bit-gamer.net

Guitar Hero sales still in decline

Published on 18th October 2010 by Joe Martin

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has sold only 86,000 copies on all formats in its first week.

Sales figures have revealed that Activision's latest Guitar Hero game, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, has suffered from poor sales in its first week of US sales, despite Activision's attempts to rejuvenate the brand with a stronger campaign mode.

According to Cowen & Company figures, via CVG, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock has only shifted 86,000 copies across all formats - a massive drop compared to previous titles.

Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock still represents the highpoint for the series, selling 1.4 million copies in just five days. Sales have been dropping since then; in 2008 Guitar Hero: World Tour sold 500,000 in it's seven days, while 2009's Guitar Hero 5 took a month to sell 499,000 copies.

The figures fit with Cowen & Company's 2009 prediction that interest in music games would continue to wane after Guitar Hero 3.

'Guitar Hero III likely attracted a lot of one-time buyers (that have not returned for subsequent franchise instalments) due to its 'it-game' status at the time," said analyst Doug Creutz.

Music game competitor Harmonix, which developed EA's Rock Band, has stalwartly dismissed concerns that the music game genre is in decline. Earlier this year CEO Alex Rigopulos told Eurogamer 'I absolutely do not believe that rhythm-action gaming has reached its peak.'

Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock didn't fare too badly at the hands of critics, despite the poor sales. We gave it 7/10 in our Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock review earlier this month.

Let us know your thoughts in the forums.

33 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

GiantStickMan 18th October 2010, 09:36

This does not come as a surprise to me at all. It seemed like they had just over saturated the market with sequel after sequel. Can't blame the buying public for not wanting keep buying the same old product.

Snips 18th October 2010, 09:43

GH is the perfect party toy and with a room full of tipsy people is a right laugh. However, I've only ever picked up the sequals after release when they are reduced. I picked up GH Metallica for £12 the other day and Beatles RB for £19.

Jamie 18th October 2010, 09:50

It's about time people opened their eyes and stopped paying for a game they already own.

Skippylee 18th October 2010, 09:51

I love this type of genre but I do not touch GH games. In fact I have not bought a GH game since World Tour, which I was hugely disappointed at. And like GiantStickMan there has been so many releases recently from GH its costly to keep up, especially when half the music on the release is pants.

I much prefer Rock Band and the way they have done it by releasing DLC, so you can build your library full of music you want rather than tat, and its a much better game, especially for drums :D

KayDat 18th October 2010, 10:18

DDR had it's time. So has GH.

javaman 18th October 2010, 10:52

Its the same old tripe over and over again, why would I want to pay £40 for new tracks? It just feels like a chore completing them now not to mention with rock band stealing sales with its more "pop" centric songs. It all comes down to play list and while I generally prefer guitar heros over rockband neither product's play list is very good. I wonder if the word Activision has hurt sales too. Im one of the people refusing to buy their products atm.

logan'srun 18th October 2010, 11:00

whatever Rigopulos is smoking, I need to get some of that.

koli 18th October 2010, 11:20

My housemate bought two games and we played them often. That worn out our plastic guitar and it needs replacing due to strummer no longer returning to its middle position quickly enough. But the guitar is pretty expensive and doesn't last long so the days of GH are over in our house. Other than that it is a very good game.

Flibblebot 18th October 2010, 11:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamie
It's about time people opened their eyes and stopped paying for a game they already own.

This, and the fact that at each iteration, the game introduces a slightly newer feature which requires the purchase of yet another guitar.

When will Activision realise that you can't keep milking the same cow forever without including some enticement (read: truly innovative new feature) for the customer (and no, forcing the customer to spend more each iteration doesn't count as an enticement). Customers are rarely as stupid as games publishers seem to think.

rollo 18th October 2010, 11:51

what did they expect

new tracks = £40 please

most customers will tell them to walk off the plank at those prices

Showerhead 18th October 2010, 11:56

Is anyone actually surprised?

lacuna 18th October 2010, 12:19

meh, hopefully it will go away

Woodspoon 18th October 2010, 12:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Showerhead
Is anyone actually surprised?

