None
Though Kelly Sumner, the ex-CEO of RedOctane, made some serious cash when Activision bought the Guitar Hero franchise, he still cares about the untimely fate of the franchise he helped build. In fact, he’s pretty upset about it and blames Activision for the franchise’s demise. In an interview with MCV, Sumner said, “[Activision] tried to get too much out of the franchise too quickly. They abused it… [Guitar Hero] is a great product. My gut tells me there is still a significant market for Guitar Hero.”  Though sales of competing franchise Rock Band have seen a downturn, that franchise plans to keep forging ahead, and it was insinuated in the interview that Activision’s thirst for nothing less than billion-dollar sales, and its consequent un-willingness to further develop the franchise, was the cause for its demise, and not a lack of quality on the part of the actual games. The death of Guitar Hero has created some serious mixed feelings within the gaming community, and though some have championed the death of the bloated music genre, it’s hard to say that this well-known franchise really deserved to go out the way it did. |