Activision confirmed they would not be publishing any skateboarding games in 2011. This is bad news for the Tony Hawk series and even worse news for the Tony Hawk Ride skateboard. This news comes just a week after it was confirmed that Tony Hawk: Shred outsold Ubisoft's Shaun White Skateboarding.
True Crime: Hong Kong has been canceled according to Activision. In a conference call, the company confirmed that it will "stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong" citing the decision as one that would allow it to "focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."
Activision/Blizzard also announced it is dropping the in-development Guitar Hero game planned for 2011. The company is also disbanding its Guitar Hero division, best described by the company itself in the following statement:
“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."
Activision was clear that there would be no music games from the company this fiscal year. That means no Guitar Hero, and no DJ Hero. During the investment call, the company also said it plans to lay off approximately 500 employees. But does this mean the franchise is truly dead, or will we see a newly re-vamped game in 2012 or 2013? According to Wedbush Securities' analyst Michael Pachter, a return of the Guitar Hero franchise is unlikely in the near future.
"I don't think it's going to be revamped," Pachter said. "It would only happen if there's a whole new console refresh, but if it's an Xbox 360 with a two-terabyte hard-drive and an 802.11 N, who cares? You don't need a new Guitar Hero for that. I think Guitar Hero is one of those things you don't need to buy more than once."
Haven't heard back from the company on an official basis, but this blog post from Activision's Dan Amrich takes a different tact from Pachter's:
"For a while there I couldn’t drown out the cries of gamers on forums, blogs, and Twitter saying GH should take some time off, and from all appearances, that’s what this is. Step back, let it breathe for a while, don’t make any major plans, and see what happens in the future. I’m very okay with that.
Chapter closed? Sure, okay. Book burned? I doubt it."
So what do you guys think? Is Guitar Hero, as a franchise, dead, or is it just sleeping for a bit?
One of these days I shall save Activision from that greedy bastard son-of-a-bitch Bobby Kotick!
That, or go work at EA. :P
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