It has been 20 years after the legendary game hit the market in North America, offering players everywhere the means to feel like rock legends. Not literally, but try telling that anyone who's nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.
Created by the developers, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the display in time with a song. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, creating the feel of an authentic performance.
The studio previously experimented with rhythm games before partnering with RedOctane, which was purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a remarkable impact for many musicians included, introducing classic bands to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
A former executive, former COO from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges in securing the songs – even though the first two games mostly used cover versions.
“We rerecorded every song because the dollar figure prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions by themselves, it proved extremely difficult. We failed to secure bands like legendary groups – the publisher had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero took off, and record sales airtime were going up, all artists desired to be in.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of mothers and fathers reached out and thanked us for introducing their kids to the music they adored. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Gains a New Audience
Northern Irish blues-rock band one featured act had their track in the 2008 release Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician the artist remembers how the series brought older hits back into vogue: “The game provided a larger, younger audience. Generally such music was considered music that was past it, but then when it was included in the game young people were finding it, suddenly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the outdated label. It gave all our music a new life.”
In 2008, the Answer’s debut album remained not available in the US, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the group as they went on US tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew had on the song on the tour bus, and several recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Impact
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in dedicated game editions that focused on their music collections and related stories, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly earned the band greater revenue than any of their records. It moved more than 500,000 copies in its first week, while sales of their songs saw an increase of up to 40% during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
The series still motivates nimble-fingered dedication within the community. Recently, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical gameplay but an array of personalization features. This track is difficult enough on the hardest setting, let alone played at double speed and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. They claimed requiring months of practice to accomplish.
“The game offers a, imaginary experience. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you should pick up actual weapons and go to war,” says DragonForce guitarist the artist.
The band had already completed a successful tour before Through the Fire and Flames appeared on Guitar Hero III, yet he explains it turned them into widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that our records were moving rapidly,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we were playing just before the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero was so immense that it has risked overshadow everything else accomplishments. Recently, the track was used in a trailer for a major film. “In the past I felt differently, but now I accept it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact from the Iconic Controller
Top-tier marketing, be it for cars, clothes or video games, goes further than selling something – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero tap into that? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” he confirms. “The excitement of performing as a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive human desire to make music, and they wanted to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
The majority of Guitar Hero games came out in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, featuring spin-offs such as DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals waned, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have maintained the scene active, and there’s expectations of a new product from the founders in development. Recently formed developers has begun work on their first music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome a new entry in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games could be like Madden where you can update every year,” he remarks. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”
