14 DAY TRIAL // Activision has recently released its final earnings reports as an independent company, following the merger with Vivendi Games and the forming of Activision Blizzard, one of the biggest videogame companies in the industry. And, as expected, analysts poured over reports to try to discern what the company would do in the following year, especially regarding important franchises like Call of Duty and Guitar Hero.
Mike Hickey, who is an analyst with Janco Partners, thinks that the reports show how the company will try to exploit the popularity of its Guitar Hero franchise. The next game in the series, called World Tour, which adds support for more instruments and voices, will be launched during the fall and the analyst believes that as many as three standalone expansions will follow, capitalizing on the excitement of the fans. One of the possible expansions has already been unveiled, with representatives of Activision saying that a Metallica themed Guitar Hero will be developed on the engine of the new game.
But the real potential of the new title lies elsewhere. Mickey says that the technology included in the new game, mainly the support for more instruments and the players' ability to create their own music and then share it over the Internet with all those interested, opens up a future where Guitar Hero could become a platform for new artists and one of the most interesting services that will distribute music related media. The analyst says that "Ultimately the 'game' could produce a legitimate medium for artists, enabling music creation, marketing and distribution", which could bring in more money for Activision Blizzard than the release of expansion packs for the game.
The danger in such a strategy is that fans become disinterested in the games that bear the Guitar Hero label, because of over saturation. This might lead them to try other music games, from rivals like Harmonix or Konami.