Activision kills Guitar Hero, True Crime has been cancelled

Eurogamer: Activision has hit DJ Hero developer Freestyle Games with severe layoffs and axed the Guitar Hero series, Eurogamer understands.

[noxeven]

Finally

[Man In Black]

True Crime? Goddamit. I liked the first two, despite the flaws, and was really looking forward to this one. Maybe a different publisher will pick it up.

[Anarki]

FFS Why they cancel true crime? Guitar Hero sucks now anyway, Rock band is infinitely better...

[Istanbull]

They killed Guitar Hero themselves, releasing shitload of Guitar Heroes in a tiny year, taking as much money as possible from customers, and finally killing it.

True Crime? Lmao you guys remember the Easter Egg in GTA San Andreas wich read: "True Grime: Street Cleaners"?? LOLOL

[Dragun619]

Sorta disappointing to hear about True Crime. United Front Games is one of the new devs this gen that's looking good, and Modnation Racers was a good start for them. Maybe they can do ModNation Racers 2 or make an NGP game next?

[malandra]

it's kinda of stupid to cancel True Crime, that game was almost done, they could release it with no advertisements and at least make some of the money back

[a_bro]

Well That means sony will work more closely with UFG now, lol, maybe even buy the IP from activision.

find it kind of ridiculous though that Activision killed the game even though it was like 3/4ths done.

[vsr]

They can increase the budget for the Bungie game, by cancelling these games.

[gaffyh]

What the hell, they shouldn't have cancelled True Crime, it actually had a chance of being good.

Cancellation of Guitar Hero and DJ Hero mean the road is free for EA to make as much money as they can from Rock Band.

[CryWolf]

See I told you guys Activision is the evil Empire we all thought it was there canceling games like True Crime Reboot laying off perfectly good developers, I'm surprise Treyarch developers wasn't next with dumba** Activision.

[Inside_out]

.
ALL gimmick based games will go the way of the dodo. Kinect, Wii and Move will eventual find the bargain bin as well. some new gadget will appear and make them seem irrelevant. The next Kinect-like device, similar to the famous Star trek hologram deck might be it.

Activision is just restructuring and adopting to what the market wants. They have a Bungie game coming at some point. COd and world of war-craft is there bread and butter. Activision is good at what it does and there ridiculous profits should tell you that. They own the rights to ALL there games so you may still seem them sometime down the line.

[Istanbull]

You're right, nobody can kill the CONTROLLER!

Thats why I dont like gaming on motion based things and iPhone.

I need to have a controller with buttons in my hand.

[dgonza40]

idk, gimmick based games yes.. but i like the extra option and depth that comes with my move controller. the only reason i've even bought one was for move specific games that interested me.. Who the F* wants to play dead space extraction on a DS3? lol. it can also add some lifespan and fun party nights to the system.. is that fail? no. :P

what would be fail is if sony just pulls the plug and stops supporting it. The move has the hardware, all it needs is the software to come along with it. of course it will bever replace the DS3, but that doesnt mean the two can't share the limelight.

[RankFTW]

You do realise that the Move and sub controller have more buttons than a DS3 and not to mention the motion control part.

[TheLastGuardian]

Guitar Hero died as soon as the first Rock Band game came out.

[Christopher]

Music games in general are being hit hard, not just Guitar Hero.

[harrisk954]

Activision runs the franchise into the ground and then pulls the plug. Is Call of Duty next?

[FAGOL]

Yes but not yet. CoD is still bringing them too much $$$. Now that I think about it I think CoD is the only solid franchise they have under their belt.

[InFAMOUS1]

Just like a cow, when there is no milk left you put it down! F*U Activision! Instead of laying of these people why don't you give them a new and INNOVATIVE project to start....OH WAIT.......

[Unbornkirkster19]

might as well call Activision the Call of Duty company

[Coffin87]

Don't forget Blizzard (WoW, Diablo, Starcraft).

[the_best_player]

@Coffin87
PS2 graphics company

[AssassinHD]

It may be Activision Blizzard to everyone else, but in my eyes Blizzard is just Blizzard. I am not ever going to credit Activision with any of Blizzard's masterpieces.

[Ravenor]

@The_best_Player

Sound moar butthurt.

Blizzard is right up there with ND,SM and Bungie for making quality products. I would also love to see WoW, SC2 or D3 running on a PS2, but I might as well just go ahead and tell you. It could never happen.

Activision itself doesn't have anything really that could be considered interesting. The next CoD installment could be interesting but more then likely will be another 5 hour campaign, that's too easy even on veteran, with another set of new skins, weapons and maps. This can all be yours for 69.99... It's going to be disappointing to see CoD get canned when it inevitably starts to drop off in sales.