Activision is apparently
But no one else is

Hovis 18th October 2010, 13:27

Law of diminishing returns strikes again.

Yoy0YO 18th October 2010, 13:33

Meanwhile, in the Deadbeat Horse's lounge.

Activision: Oh noes! A decrease in sales! What ever shall we do?
Derpveloper: We need to hit them with fresh new music, catch them by storm, exploit a different genre! How about pop music?
Act: Didn't we already do that with Band Hero?
Derp: Oh yeah. Uhm. Hmm. Have we hit the chords with the Metal lovers?
Acti: I think we touched base with Metallica.
Derp: Hippies?
Act: I think Rockband beat us to the Beatles
Derp: Folk music?
Act: Hmmmm.. Wait.. No.. Actually.. This hasn't been done yet!
Derp: This is Great! We'll do this!
Act: And we can get a Harmonica controller
Act: Won't sharing saliva share germs?
Derp: Don't worry, we'll just get them to hold it to their mouth and they'll just have to slide it back and forth while pushing buttons! It'll just be like a new controller
Act: Better yet! lets get into the Kinect band wagon!
Derp: Holy ****.
Act: Are you thinking what Im thinking?
Together: AIR GUITAR HERO
Derp: I'll download some MP3's and run them through the retarderlizer
Act: I'll get the champagne.

logan'srun 18th October 2010, 13:42

you sir get rep for that!

CharlO 18th October 2010, 14:57

Definetly about piratery. What? The games sucking? NO! PIRATERY!!

RickTheSnake 18th October 2010, 15:39

there was a time when i really wanted to buy this game, and then i passed by a music store and there was this ibanez sr200 right there for the same price, including the amp... which one do you think i bought? :)

mastorofpuppetz 18th October 2010, 16:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoy0YO
Meanwhile, in the Deadbeat Horse's lounge.

Activision: Oh noes! A decrease in sales! What ever shall we do?
Derpveloper: We need to hit them with fresh new music, catch them by storm, exploit a different genre! How about pop music?
Act: Didn't we already do that with Band Hero?
Derp: Oh yeah. Uhm. Hmm. Have we hit the chords with the Metal lovers?
Acti: I think we touched base with Metallica.
Derp: Hippies?
Act: I think Rockband beat us to the Beatles
Derp: Folk music?
Act: Hmmmm.. Wait.. No.. Actually.. This hasn't been done yet!
Derp: This is Great! We'll do this!
Act: And we can get a Harmonica controller
Act: Won't sharing saliva share germs?
Derp: Don't worry, we'll just get them to hold it to their mouth and they'll just have to slide it back and forth while pushing buttons! It'll just be like a new controller
Act: Better yet! lets get into the Kinect band wagon!
Derp: Holy ****.
Act: Are you thinking what Im thinking?
Together: AIR GUITAR HERO
Derp: I'll download some MP3's and run them through the retarderlizer
Act: I'll get the champagne.

LOL, funny cause it's probably true.

borandi 18th October 2010, 16:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flibblebot
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie
It's about time people opened their eyes and stopped paying for a game they already own.
This, and the fact that at each iteration, the game introduces a slightly newer feature which requires the purchase of yet another guitar.

I've purchased most of the GH, and still use my GH2/3 guitar controller. No enjoyment lost here.

A lot of the target audience, i.e those at school, have just started a new term and their parents have spend ££ on uniforms, books and stuff, rather than give in to the requests of their children for new video games.

I haven't bought this one yet as I'm otherwise occupied work wise.

Furymouse 18th October 2010, 18:15

I bought GH3. It was fun for awhile. I have not touched the thing in at least a year though.

Will I be buying anymore? Probably not.

V3ctor 18th October 2010, 18:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by CharlO
Definetly about piratery. What? The games sucking? NO! PIRATERY!!

