Marking two decades after Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the tools to become rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who's nailed Free Bird’s four-minute instrumental break in front of an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Developed by the developers, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes scrolling down the screen synchronized to the music. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, producing the feel of an authentic performance.
The studio previously tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they laid the foundations for a surprising massively profitable franchise which made a significant impact for many of the artists featured, introducing classic bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the early financial challenges in securing the recordings – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain it would fail. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases and radio play were going up, all artists desired to participate.”
He adds: “Among the amazing things was how many mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for exposing their kids to the music they loved. It evolved into a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Finds Younger Fans
Northern Irish group the Answer had Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist recalls how the series revived classic rock to the forefront: “The game offered a larger, younger audience. Typically this had been seen as outdated material, but then when it was featured on the title young people were finding it, suddenly it was cool. This validated the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided all our music renewed popularity.”
In 2008, the Answer’s debut album was still unreleased stateside, so the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the group as they went on a North American tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song during travel, and several recognized us thanks to the game,” he notes.
Major Band Titles Enduring Influence
Music's biggest acts soon capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated game editions centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said earned the band greater revenue compared to their studio albums. It moved well over half a million units in its first week, and sales of Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% during an era as the industry was already collapsing.
The series continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay and extensive personalization features. This track is challenging enough on expert mode, not to mention played at double speed and without missing every one of its near 4,000 notes. They claimed requiring nine months of practice.
“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and enlist,” says musician the artist.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a profitable run when Through the Fire and Flames was featured in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall our distributors informing us that we were records were moving rapidly,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing just before top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked overshadow everything else the band has done. Recently, the track was used in promotional material for a major film. “In the past I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to a single track, it’s totally cool – each person has a unique path in music and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Impact from the Plastic Guitar
Top-tier marketing, whether it’s for cars, apparel or games, goes further than selling something – it inspires a desire. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a music icon on the stage. From day one, the creators felt that there’s an instinctive urge to create songs, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games were released over a mere five-year period from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs like the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, corporate focus on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles such as the fan project and newer releases have maintained the community active, with set to be a new product from the founders in development. Recently formed developers has begun work on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are both involved as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game following the classic?
“We thought such titles could be like Madden where you can update every year,” he remarks. “With abundant fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain optimistic. There’s no reason for it to persist with new generations.”
