Activision Blizzard Ends Guitar Hero Series

Citing declines in the music genre, Activision Blizzard is shutting down the Guitar Hero series.

The company has also ceased development on True Crime: Hong Kong.

These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences, a statement from the company said.

U.S. music game revenue dropped to less than $250 million as of October of last year, compared to 2008 sales of $1.7 billion. During its fourth quarter earnings call, Activision Blizzard executives noted that the demand for peripheral-based music games had dropped beyond profitable levels.

Viacom also experienced issues with its Rock Band franchise, selling developer Harmonix Music Systems to investment firm Columbus Nova in Dec. 2010. Vicacom itself had bought the franchise four years earlier for $175 million.

Sales for Rock Band 3, the most recent game in the series, were slow despite the significant upgrades to the game, which included support for a 25-key MIDI keyboard.

Activision has had its hits, among them Call of Duty, but the company reported $233 million in losses in its last earnings call, though that was a narrower loss than the same quarter last year, when it was $286 million.

Calls to Activision Blizzard for comment were not returned.

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