The Day the Music Died (Down)

The Guitar Hero brand has been a near constant presence in the monthly top 10 software lists for two years. Guitar Hero II took up residence in November 2006, first on the PlayStation 2 and later on the Xbox 360, and finally departed in August 2007.

After an understandable absence in September, three versions of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock dominated the top 10 in October 2007 and at least one version remained until May 2008.

In June Guitar Hero: On Tour launched on the Nintendo DS and took a spot in the top 10 through August. 

Yet, in October 2008 no single version of Guitar Hero: World Tour broke into the top 10, although the Xbox 360 version just missed the cut.

By this, as well as some other measures, Guitar Hero: World Tour has not lived up to the expectations set by its predecessors.

We are fortunate that the launch of Guitar Hero III in 2007 fell in precisely the same week as the launch of Guitar Hero: World Tour in 2008.

As a result, we have exactly seven days worth of sales data for each game, both from the NPD Group and additional data from Activision itself.

According to an Activision press release, Guitar Hero III sold 1.39 million units and generated $115 million at retail in its first week. It also launched in complete form on four platforms: PS2, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360.

(These figures were published by GameSpot who appears to have clarified them with the NPD Group.)

For a comparable seven day period this year, Guitar Hero: World Tour sold 534,000 units and generated $67.3 million at retail. By units and revenue, the launch of GHWT lags significantly behind the launch of GH3.