Activision lays off more staff, Guitar Hero and True Crime cancelled

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

United Front's open world game True Crime has been cancelled, sources have told Eurogamer.

An announcement is expected tonight ahead of the publication of Activision's financial results.

In December last year Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg said Guitar Hero, and the music genre, had a future following dismal sales of Warriors of Rock.

"It's no secret that not just Guitar Hero, but also Rock Band, and the music category in general, do not have the same mass appeal today that they did a few years ago," he said.

"That said, I think that we would be foolish to not try and build on the strength of the Guitar Hero brand, because as you said, it's a pretty strong brand with great recognition and great likeability, and there's a lot to work with there.

"I think the road to rejuvenating that category goes through innovation," he continued. "The premise of Guitar Hero - that everyone has an inner rock star - it's something that we've all done forever. Some version of singing into a hairbrush, or holding a tennis racket like a guitar, or singing karaoke, or singing into the bathroom mirror - we all do that.

"I think a lot of video game genres that have had tremendous staying power have a fantasy-fulfillment element at their core, whether it's driving the fast car, or participating in professional sports, or going into battle. People don't get to do this in everyday lives.

"So I think the core premise and the core insight at the heart of the Guitar Hero franchise is still very relevant. I just think we need to escalate the experience for people and innovate. I think the genre is still fairly new, and so I think it's probably time for us to really look at what the next level looks like for that genre."

The publisher had confirmed the return of the franchise in 2011.

Eurogamer's calls to UK developer Freestyle Games went unanswered this evening. United Front Games had not responded to Eurogamer's request for comment at the time of publication.

Eurogamer has contacted Activision for comment.

UPDATE: Reports are coming in that layoffs have also hit the Activision-owned developer Vicarious Visions. Developer Manveer Heir tweeted this evening to say, "Ugh sorry to hear about the Vicarious Visions layoffs today after Guitar Hero canceled. Shitty. Sounds like Freestyle (DJ Hero) got hit too."

Eurogamer has contacted Vicarious Visions, which created the Wii version of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, for comment.

Via Eurogamer

Proper gutted by this, True Crime was looking intense and I've always been a fan of the series.....

In a smaller update elsewhere it was revealed that these lay off's are because Activision want to focus as much as it can on the Call of Duty series.....wankers....

Thats a real shame, im a big guitar hero fan although admitedly not as much as I was a couple of years a go. I guess the novelty kind of wore off

While I have never been interested in the GH / RB series, I think its a shame they are being canned. More so if its because Activision are looking to put all their eggs in the COD basket. I am at the point now where I would love to see the wheels come off the COD bandwagon but unfortunately until something else comes along with the mass appeal Activision will always show an unprecedented level of arrogance and disregard towards their user base.

Same here, never really been that bothered with Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Shame that they are ploughing everything into the glitching kid heaven of the COD series

Small update on this, beachhead studios is where all this money they've saved is being plowed, they are creating a digital platform for CoD...this means one thing....paid for services....fail...

Haha, they can get f*cked if they think I am will pay to play COD after shelling out for a copy of the game and Live sub. I suppose once this goes live we will be seeing a stack more stories like posted the other day of the parent who had a £1k bill on her credit card after her underage son ran riot with it linked to his account

will switch to battlefield if that is even mooted!

I must admit I enjoyed Battlefield 2 on the single player, but didn't really play it on line. i was tempted to pick it up again but noone really plays it here

I might get it at some point - I havent played either of the BFBC games yet and dont really know why either. I know Rogue plays it a fair bit and said the recent 'Nam DLC for it was really good as well.