[Snake Raiser]

Anyone with their mind really in the industry knew it was coming. One of the most overexposed franchises in history is obviously going to go down eventually. Especially when competition started to heat up. It's too bad that they weren't smart enough to stop the overexposure. They could probably have stopped the game's popularity from falling for 5 more years if they had played their cards right.

[CrIpPeN]

Yes Finally, but it kinda sad that they canceled True Crime.

[KeiKei]

you should say atleast thank you to guitar hero cause its what got us into it. without guitar hero, i dont think rock band would have been made.

[CrIpPeN]

@Keikei

you know that same guys that did guitar hero in the beginning is in the team that made rock band.

but I guess you didn't know that.

[saladthieves]

Shit is going down at Activision! Some guitar hero hardcore fans are going to be VERY PISSED!

[tacosRcool]

It's kind of a mixed bag to see the end of a great franchise. Glad to see that they aren't making crap but I do kinda miss playing it

[Cenobia]

Anyone else lol at "Hopefully" on the rumor bar?

[Dart89]

Wow who didn't see that coming.

[BattleAxe]

I know, they saturated the market with guitar hero and killed it, just like they're doing with Call of Duty, and just like EA did with Tiger woods Golf. I believe that Black Ops was Activisions peak, and that next year people will be busy playing something new like Socom 4, Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3. I think that on the 360 side of things, those gamers will be playing Crysis 2 and Battlefield 3 like crazy.

[Baka-akaB]

I wish but it doesnt work that way .

Gh peaked a while ago and saw diminish returns and sales year after years .

Cod keep selling better each year so far . It wont fizzle within a single game

[DasTier]

lol you made a funny about the 360 having no exclusives, your too cool

[Mystogan]

Codename Kingdoms
Codename D
Project Draco
Steel Battalion
Class3 and Class4
Dust
Forza Motorsport 4
The secret world
Gears of war 3
Project Gotham Racing 5
Perfect Dark 2 (Rumored)
XCOM
Star Wars Kinect
Rise of Nightmares

Plenty of things for us 360 owners to play.
BTW i wonder what "Wingnut Interactive" is doing, they were formed in 2006 and i think its about time they showed us what game they are working on.

[-Mezzo-]

See this is what happens when you milk an Idea too much, i hope they stop milking the COD series and get onto make an improved sequel before we hear the same news about (COD).

[MARKUS_MAX1MUS]

They really just need to let it go....

[KingZFlipper]

OMG why??!??!?? I didn't see this coming at all... I just love them milking it so much! /s

[NYC_Gamer]

both of these franchises needed to die anyway

[DarkBlood]

they really killed off the guitar hero series huh, guess i'll never see a Guitar Hero Kizz

[cochise313]

COD is next in line.

[fucadastates]

one can only hope.. or hope that they stop the milking shit, and begin take the time to make a GOOD game in the series.

[cochise313]

I think it will happen. After MW3, they don't have anymore ideas.

[Elven6]

Two years of development time for each title isn't good enough?

[Baka-akaB]

apparently not , given how uninspired and buggy the releases are

[cochise313]

@ Elven6

I think Black Ops' glitches, hacks, and same gameplay will answer your question.

[fucadastates]

they "kill" True Crime.. but keeps prototype.. what the F!!
prototype is a poor mans infamous!

[MidnytRain]

I very much enjoyed inFAMOUS, but it is a completely different game than [PROTOTYPE]. I know some people who played both and enjoyed them. They wouldn't even be compared so often if they didn't release around the same time.

[AssassinHD]

I own inFamous and [PROTOTYPE]. They are both completely different experiences. I enjoyed both for different reasons. I don't understand why people feel compelled to compare the two.

[nickjkl]

Crash Bandicoot series
Call of Duty series
Guitar Hero series
Spider-Man series
Spyro the Dragon series
Tony Hawk series
James Bond series

so lets see here

tony hawk down
james bond down
spiderman down
spyro down
guitar hero down
crash down
now its just call of duty oh boy

[guitar_nerd_23]

haha theyre like murderer of cool franchaises

at least crash should be cheap if naughty dog will have it back :)

[TheLastGuardian]

Crash, Spyro and Tony Hawk were some of my favorite series growing up. Why Activision? Why'd you have to kill them you bastards.

[DarkFantasy]

hmm..i actually wouldn't mind seeing a new spyro game but done like the original 3 long as they made it enjoyable,or even a crash game would be cool.lol i grew up with them too Crash,Spyro and Tony Hawk and Twisted Metal.

[Baka-akaB]

Now they need to let the x-men license die , with the upcoming probably mediocre destiny .

At least the Marvel side of it can live to see better days (outside of fighting games) elsewhere , like batman and dc finally did .

