franchise that had a significant impact on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing classic groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the early financial challenges of licensing the songs – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded every song since the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights by themselves, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher had virtually no money, and our team was fairly certain the project would flop. However, when Guitar Hero took off, and record sales airtime increased, everyone wanted to be in.”
He continues: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers got in touch and thanked us for exposing their children to the music they loved. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Classic Rock Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish group one featured act included Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist remembers the way the game revived classic rock back into vogue: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, younger audience. Generally this had been considered outdated material, however once it got featured on the game young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. This validated the genre, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It gave our catalog a new life.”
At that time, the Answer’s first record remained not available in the US, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies were playing Never Too Late during travel, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Spin-offs Enduring Influence
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in specialized game editions that focused on their music collections and associated stories, imagery and legendary status. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the band greater revenue than any of their records. It moved more than half a million copies in its first week, and demand for their songs rose of up to 40% at a time as the industry faced decline.
Guitar Hero still motivates nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Recently, an online personality completed an impressive attempt of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with similar gameplay but an array of customisation options. The song is challenging even in expert mode, not to mention played at double speed while hitting a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated requiring nine months of practice.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.
DragonForce had already completed a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into a household name. “I remember the record label calling to tell me that we were records were moving rapidly,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the song featured in promotional material for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt differently, but now I accept it,” Li says. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has their own musical journey and I’m glad we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact of a Iconic Controller
The best marketing, whether it’s for cars, clothes or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Was the game able to tap into that? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of performing as a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the creators felt that humans have a natural human desire to make music, and their goal was to use technology to allow people to participate”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including spin-offs such as DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and newer releases have maintained the community active, and there’s set to be something from the original publisher on the way. A new studio has begun production on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are both involved in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games could be similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”
