Guitar Hero Overdoses - Pronounced Dead
by
Published on 09 Feb 2011 10:06 PM
Activision makes some hard decisions.
Similar to watching the drug-fueled deterioration of one's favorite rock star, many of us were quietly laying bets as to how long the overblown excess of
Guitar Hero could possibly continue. What started out with all the promise in the world quickly became an upgrade mill, churning out a new installment before audiences had even started to miss the old one.
Even though
Guitar Hero was the first game of its kind to hit it big (you know, the kind of game that has colored buttons instead of frets), the competition from
Rock Band and the oversaturation of music-as-game content seems to have taken its toll. So out goes
GH, and maybe
DJ Hero with it. In a financial conference call today, Activision Blizzard COO/CFO Thomas Tippl, laid out a lot of surprises, which in real terms will cost about five hundred people, or 7% of the company's workforce, its jobs.
Another game on the wrong end of the ax is
True Crime: Hong Kong, which was not living up to standards despite getting some high-profile press. Tony Hawk is also said to be standing out in the cold, his rounded helmet in outstretched hand.
The good news is that Activision Blizzard continues to be a gaming juggernaut, with
Diablo III, the mysterious "Titan" MMO, and a new
Call of Duty online experience in the works. The company was the number-one overall publisher in North America and Europe last year, and not only everyone you know but all of their parents are hooked on
World of Warcraft.
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