[a_bro]

I would like to see sony buy back both Spyro and Crash, and reboot those franchises properly, by giving them back to their original devs, ND and Insomniac Games..

[dragon82]

Same here.

[DarkFantasy]

Hell Yeah!!! that would be Sweet

[Ravenor]

The Crash and Spyro games that followed after the PS1 releases basically killed any hope of seeing them bounce back.

The PS2/Xbox era games were awful and left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouth. I should also point out that not all people realize that something like Wrath of Cortex was developed by different people. Non "gamers" don't pay attention to stuff like that.

[TheNocturnus]

Aww man, the last couple of true crime games were so awesome...
Also I play guitar, real guitar so the Guitar Hero series never got into my household.

Oh my comment on the true crime games was sarcasm if you couldn't guess. Anyway, no big loss here.

[Ravenor]

It's funny how some people seem to think it is.

[RyuDrinksTheDew]

damn, i was actually kind of wanting to see how True Crime would turn out.

oh well, at least Guitar Hero is finally over.

[AGamerOfConsoles]

I can understand what they are saying about Guitar Hero. It gets to a point where you just bore of it when a game appears in constant streams.

I don't understand why cancel True Crime though.

[pr0digyZA]

True Crime looked far in development, that was one of the games I had my eye on. That must really suck when your game gets cancelled after you've worked on it for so long, at least there are a lot of games still coming in the year. Hope those guys move onto greener pastures elsewhere, good-luck to you.

[BigPappaPump]

Ah, so the well ran dry.

[ME1989]

Good riddance to Guitar Hero, but True Crime: Hong Kong looked pretty good! =/

[PandaJenkins]

Isn't surprising after Activision milked it until it was dead. If you stop making money you don't matter anymore, freaking COD and Activision. Also bummed about True Crime, I liked the first two a fair bit so it sucks to seem Activision get rid of it probably because they can't milk it or some shit. Hopefully someone may pick them up somehow.

[GoldPS3]

What a shame for the ones who lost they job. Hope their talents be used some where better.

[gypsygib]

Just goes to show casual gamers don't hold their interest for very long. Nintendo and MS in a particular should be careful because they're giving the core market (who are long term consistent consumers) away to Sony by focusing almost entirely on Kinect. Next gen should be VERY interesting.

Music game sales were massive for years...

[RockmanII7]

True Crime = Only Activision game I was remotely interested in, oh well.

[DelbertGrady]

New plan. COD games on a monthly basis. And Guitar Hero: Bieber of course.

[Oxymoron028]

True Crime really interested me. I wanted to see how Hong Kong turned out as well! God damn you Activision, push some of that profit from CoD in to releasing one game of actual interest!

[KaiokenKid]

lol, really?

[FailOverHero]

Wow. Sad to see the end of True Crime. It looked so promising

[labaronx]

even more suprising was that cvg just recently had some time with the game...... this is a huge shock

[StarScream4Ever]

Hey hey. Good bye.

Nice knowing you guys.

[TheColbertinator]

True Crime was actually decent for an Activision franchise.Sad to see it go.

Guitar Hero on the other hand can just die.

[clrlite]

He looks a little bit like The Penguin of Batman fame in that pic....

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_o...

I really wish he would start wearing a silly top hat...

side profile...
http://ny-image0.etsy.com/i...

[Redempteur]

"I think the road to rejuvenating that category goes through innovation"

Too late activision i'm not convinced

[Highatus]

They'll just mash them into one franchise and milk it till the well drys...

Dj Crime Hero: Tony Hawks Pro Warfare

Game of the century right there...

[Az1mov]

Is this announcement even confirmed or is it just some rumour wagon everybody is jumping in? 0_0

[Adexus]

I'm going to go with the latter, I call BS on this.

[Az1mov]

I guess we'll find out soon enough, let the PR people roll ^^

[pr0digyZA]

I don't think it's confirmed yet. Only later on tonight will any news come out. Don't care about guitar hero, I'm just hoping TC: Hong Kong was a rumour.

[Trroy]

It's confirmed.

[Chaos Striker]

To affirm what Trroy just mentioned, Activision just released their 4th quarter financial information and the executive summary area mentions that True Crimes: Hong Kong has been canceled so they can focus on other ventures...

[unknownhero1123]

yeah, like milking CoD some more.

[outwar6010]

wtf true crime looked like it was going to be amazing this is a sad day

[krisq]

I concur. This decision is a fucking joke.

[silvacrest]

i dont care for GH but i thought true crime was pretty far in development?

seems a shame to bin it now

[tehdewm]

About time guitar hero died.

[stuntman_mike]

with all the studio closures soon all we will be playing is call of duty, 20 different versions of the bastard.

