AfterDawn: News

Guitar Hero sales continue decline

According to figures from Cowen & Company, Activision's blockbuster series Guitar Hero continues to see sales declines, despite new additions to the franchise.

The latest game, "Warriors of Rock," saw only 86,000 sales in its first week, well below the average for the franchise.



In 2007, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock sold 1.5 million copies in five days, in 2008 GH: World Tour sold 500,000 copies in its first week and last year's Guitar Hero 5 sold 499,000 copies in the same time frame.

Says analyst Doug Creutz: "Guitar Hero III likely attracted a lot of one-time buyers (that have not returned for subsequent franchise instalments) due to its 'it-game' status at the time."

Rival Harmonix, the company behind Rock Band said this of the genre as a whole: "I absolutely do not believe that rhythm-action gaming has reached its peak."


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Oct 2010 1:18

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• 18 comments

• ROMaster2

  As much as I love the games, it was a trend that came and went.
  
  Unless they can pull a monkey out of their butt, it's only gonna keep going down from here.

  20.10.2010 01:47 #1

• KillerBug

  It probably has something to do with the fact that they keep releasing new games that are nothing more than level packs for the old games.

  20.10.2010 02:37 #2

• xnonsuchx

  Thank goodness! Hopefully this signals a soon good riddance to the SLIGHTLY less emasculating version of DDR. ;-)

  20.10.2010 06:58 #3

• DSWarrior

  Originally posted by ROMaster2: As much as I love the games, it was a trend that came and went.
  
  Unless they can pull a monkey out of their butt, it's only gonna keep going down from here. Originally posted by KillerBug: It probably has something to do with the fact that they keep releasing new games that are nothing more than level packs for the old games. True...This reminds me about Dance Dance Revolution and Stepmania that came out in 2004-2006. People worshipped the games, people played until they started losing weight, people stopped sleeping to keep playing...a few months later, those games are now collecting dust in most closets...
  
  Activision really overdid it with GH...As KillerBug said they keep releasing "additions" to old games; it's like playing GH 3 with DLC...
  

  DS Warrior ! ! !

  20.10.2010 07:32 #4

• tatsh

  Sorry to break the news but I think Rock Band 3 and Rock Band in general is horrible in comparison to GH 3,4,5,6. I wish Activision wasn't leaving GH behind. Makes me want to restart my project to clone GH (in a higher quality way in comparison to FoF).
  
  GH 6 actually had work put in it. Rock Band 3 is a gimmick where they want you to buy the pack (AGAIN) because now it has an 'improved' drum set, still crappy guitars, and now a MIDI keyboard (probably been an idea since day 1, these are the guys responsible for FreQuency/Amplitude on PS2). And no, the graphics are not very different. I'm not happy with it very much at all thinking this is supposed to be a big deal game. More like big deal peripherals? I don't know because I have not tried them. Rock Band going to these horrible-looking non-clicky guitars is a crappy move IMO. And then GH copied! Just like buttons on any controller, I like to know when I'm pressing by hearing it too.
  
  Either way, now I know Rock Band will take over some more in terms of the 'war' between the two, and I find it sad because I consider Rock Band altogether to be such a lacklustre product in comparison to GH. Look at Xbox LIVE statistics and you'll see TONS of people have played GH 3 and 5. What is even more interesting is that GH 3 is one of the top-played games. It just set the standard and proved the GH team didn't need any of Harmonix's help.

  20.10.2010 08:33 #5

• harhumph

  Originally posted by ROMaster2: As much as I love the games, it was a trend that came and went.
  
