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It has been 20 years since Guitar Hero hit the market in North America, giving players everywhere the tools to become rock legends. Figuratively speaking, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who's mastered Free Bird’s four-minute guitar solo in front of a packed crowd of friends.

Developed by Harmonix, Guitar Hero provided users with a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes scrolling down the screen synchronized to the music. Each riff mimicked particular chords, creating the sensation of a genuine performance.

The studio had already tried its hand with rhythm games prior to teaming up with the publisher, which was acquired by Activision during the mid-2000s. Together, they established the groundwork for a surprising massively profitable franchise that had a significant influence on numerous of the artists featured, showcasing decades-old groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.

A former executive, former COO of Harmonix, remembers the initial financial challenges of licensing the songs – despite the fact the first two games mostly used rerecorded tracks.

“We reproduced every song because the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it proved nearly impossible. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – RedOctane had virtually no money, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. However, when Guitar Hero became a hit, and record sales airtime were going up, everyone wanted to participate.”

He adds: “Among the amazing things was the number of mothers and fathers reached out expressing gratitude for exposing their kids to the music they loved. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”

Timeless Music Gains a New Audience

Irish blues-rock band one featured act included their track on the 2008 game Guitar Hero World Tour. Lead musician Paul Mahon recalls how the series revived older hits back into vogue: “The game offered a larger, new demographic. Generally this had been seen as music that was past it, but then when it was included in the game young people discovered it, suddenly it was cool. That legitimised it, eliminating the ‘dad rock’ label. It provided all our music a new life.”

In 2008, the band's first record was still unreleased stateside, meaning Guitar Hero was a key medium for exposure for the group during their a North American tour opening for the rock giants. “Their crew had on Never Too Late on the tour bus, and several knew us thanks to the game,” he notes.

Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Influence

Music's heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around each band’s catalogue and associated lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, the Aerosmith edition, it was said to have made the band more money than any of their studio albums. It moved more than half a million units upon release, while sales of their songs saw an increase significantly during an era as the industry faced decline.

Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed fanaticism among its fans. Earlier this year, a streamer completed a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult anthem popularized through the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical gameplay but an array of customisation options. This track is challenging enough on expert mode, not to mention played at double speed and without missing a single one of the thousands of cues. The streamer stated it took nine months to accomplish.

“Guitar Hero offers a, fantasy thing. If you play other games, it doesn't imply you ought to pick up a real gun and go to war,” says musician Herman Li.

DragonForce had already completed a profitable run when their hit appeared in the third game, yet he explains it made them a household name. “I remember our distributors informing us that our selling albums like crazy,” he says. “Popularity surged when we next toured, and we were playing just before the headliners at the event.”

In fact, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it threatened to eclipsing everything else accomplishments. Last year, the track featured in a trailer for a major film. “In the past I thought otherwise, but now I accept it,” Li says. “Should you just listen to one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has a unique path in music and I’m glad we played a role in fans' experiences”.

Enduring Impact of a Plastic Guitar

Top-tier marketing, be it for cars, apparel or video games, extends beyond mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of performing as a music icon in the spotlight. Since the beginning, the creators believed there’s an instinctive human desire to create songs, and they wanted to leverage innovation to enable everyone to do it”.

The majority of Guitar Hero games were released in just a five-year period from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as DJ Hero, complete with a spinning deck, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest on peripherals died down, except for a short-lived revival several years later.

Titles like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the community alive, with set to be a new product from the original publisher in development. A new studio has entered work on their first rhythm-based title. The initial creators are participating in advisory roles. Are gamers ready to embrace a new entry following Guitar Hero?

“We thought such titles could be similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant fresh tracks it could remain evergreen, thus I remain hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to continue with new generations.”