AARGGHH... There's never a bad game!! Only Pirates everywhere......

delriogw 18th October 2010, 19:23

i stopped buying them when they stopped making them for ps2

obviously they have to stop supporting it at some point, but i'm not buying a new console yet and even if i did, i'd have to buy a new guitar controller to play and either keep the ps2 ones or buy new versions of all the old games i still play - that has to be a factor for more than just me

StoneyMahoney 18th October 2010, 19:31

Used to play a *lot* of dance games - DDR, PIU, EZ2 etc - and as the hype wore off the general public stopped playing it leaving just the hardcore minority behind. If GH aimed towards it's hardcore fans and stopped trying to re-achieve it's long-gone mass appeal, at least those who still play it would appreciate it. DLC - music add-on tracks that you can choose between - would be perfect. The current stiff-em-for-£40-twice-a-year approach is completely not the way to go.

Hex 18th October 2010, 19:41

After GH2 when the teams split & went their separate ways, they completely ruined everything with GH3. It was like they sucked all the fun out of the game. Haven't bought a GH game since.

Bless Rock Band for keeping it going the way it was meant to <3

Eiffie 18th October 2010, 20:52

I'm not into Guitar Hero at all, I don't find it fun but one of my friends is a die-hard fan and he can't afford to keep buying a new guitar hero every 6-12 months plus all the DLC song packs so he turned to the internet and with the power of his modded x-box he can have all of them for free. While I don't personally think it is right to download games for free, I've always been one to pay for my games and DLC items, it does show me how badly the market is flooded with these games.

I also want to state that the quality of the Guitar Hero Guitars are pretty poor, sure it's just a big hunk of plastic but my friend has already been through three separate guitars since Guitar Hero 3 came out. The buttons on the neck of the controller wear out to the point that they become unresponsive and getting that expert rating becomes dam near impossible. That seems unacceptable to me for such a big title game. I've had mad catz controllers that have lasted longer than that! [Just kidding, I fraking hate mad catz] :)

ssj12 18th October 2010, 22:23

Its because they released the same damn game over and over again without adding anything different or unique. At least Rock Band 3 we get a new instrument and the professional mode which will be a massive pain in the rear as well as they are making drum cymbals do something other then act as one of three pre-existing colored notes.

BRAWL 19th October 2010, 10:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoy0YO
Meanwhile, in the Deadbeat Horse's lounge.

Activision: Oh noes! A decrease in sales! What ever shall we do?
Derpveloper: We need to hit them with fresh new music, catch them by storm, exploit a different genre! How about pop music?
Act: Didn't we already do that with Band Hero?
Derp: Oh yeah. Uhm. Hmm. Have we hit the chords with the Metal lovers?
Acti: I think we touched base with Metallica.
Derp: Hippies?
Act: I think Rockband beat us to the Beatles
Derp: Folk music?
Act: Hmmmm.. Wait.. No.. Actually.. This hasn't been done yet!
Derp: This is Great! We'll do this!
Act: And we can get a Harmonica controller
Act: Won't sharing saliva share germs?
Derp: Don't worry, we'll just get them to hold it to their mouth and they'll just have to slide it back and forth while pushing buttons! It'll just be like a new controller
Act: Better yet! lets get into the Kinect band wagon!
Derp: Holy ****.
Act: Are you thinking what Im thinking?
Together: AIR GUITAR HERO
Derp: I'll download some MP3's and run them through the retarderlizer
Act: I'll get the champagne.

That just gave me one of the best chuckles... in months

mikeuk2004 19th October 2010, 23:14

They only needed a core game and then sell dlc. There was no need to release a new guitar every 6 months and then stick a game with a few tracks with it.

Im confused with all the DLC because there are so many guitar heros and im sure the tracks are not compatible. GH3 is enough for me.

metarinka 20th October 2010, 03:14

they shoulda treated it like a platform, release the core game for 10-20 bucks then charge 5-10 for DLC and leave it at that, They could even offer updates to the core game as more DLC or as a free patch. The real issue here is that music games were a fad much like DDR. It will still remain for years to come but it will never be as big as it was, neither will DDR

yakyb 20th October 2010, 10:45

no **** sherlock people already have a GH varient whats annoyning is that this will place all the blame on the music genre and less rock games will be made

Coach 22nd October 2010, 19:48

Saving up for it...

The_Beast 22nd October 2010, 22:12

MEH, I BOUGHT ONE AND THAT WAS APPARENTLY ENOUGH FOR ME, I HAVEN'T TOUCHED THE GUITAR IN QUITE A WHILE