It has been 20 years since Guitar Hero debuted across the Atlantic, giving everyday gamers the means to feel like rock legends. Not literally, but try telling that someone who has nailed Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.
Developed by the developers, 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 particular chords, producing the feel of a genuine performance.
The studio previously tried its hand in the music genre prior to teaming up with RedOctane, later acquired by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable franchise that had a significant influence on numerous musicians featured, introducing decades-old bands to a new generation of younger players.
Michael Dornbrook, former COO from the developer, recalls the initial budgetary hurdles in securing the songs – despite the fact initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.
“We rerecorded all the music because the dollar figure was so high,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights alone, it was nearly impossible. We failed to secure bands like the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. But once the game took off, album purchases airtime increased, all artists desired to participate.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was the number of parents got in touch and thanked us for exposing their kids to the music they adored. It became a multigenerational phenomenon.”
Timeless Music Gains a New Audience
Northern Irish group the Answer had their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist the artist remembers how the series revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, younger audience. Typically such music was considered outdated material, but then once it got featured on the game young people discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. That legitimised it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ label. It provided our catalog renewed popularity.”
At that time, the Answer’s first record remained not available in the US, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band during their a North American tour supporting AC/DC. “The roadies were playing the song on the tour bus, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles and Lasting Influence
Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in specialized game editions that focused on their music collections and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, reportedly to have made the band more money than any of their studio albums. It moved well over 500,000 copies in its first week, and sales of their songs rose of up to 40% during an era as the industry faced decline.
The series continues to inspire nimble-fingered fanaticism within the community. Recently, an online personality completed an impressive attempt featuring Through the Fire and Flames – an infamously tough power-metal song popularized through Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics and extensive personalization features. The song is challenging even in expert mode, not to mention performed at increased tempo while hitting a single one of its near 4,000 notes. The streamer stated it took nine months of practice.
“The game offers a, fantasy thing. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you should use a real gun and go to war,” says musician the artist.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour when their hit appeared in the third game, but Li says it made them a household name. “I remember our distributors informing us that we were selling albums rapidly,” he says. “It exploded when we next toured, and we performed right ahead of the headliners on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it threatened to overshadow all other the band has done. Last year, the song was used in a trailer for a major film. “Previously I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “Should you just listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has their own path in music and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.
The Lasting Impact of a Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, whether it’s for cars, clothes or games, goes further than selling something – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of performing as a music icon on the stage. From day one, the creators believed humans have a natural urge to create songs, and their goal was to leverage innovation to allow people to do it”.
Most of Guitar Hero games were released in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, including a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, aside from a brief comeback in 2015.
Games such as Clone Hero and newer releases have kept the community alive, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. Recently formed developers has begun production on their first music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of Guitar Hero?
“We thought such titles could be like Madden where you can releases,” he remarks. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, so I’ve always been optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t persist for future fans.”
