Guitar Hero has been discontinued.
Video game giant, Activision, has said in a press release yesterday that they will be shutting down the division that makes the incredibly popular music game, Guitar Hero.
The game, which has been called "the first great game franchise of the 21st century", is to be no more. Activision has said that "due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011." They claim that this decision is "based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world’s best interactive entertainment experiences."
Activision has shipped more than 25 million units of the game to date. They reported that they had a net loss of $233 million in the fourth quarter and have thus discontinued the brand. More than 500 people have lost their jobs due to this.
Fear not, though, as the back catalogue of games will still be available for a while yet with new songs available online for download. We suspect that to fans of the franchise, this may be as big as when The Beatles broke up.
