True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled

[Feb 09, 2011, 5:39 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

GamesIndustry.biz (registration required) has word that Activision is expected to follow its earnings announcement today with the announcement of plans to close or restructure studios and scale back or cancel franchises, and refocus its business on StarCraft and World of Warcraft as its two main franchises. Eurogamer has word that these changes may already be surfacing with word from "sources" that United Front's open world game True Crime and the Guitar Hero series have been cancelled, and that DJ Hero developer Freestyle Games and Guitar Hero developer Vicarious Visions have been hit with layoffs. As BioWare's Manveer Heir tweeted: "Ugh sorry to hear about the Vicarious Visions layoffs today after Guitar Hero canceled. Shitty. Sounds like Freestyle (DJ Hero) got hit too." Update: Kotaku has a confirmation from Activision: "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 also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences"

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22.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 11, 2011, 12:25

Jerykk

I wouldn't be so bold to call the kettle black just yet if I were you. Just about everything these days is a glorified version of some ancient relic. I think you misunderstand. I have no problems with ancient relics. Hell, I'd love it if more games were inspired by the classics. Quick Time Events, on the other hand, have never been considered classic. They are the very lowest form of gameplay, with an absolute minimum of thought or skill required.

21.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled

Feb 10, 2011, 10:06

Veinman

I can't imagine any developers wanting to work for these people, knowing the axe is never very far from your neck.

20.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 10, 2011, 07:11

Dades

Ventura wrote on Feb 10, 2011, 05:30: As opposed to how the rest of the industry has just been innovating in leaps and bounds year after year? I wouldn't be so bold to call the kettle black just yet if I were you. Just about everything these days is a glorified version of some ancient relic. Good point. Anyway it's a shame Activision takes the run it into the ground approach for everything.

19.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 10, 2011, 05:30

Ventura

I can't really blame him, since rhythm games are basically just glorified Quick Time Events. As opposed to how the rest of the industry has just been innovating in leaps and bounds year after year? I wouldn't be so bold to call the kettle black just yet if I were you. Just about everything these days is a glorified version of some ancient relic.

18.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 10, 2011, 03:21

Jerykk

Which of course, you'd know if you'd given it a chance. People that are that determined to dislike something usually find a way to make it happen. Unless he simply dislikes rhythm games. I can't really blame him, since rhythm games are basically just glorified Quick Time Events.

17.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 10, 2011, 00:01

Ventura

Thank goodness! Guitar Hero is one of those casual games I disliked instantly. I hope Rock Band is soon to follow. Ahh as always, there are those that just have to take great pleasure in the suffering of others. As I said before, say what you like about the Guitar Hero franchise, but Rock Band has just gone from strength to strength. Which of course, you'd know if you'd given it a chance. People that are that determined to dislike something usually find a way to make it happen.

16.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 9, 2011, 20:31

Prez

Guitar Hero was awesome fun for the first week or so. Then, like the music it contains, it got played out.




Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

15.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 9, 2011, 20:22

AdamK47

Thank goodness! Guitar Hero is one of those casual games I disliked instantly. I hope Rock Band is soon to follow.

14.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled

Feb 9, 2011, 20:22

xXBatmanXx

Hump wrote on Feb 9, 2011, 20:18:
They are now heading into the same plan of action with the CoD IP that killed Guitar Hero. They're over-saturating the market to the point where people won't be able to tell (or care about) one title from the next. All that matters is that next fiscal quarter. At that point some brilliant shitdick from Wall street will announce that video game sales have peaked and are on a downward trend.

I agree to a point - but they can SHUT OFF the CoD servers....and if they shut off the GH servers, no one would care...you could still play the game locally or offline with little to no difference...

EA does it with their games and is starting to pick up speed and forcing you to buy the next iteration of their copy cut and paste games.




In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. / Few men have virtue enough to withstand the highest bidder. Playing: RL

13.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled

Feb 9, 2011, 20:18

Hump

They are now heading into the same plan of action with the CoD IP that killed Guitar Hero. They're over-saturating the market to the point where people won't be able to tell (or care about) one title from the next. All that matters is that next fiscal quarter. At that point some brilliant shitdick from Wall street will announce that video game sales have peaked and are on a downward trend.




