Marking 20 years after Guitar Hero debuted in North America, providing everyday gamers the opportunity to become a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who has mastered Free Bird’s lengthy instrumental break before an enthusiastic living-room audience.
Created by the developers, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues scrolling down the display synchronized to the music. Each riff corresponded to particular chords, creating the sensation of a genuine performance.
Harmonix had already tried its hand with rhythm games before partnering with the publisher, which was purchased by Activision during the mid-2000s. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for a surprising massively profitable series which made a significant influence for many musicians included, introducing classic bands to a new generation of younger players.
A former executive, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, remembers the early budgetary hurdles in securing the songs – even though the first two games primarily featured cover versions.
“We reproduced all the music since the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it proved extremely difficult. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain it would fail. But once the game took off, album purchases and radio play were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He adds: “One of the remarkable aspects was how many parents got in touch and thanked us for exposing their children to the music they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Finds Younger Fans
Irish group one featured act had Never Too Late on the 2008 game the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls the way the game revived classic rock to the forefront: “The game offered a larger, new demographic. Typically such music was seen as outdated material, but then once it got included in the game young people discovered it, abruptly it was cool. This validated the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's debut album was still unreleased in the US, so Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the group as they went on a North American tour opening for AC/DC. “Their crew were playing the song during travel, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Influence
Rock’s biggest acts quickly took advantage of the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen starring in dedicated game editions centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and legendary status. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the group greater revenue compared to their studio albums. It moved well over 500,000 units in its first week, while sales of their songs rose significantly during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, a streamer achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with similar gameplay but an array of personalization features. This track is difficult enough on the hardest setting, not to mention performed at double speed and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. The streamer stated it took nine months to accomplish.
“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with Call of Duty, it doesn't imply you ought to use a real gun and go to war,” notes DragonForce guitarist the artist.
The band had already completed a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames appeared on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them a household name. “I remember our distributors informing us that we were records were moving like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure via the game proved so vast that it has risked overshadow everything else the band has done. Last year, the song featured in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I thought otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only listen to a single track, it’s totally cool – each person has their own musical journey and I'm pleased we played a role in fans' experiences”.
Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, whether it’s for cars, clothes or video games, extends beyond than selling something – it evokes a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what we were trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a rock star on the stage. From day one, the creators felt that humans have a natural human desire to create songs, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
The majority installments were released over a mere half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles like DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, aside from a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene active, and there’s expectations of something from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has entered production on its debut music game. Original co-founders are both involved as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game following Guitar Hero?
“We thought those games could be similar to sports games allowing annual releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue with new generations.”
