15 years after being shuttered by Activision, original Guitar Hero publisher RedOctane is back, with the slightly changed name of RedOctane Games and now a part of catastrophe conglomerate Embracer Group. The revived studio is being headed up by Simon Ebejer, the production director on numerous Guitar Hero games developed by Neversoft, and also has original RedOctane founder Charles and Kai Huang on board as advisors.
The “small but passionate studio” is made up of “creators and developers who helped create and scale Guitar Hero and DJ Hero nearly two decades ago,” the press blast says, “as well as proven emerging development talent and community leaders from across today’s rhythm gaming space.”
And yes, it is working on a new rhythm game, which original RedOctane vice president Lee Guinchard—now CEO of Embracer’s Freemode group, of which the new RedOctane Games is a part—said is going to be different.
“This game won’t be Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, Guitar Freaks or Rock Band,” Guinchard wrote. “This is something new. A rhythm game built with love, by people who care, with the community at its core in this fast-changing modern world we live in. We firmly believe the expert here is the community and a new generation of development talent, the folks that have kept the lights on these last few years.”
Guitar Hero debuted as a PlayStation 2 exclusive in 2005 and quickly became a full-on phenomenon, spawning multiple sequels, tie-ins with Aerosmith, Metallica, and Van Halen, and the DJ Hero and Band Hero spinoff games. But by 2010, which saw the underwhelming release of Guitar Hero 5 and DJ Hero 2, it was over: Activision took one more shot at it with Guitar Hero Live in 2015, which went nowhere, and that was the end of it.
RedOctane followed a similar path. Founded in 1999 as a gaming accessory manufacturer, it was acquired by Activision in 2006 for just shy of $100 million—a paltry sum now, but big bucks at the time—and was closed in 2010.
Despite that unfortunate outcome—which, to be fair, was driven by Activision’s relentless insistence on annualized sequels, in hindsight probably not a great idea for games dependent on expensive speciality controllers—Ebejer has high hopes for the revived brand. “Rhythm games are about more than just gameplay, they’re about feel, flow, and connection to the music and to each other,” he said. “RedOctane Games is our way of giving back to a genre that means so much to us, while pushing it forward in new and exciting directions.”
RedOctane’s new, different rhythm game is expected to be revealed later this year.
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