10 Real Reasons Why Popular Video Games Died Overnight

Over-saturation is a real killer. As soon as one game gets super popular, it’s inevitable that millions of identical copies will spring up shortly after.

Rhythm games like Activision’s Guitar Hero were all the rage back in 2005, over a couple of years convincing middle class families all over the world to fork out on whole bands’ worth of plastic instruments to play with in their spacious living rooms.

The Guitar Hero franchise reached a value of two billion dollars easily, sweeping the world up into a frenzied resurgence of classic rock popularity and collaborative, family-friendly playing. Capitalising on the trend, EA released one of the most popular knock-offs in Rock Band, joined in the market by the original and a slew of other, cheaper reinventions of the IP.

Both Guitar Hero and Rock Band released second and third instalments, as well as going on to push band-specific releases and even "Band Hero" itself, letting you play other instruments with that same plastic guitar. Still, the play style was the same and it was everywhere; the industry smothering itself from the inside out.