music rhythm game video games Guitar Hero is a series of music rhythm game video games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs.

The Guitar Hero franchise was originally created by Harmonix and RedOctane. But the rights to the series were bought out by Activision, who gave the IP to its internal game studio Neversoft to develop. That means rights for the Guitar Hero IP would transfer to Microsoft as part of its Activision acquisition.

Activision Guitar Hero Live is a 2015 music rhythm video game developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision.

According to publisher Activision, which will close its music game division and cease development of existing Guitar Hero titles, they're ending the series in order to refocus efforts online.

Older artists featured in Guitar Hero and Rock Band have experienced a surge in the popularity of their music, and the games have been seen as a way for younger audiences to experience the classic rock songs featured in the games. Newer bands and unsigned artists have also found success by being included in the game.

First and foremost is the strum bar, the two-directional switch in the center of the guitar. You push or pull this up or down in order to play a note. The note which you play is determined by pressing some combination of the five fret buttons on the guitar's neck. They are colored for quicker identification.

Harmonix Music SystemsGuitar Hero / Developer Guitar Hero, popular electronic game series developed and released by American companies RedOctane, Harmonix Music Systems, and Activision (now Activision Blizzard) in 2005.

Harmonix Music SystemsRob KayRyan LesserRobotkid Guitar Hero/Designers

November 8, 2005Guitar Hero / Initial release date

Guitar Hero, popular electronic game series developed and released by American companies RedOctane, Harmonix Music Systems, and Activision (now Activision Blizzard) in 2005.

Guitar Hero succeeds because it's able to create a “potent illusion of temporal contingency” – we know we're not actually playing the music but when we do well in the game by pressing the right button at the right time to make the right sound come out, a certain murky part of our brain is tricked into thinking we are ...

Until you consider that for Guitar Hero this is just a notch on the belt. Since its debut in 2005, the Guitar Hero series has sold more than 25 million units, making more than $2 billion, and cementing itself as one of the best-selling video game series of all time.