Activision Scraps Guitar Hero Franchise & True Crime: Hong Kong

Activision's just set the Internet on fire by announcing that it has canned development on the almost-finished True Crime: Hong Kong and, perhaps more importantly, completely "disbanded" the Guitar Hero brand

by Sammy Barker Wed 9th Feb 2011

The publisher stated during its 2011 financial report that due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishings Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011".

On True Crime: Hong Kong, the publisher added that "these decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the worlds best interactive entertainment experiences". PlayStation 3 owners will be familiar with True Crime: Hong Kong developers United Front Games. They were the studio behind the excellent Modnation Racers. Writing on their website, UFG said that they were "sorry" for not finishing the game.

Activision also confirmed that there will be no Tony Hawk or music games from the company this year, inferring no DJ Hero sequel.

GameInformer claimed earlier in the day that Activision would be focusing on three key brands going forward: Call Of Duty, Starcraft and World Of Warcraft. That's fine in the short-term, but it's also worryingly narrow-minded. Call Of Duty's fan-base is fickle, and it will move on eventually. Activision doesn't seem keen on levaraging its resources into new arenas, making its portfolio strong but vulnerable.

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