  Unless they can pull a monkey out of their butt, it's only gonna keep going down from here. If the creator / company who makes these games can literally pull said monkey from his said rectum then I will throw $50 his way :P

  20.10.2010 14:40 #6

• Mysttic

  Quote:If the creator / company who makes these games can literally pull said monkey from his said rectum then I will throw $50 his way :P Count me in on that, $50 would be worth seeing that on youtube

  20.10.2010 16:39 #7

• bobiroc

  Overall I still enjoy these games as I find them fun to play and something that both my Wife and I can play together. My sister and some of my friends come over for what we call "Band Practice". I wish they kept up on the downloadable content a bit better and it was not so expensive to get a track pack. But they are good games you can pick up and play a little bit and put down if you want to unwind after work or something.
  
  I also have a couple of the Rock Band Franchise and I have to say GH puts more effort into their games to make them look good and play smoother.
  

  AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.6Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 300GB 10,000RPM Raptor, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.

  20.10.2010 19:40 #8

• KillerBug

  Sure, there are still fans...but that is just the thing. Fans already have your last 5 releases that are all virtually identical to the latest release.

  20.10.2010 23:09 #9

• ROMaster2

  Quote:Sorry to break the news but I think Rock Band 3 and Rock Band in general is horrible in comparison to GH 3,4,5,6. I wish Activision wasn't leaving GH behind. Makes me want to restart my project to clone GH (in a higher quality way in comparison to FoF). I was working on a GH/RB clone myself a while ago, had a bunch of plans laid out but never found a programmer. Shoot me up if you want someone to join.

  21.10.2010 02:35 #10

• Mr-Movies

  These guitar games are insanely stupid, redundant, and boring. It's about time people wake up. Like a fool some of my friends bragged about how fun they were so I bought two guitars and games but I still have one guitar in the box new as this was sooo horrible I've never bothered with the other guitar nor play the simple minded games again.
  

  22.10.2010 15:13 #11

• dEwMe

  Originally posted by Mr-Movies: These guitar games are insanely stupid, redundant, and boring. It's about time people wake up. Like a fool some of my friends bragged about how fun they were so I bought two guitars and games but I still have one guitar in the box new as this was sooo horrible I've never bothered with the other guitar nor play the simple minded games again. Yeah I agree. Never could see the point of pressing the colored buttons over and over...all the wasted time and effort....bet a lot of you could have actually bought a real guitar and learned to play for real...
  
  

  Just my $0.02,
  
  dEwMe
  

  22.10.2010 16:12 #12

• bam431

  I'm done with GH. I will be buying Rock Band 3 next week though.
  

  http://www.pirateparty.ca/
  Xbox Live: war dog431 - PSN: bam431 - IGN: bam431
  Youtube: electrowaffle - Twitter: bam431

  22.10.2010 19:57 #13

• Jemborg

  Some people seem to miss the point of GH etc... it's air guitar as a game.
  
  That's all.
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  23.10.2010 15:33 #14

• ZippyDSM

  Gee(fad) I(fad) wonder(fad) why(fad) ...... ?
  
  Now when you have synthesized equipment that is 1 or 2 times removed from the real thing thats when I will gladly buy in...but when its 1 or 2 times removed from a control pad....er...no thanks....
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  26.10.2010 09:58 #15

• Jemborg

  For goodness sakes... it's just air guitar!
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  26.10.2010 10:38 #16

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Jemborg: For goodness sakes... it's just air guitar! Its more complicated than that, the instruments are exaggerated game pads but slowly we are moving to basic but real instruments being used(stringless digital guitar) but will the fad/intrest end before most of these games use them?
  

  Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy!
  Ah modern gaming its like modern film only the watering down of fiction and characters is replaced with shallow and watered down mechanics, gimmicks and shiny-er "people".
  http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

  26.10.2010 10:46 #17

• Jemborg

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: Originally posted by Jemborg: For goodness sakes... it's just air guitar! Its more complicated than that, the instruments are exaggerated game pads but slowly we are moving to basic but real instruments being used(stringless digital guitar) but will the fad/intrest end before most of these games use them? Then it wont be air guitar any more. LOL
  

  Its a lot easier being righteous than right.
  
  
  

  26.10.2010 10:54 #18