Activision axes Guitar Hero franchise, cancels True Crime

Kotaku reports that Activision has decided to discontinue the Guitar Hero franchise and also scrap True Crime: Hong Kong.

According to a spokesperson for Activision, the publisher's Guitar Hero business unit will cease operations "due to continued declines in the music genre". As for True Crime: Hong Kong, which itself had a laboured and delayed development cycle, Activision said only that the decision is due to "the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences".

The Guitar Hero franchise in particular, which arguably pioneered the music/rhythm genre, was formerly a best-selling, winning series for Activision. The first title in the series sold in excess of 1.5 million copies and generated more than US$45 million in revenue for Activision.