---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Both the “left” and the “right” pretend they have the answer, but they are mere flippers on the same thalidomide baby, and the truth is that neither side has a clue." - Jim Goad

12.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled

Feb 9, 2011, 19:54

Ruffiana

So comforting to know as a developer that when times are good, and your game's a hit, you can expect the publisher to screw you for royalties and pidgenhole you into working on a franchise in perpituity. When times are bad, and the franchise is starting to wane, you can expect them to shit-can you.

11.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled

Feb 9, 2011, 19:23

Bludd

I feel bad for the devs losing their jobs, but I say "yawn" to those games.

10.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled

Feb 9, 2011, 19:18

Donkey_Punch

Oh poor, poor Activision. Next on the list UBI and EA.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 9, 2011, 19:08

Cutter

Doombringer wrote on Feb 9, 2011, 18:08:
Wow. This will put a lot of pressure on Blizzard. More expansions/add-ons, faster pace... stressed dev teams, lower quality.

Or... we'll see WoW/Starcraft/Diablo spin-off games (ala the canceled 'Starcraft: Ghost') in the near future, developed outside of Blizzard but still under the Activision umbrella.

I bet Jeff Brown is laughing his ass off over at EA right now. He sure nailed it. And yeah, this could be bad news with Activision bringing Blizzard under the microscope and pressuring them to cut corners for the sake of expediency. The potential upside is that Blizzard finally gets sick of Bobby Kodick and divests themselves of Activision which would make Blizzard get better and Bobby finally go away.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled

Feb 9, 2011, 19:04

xXBatmanXx

And Supply has now outpaced Demand.

Thank god.




In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. / Few men have virtue enough to withstand the highest bidder. Playing: RL

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 9, 2011, 18:19

Ventura

While I was always a Rock Band gamer first and foremost (with Guitar Hero a very distant second) I'm not necessarily happy to hear about Guitar Hero's death. That said, I can't help but feel they did it to themselves by completely saturating the market back when the genre was doing well. Perhaps if they'd focused more on quality instead of quantity... Incidentally, I'm still very much enjoying Rock Band 3. They've had their own problems, mind you, but the fact that Rock Band 3 has a Metacritic rating of over 90 on the 360, ps3 and Wii demonstrates their continued commitment to quality.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 9, 2011, 18:08

Doombringer

Wow. This will put a lot of pressure on Blizzard. More expansions/add-ons, faster pace... stressed dev teams, lower quality. Or... we'll see WoW/Starcraft/Diablo spin-off games (ala the canceled 'Starcraft: Ghost') in the near future, developed outside of Blizzard but still under the Activision umbrella.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 9, 2011, 17:45

StingingVelvet

ASeven wrote on Feb 9, 2011, 16:48: Ah damn, I was actually curious about True Crime: Hong Kong. It might have had been an interesting game. I never played any of them, not even sure they were on PC, but I was hoping this one would be good too. Oh well, not a huge loss really. It's funny how they announced it as such a big deal and then canceled it though. Personally I read this whole article as "less products, more services." Activision make all their money on WoW and CoD multiplayer... why they haven't switched to being all about services is beyond me. Say what you will about Pachter but he is right about this company. And I say that as someone who HATES games as a service, I am just speaking about the facts as I unfortunately see them.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 9, 2011, 16:51

Zyrxil

Meh, you can feel sorry for good companies going down the drain, but Neversoft? The only notable thing they've ever made was Tony Hawk.

Re: True Crime and Guitar Hero Cancelled?

Feb 9, 2011, 16:51

nin

Where ya at, Bobby?




RollinThundr Apr 17, 2013, 12:25: Eh really tossing stuff like that in there only to get your panties all bunched up. If you really want to call that trolling sure. Mr. Tact Apr 17, 2013, 12:33: Pretty sure that's the definition of trolling...

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