WTF Happened To Guitar Hero?

Oversaturation

If it wasn’t already intense enough having two companies vie for the attention of the exact same audience, those companies were constantly pushing forth even more content to compete with each other and beg for audience preference (and obviously, audience cashola).

Rock Band got about a million releases of different versions, each one adding to the ever-growing list of plastic instruments available and also becoming more niche in music offerings. We had a LEGO Rock Band, AC/DC, The Beatles and Green Day specific releases - the whole shebang. And the whole time, Guitar Hero was doing pretty much the same thing.

Neither of the franchises seemed to have a distinct identity. This comes back down to those famous plastic instruments, and the sad fact that after a while they get kind of old. There was a DJ-themed rehash of the concept, as well as a more poppy ‘Band Hero’, the list goes on.

In the peak of the craze, some families had a whole band’s word of imitation kit crammed into their living rooms. While this was one of the main things that led to Guitar Hero’s underdog success in the first place, the charm can only be spread so far when suddenly what was a unique selling point is everywhere.

If one style of game is becoming particularly popular that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s doomed to fail - I mean look at the rise of the Battle Royale genre, and the huge numbers of people still playing PUBG, Overwatch and Fortnite despite the fact they are well past their prime times. What is needed to stay relevant though is innovation, and there’s only so much you can innovate with the premise of Guitar Hero or Rock Band.

cont.