It has been 20 years after the legendary game first launched in North America, offering everyday gamers the means to feel like a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing someone who has mastered the epic four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed living-room audience.
Created by the developers, the game provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow on-screen cues scrolling down the display in time with the music. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, creating the sensation of an authentic performance.
Harmonix had already experimented with rhythm games before partnering with RedOctane, which was acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for an unlikely billion-dollar franchise which made a significant impact for many musicians included, introducing decades-old groups to a new generation of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the initial budgetary hurdles of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced every song because the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights by themselves, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to be in.”
He continues: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of parents got in touch and thanked us for exposing their children to the music they loved. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Gains a New Audience
Irish blues-rock band one featured act had Never Too Late on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician the artist remembers how the series brought classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, younger audience. Typically this had been seen as outdated material, but then when it was featured on the game and teenagers discovered it, abruptly it was cool. This validated the genre, eliminating the outdated label.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 all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the band's debut album remained not available in the US, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the band during their US tour opening for the rock giants. “The roadies had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Major Band Titles and Lasting Impact
Music's biggest acts quickly capitalised on the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on each band’s catalogue and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band greater revenue than any of their records. It moved well over 500,000 units in its first week, while sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase significantly during an era when the music business faced decline.
The series continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication within the community. Recently, a streamer completed a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar mechanics but an array of personalization features. The song is difficult enough on expert mode, let alone played at double speed while hitting every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed it took nine months of practice.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up a real gun and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.
DragonForce previously wrapped up a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them a household name. “I recall our distributors calling to tell me that we were records were moving like crazy,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we were playing just before top acts at the event.”
Indeed, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it risked overshadow all other accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “If you only listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, whether it’s for automobiles, apparel or games, extends beyond mere transactions – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. From day one, the creators felt that humans have a natural urge to create songs, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out over a mere half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring derivative titles like DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the community active, and there’s set to be something from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun production on its debut music game. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers prepared to welcome a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed those games could be like Madden where you can update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist with new generations.”
