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Many games like Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed have near yearly release schedules, but these titles don't require customers to purchase expensive controllers that are only compatible with a few games, and they are also more clearly marketed and distinguished from other games in their respective franchises and genres. The hype laid down by Guitar Hero 3 had already faded, and the market imploded with an absolute overabundance of music games and accessories.
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Not only did this eat up a large amount of shelf space as previously mentioned, but this also overloaded many potential customers with too many options. All kinds of developers were seeking to get their share of the music game craze, so spin-off titles like DJ Hero and Band Hero started flooding the market alongside the plethora of Rock Band and Guitar Hero games. Both Rock Band and Guitar Hero now came bundled in huge boxes filled with plastic guitars and drums, and this made each game not only expensive to purchase, but also to manufacture. However, this had a negative impact on the music game market. Since Rock Band challenged Guitar Hero by offering players the option to jam out on either drums, guitar, bass, or vocals, Guitar Hero added the same features to the rest of Guitar Hero's sequels to remain relevant. Harmonix then started work on Guitar Hero's most popular competitor, Rock Band. The development of the Guitar Hero franchise was shifted over to Neversoft after Harmonix, the developers of the original Guitar Hero games, was purchased by Viacom. Related: Guitar Hero: Metallica Complete Song List Guitar Hero became a staple at countless arcades and college parties, so it was only a matter of time before a sequel entered development.
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It was the first Guitar Hero game to release on all platforms, which made it available to the largest audience the series had seen, and the game exploded as a result.
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While the first two Guitar Hero games catapulted the franchise into the mainstream, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock cemented its place as one of the must-have games to play at the time.
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Outside of the 2015 release of Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4, the likes of which hardly compared to the success of the originals, the rock'n'roll inspired rhythm games still cease to exist to this day outside of the Clone Hero indie project. The concerning amount of shelf space dedicated entirely to plastic guitars at approximately every electronic retailer was evidence alone that Guitar Hero rose to be one of the most popular video games of all time, but out of nowhere, the series vanished as fast as it came. In the mid-2000s, it was a genuinely safe assumption that most were aware of the massive success that Guitar Hero laid down back when it launched in 2005.
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