Activision Kills Guitar Hero, Cancels True Crime: Hong Kong

Wow. One of the biggest, most well-known video game franchises in history, is now just a memory. Fond memories or not, there is no denying Guitar Hero‘s effect on not only the Music genre, but the entire industry. Guitar Hero was single-handedly responsible for revitalizing the Music-game genre, and helping to make video games a mainstream living room attraction. But those days, my friends, are over.

In an Activision investor press release, the mega-publisher behind such titles as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, revealed that they’d be pulling the plug on the Guitar Hero franchise. Not only has development ceased on the 2011 Guitar Hero game, but future DLC on previous titles are dead in their tracks. Here’s Activision’s official statement:

Due to continued decline in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011. The company also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong™. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world’s best interactive entertainment experiences.

Guitar Hero isn’t the only franchise seeing cuts. Activision has also cancelled True Crime: Hong Kong, an open-world crime-stopping game with deep storyline. True Crime: Hong Kong was likely somewhat close to being finished, as we previewed a near-complete build all the way back at last year’s E3 Expo.

Guitar Hero being killed off is the big news here, as it’s a franchise almost everyone who has touched a video game controller has played at one point or another. Despite taking a turn for the worse, the franchise will always have a place in our memories and our hearts. How about you? Tell us about your time with the long-standing series.

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