Marking two decades since the legendary game debuted in North America, giving players everywhere the opportunity to become a rock star. Not in reality, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that anyone who has nailed Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.
Developed by the developers, the game gave players a plastic guitar peripheral to match on-screen cues moving along the screen in time with the music. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, creating the sensation of a genuine live show.
Harmonix had already tried its hand in the music genre before partnering with RedOctane, which was purchased by the gaming giant in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for a surprising billion-dollar franchise which made a significant impact for many of the artists included, introducing decades-old groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.
Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, remembers the initial financial challenges of licensing the songs – even though the first two games mostly used cover versions.
“We rerecorded every song since the dollar figure prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it was nearly impossible. We couldn’t get acts such as the Who – RedOctane had virtually no money, and we were pretty convinced the project would flop. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”
He continues: “One of the amazing things was the number of parents reached out and thanked us for introducing their children to the songs they loved. It became an intergenerational thing.”
Timeless Music Gains Younger Fans
Northern Irish group one featured act had their track in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician the artist recalls how the series revived older hits to the forefront: “The game offered a larger, younger audience. Typically this had been considered outdated material, however once it got featured on the title young people discovered it, suddenly it became trendy. This validated it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ tag. It provided our catalog a new life.”
At that time, the band's debut album remained not available stateside, meaning the game served as a primary platform of discovery for the band as they went on US tour supporting the rock giants. “Their crew were playing Never Too Late on the tour bus, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.
Rock’s Heavyweight Titles Enduring Impact
Rock’s heavyweight names soon took advantage of the series’ popularity, with Aerosmith, Metallica and others starring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around each band’s catalogue and related lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the group greater revenue than any of their studio albums. It sold well over 500,000 units upon release, and demand for Aerosmith’s music rose of up to 40% during an era as the industry was already collapsing.
The series continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication among its fans. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat featuring the challenging track – a notoriously difficult anthem made popular by Guitar Hero – on Clone Hero, a freeware game with similar mechanics and extensive personalization features. The song is difficult even in the hardest setting, let alone performed at double speed while hitting a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated requiring nine months to accomplish.
“The game is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with other games, it doesn't imply you should use actual weapons and go to war,” notes musician the artist.
DragonForce had already wrapped up a successful tour when Through the Fire and Flames was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it turned them into 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 were playing right ahead of top acts on the Mayhem festival.”
In fact, the band's visibility from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow all other accomplishments. Recently, the song was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “Previously I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, it’s totally cool – each person has a unique path in music and I’m glad we played a role of people’s lives”.
Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar
The best marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or games, extends beyond mere transactions – it evokes a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what we were aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a rock star on the stage. From day one, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to participate”.
The majority installments came out in just a half-decade between 2005 and 2010, including spin-offs like DJ Hero, complete with a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, corporate focus on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival in 2015.
Titles like the fan project and newer releases have maintained the community alive, and there’s set to be something from the founders in development. A new studio has begun production on their first music game. Original co-founders are both involved in advisory roles. Is the world ready to embrace another game in the spirit of the classic?
“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “There’s so much fresh tracks it could remain perennially popular, thus I remain hopeful. There’s no reason for it to continue for future fans.”