[jay2]

Acti are ONLY intrested in the cash cow thats COD, and kissing M$ bum with exclusive/timed exclusive content for COD.

[coolasj]

Wow. It's not that I'm sad that Guitar Hero got cancelled and we will never get True Crime again. It's just that that's A LOT of jobs. So many.... :'(

[ExitToExisT]

F YOU ACTIVISION. I WANTED TO PLAY TRUE CRIME

[CarnageXB]

I understand Guitar Hero but why True Crimes? I loved the first 2

[Hashashin]

bout time srsly

[awi5951]

I HOPE ALL OF ACTICRAP DIES BUT BLIZZARD WITHOUT WOW 600MILL A MONTH ACTICRAP WOULD HAVE DIED A LONG TIME AGO .

[DFresh]

Music games have been dead for awhile now.
Not a surprise there.
I thought True Crime had some potential but oh well back to other games.
:P

[ATiElite]

Yep I see guitar hero going down as well as a lot of all those other titles from Activision except Call of duty.

True Crime when I saw it was pure trash. If it's true that they are canceling it then that's a ton of time and money wasted that could have gone towards a new IP of QUALITY.

Activision is trimming the fat as this gen dies down. I'm sure they will ride these last one or two Call of Dutys out till next gen.

[PirateThom]

Expect two Call of Duty games a year now. Nothing but Call of Duty and licenced games.

Christ, I hope people stop buying CoD games, it would, literally, kill Activision in a year.

[dredgewalker]

I hear they're making a new COD and its gonna be called COD: Ancient Warfare, I would love to wield a bow and arrow, and throw stones at Nebuchadnezzar. :)

[vyralx]

They need to kill CoD after that and I'll be a happy camper.....wait

[Ingram]

I hope the next news from Activision I see is "Activision obliterates itself into a million pieces"

Same goes for Square Enix in fact

[Arknight]

Or worse:

Square-Enix and Activision-Blizzard merge to make even more craptastic games! (Blizzard quietly withdraws in order to continue making quality games)

[NeloAnjelo]

Seems like Activision is putting all its eggs in the Call of Duty Basket. I was never into the rhythm games anyway, but I feel for the staff of Free Style games. Good luck guys.

True Crime looked interesting though.

[theroadtoruin]

this will only benefit gaming.

the only games i will ever consider buying from Activision are; X-Men Legends 3, if it has the gameplay of the first two

and maybe Ultimate Alliance 3 if they make the gameplay more like the first.

[vash0027]

guitar hero has been dead for a while now . activision just got around to kicking the dirt over the grave .

[LoneWanderer09]

Hahaha am going to LMAO when Call of Duty fails and Activision tries to revive some of their franchises Hahaha

[Steven21]

THANK GOD!! NO MORE GUITAR HERO!! very upset about true crime though :/

[sich92]

WOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! now COD is next xD
activision is finally getting better XD

[nskrishna2]

'True Crime was cancelled because it doesn't interest people anymore'

Actually it was cancelled because it doesn't have CoD attached to it..

[dkgshiz]

Smartest move Activision has done in a long time. Not too sure about True Crime. I played the first one and it was alright. Guitar Hero defiantly needed to die already. Next is COD.

[NobleRed]

True Crime was finished and needed only some polish.

Thanks for cancelling a nearly complete game kotick you stupid prick.

Hope you you are happy with your Call Of Nooby franchise you asswipe.

[BigKev45]

Next up: COD

[Arknight]

Beware Treyarch and what's left of Infinity Ward. In a few years this will be you. Activision will suck what life they can out of you and then toss you out like yesterday's garbage once they can't milk you anymore.

I'd look into working for a publisher like Sony, who are willing to put the money and time into making quality and original games.

[ReBurn]

Hopefully someone can figure out how to make the music genre fun again. Activision clearly doesn't know how to do that.

[RAVEN81]

well they bled them both bone dry so .

[Berzf]

All this because they tried to rip people of by just releasing song packs and then they tried new controllers but it was too late already. I still want a band game were i start the band and try to get popular stuff.

[LA-Z-BOY-_-]

Activision please make you next call of duty exclusive to xbox we dont need your shity game on the ps3 .we have plenty of better shooters on the ps3 .i fell sorry for all the people that have been afected bye this

[R_aVe_N]

Can we cancel Activision as a company now? Please I am begging you.

[hiredhelp]

wish we could. just b4 i cave in the face of that guy.
there was no real reason to cancel True Crime.
pandemic went bust. they just about finished there last game. while starting a new one. the all most finished game was sabatur. that was kept on and finished and pushed out. bt the doors closed.
these are just letting a few guys off. not the whole company. i hate activision milking GUITAR HERO DLC. every f*** week was stupid.