It has been 20 years since the legendary game hit the market in North America, providing players everywhere the means to feel like rock legends. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed convincing anyone who has mastered the epic lengthy guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.
Created by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues scrolling down the display synchronized to a song. Every sequence corresponded to specific notes, producing the feel of an authentic live show.
Harmonix previously tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with RedOctane, which was purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Together, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series which made a remarkable influence for many musicians featured, introducing decades-old bands to millions of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the initial financial challenges of licensing the songs – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.
“We reproduced all the music because the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Even with the necessary permissions by themselves, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as legendary groups – the publisher had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. However, when the game became a hit, and record sales and radio play increased, everyone wanted to participate.”
He continues: “One of the remarkable aspects was the number of parents got in touch and thanked us for introducing their kids to the music they loved. It became an intergenerational phenomenon.”
Classic Rock Gains a New Audience
Irish group the Answer included their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Guitarist the artist recalls how the series brought classic rock to the forefront: “Guitar Hero offered a bigger, new demographic. Typically such music was considered music that was past it, but then once it got featured on the title young people discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. That legitimised the genre, and got rid of the ‘dad rock’ label. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”
At that time, the band's debut album remained not available stateside, so Guitar Hero was a key medium of discovery for the band as they went on US tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song on the tour bus, and some of them recognized us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Impact
Rock’s biggest acts quickly took advantage of the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the group more money compared to their studio albums. It moved well over 500,000 copies upon release, and sales of their songs saw an increase of up to 40% during an era when the music business was already collapsing.
Guitar Hero continues to inspire quick-handed dedication within the community. Earlier this year, a streamer completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – a notoriously difficult power-metal song popularized through the game – on Clone Hero, a no-cost alternative with almost identical mechanics but an array of customisation options. This track is challenging enough on the hardest setting, not to mention played at increased tempo and without missing every one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took months of practice to accomplish.
“Guitar Hero is a fun, fantasy thing. If you play other games, that doesn’t mean you ought to pick up actual weapons and enlist,” says DragonForce guitarist the artist.
DragonForce previously completed a profitable run before their hit was featured in the third game, but Li says it made them a household name. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that we were selling albums like crazy,” he says. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it threatened to overshadow everything else the band has done. Last year, the track was used in promotional material for a major film. “Previously I thought differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – everyone’s got their own musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part of people’s lives”.
Enduring Legacy of a Plastic Guitar
Top-tier promotion, be it for cars, apparel or video games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon on the stage. From day one, the co-founders felt that there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and their goal was to leverage innovation to enable everyone to participate”.
Most of Guitar Hero games came out in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, featuring derivative titles like DJ Hero, including a spinning deck, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, except for a short-lived revival several years later.
Games such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the scene active, with set to be a new product from the founders on the way. Recently formed developers has entered work on their first music game. Original co-founders are participating as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome a new entry following Guitar Hero?
“Our team believed those games might become similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, so I’ve always been optimistic. It's entirely possible for it to continue for future fans.”
