Guitar Hero no more as Activision announces it will cease publication

The makers of video game Guitar Hero have announced they will stop publishing the game this year.

Activision Blizzard inc released a statement last night confirming that the popular game is no more.

“Due to continued declines 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 said.

The game, which allowed users to play along with classic rock’n’roll anthems from the likes of Aerosmith and Jimi Hendrix, was credited with introducing a whole new generation to classic rock.

Its phenomenal popularity saw ‘Guitar Hero parties’ springing up everywhere from student living rooms to high street pubs and many of the featured bands saw sales of their music rise.

It also spawned a ‘DJ Hero’ spin-off featuring Hip Hop and electronic music.

However sales had begun to struggle, dropping a huge 50 per cent in 2009.

One analyst told the New York Times: “It’s much like Wii Fit. Once you have it, you don’t need to buy another.”