Guitar Hero hits 15 million song downloads

26 Comments by Ross Miller May 9th 2008 1:30PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360

Just a reminder that while Rock Band is riding high, its older brother is still the dominant sibling. In a conference call yesterday (start at the 29-minute mark), Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith confirmed that the Guitar Hero franchise has passed the 15 million mark in individual song downloads. Last week, Harmonix owner Viacom revealed that Rock Band had surpassed the 10 million mark.

Check out Activision's Family Album to learn more about the company's internal studios.

Tags: activision, dlc, guitar-hero, rock-band

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Moffka: May 9th 2008; 1:36PM

I didn't know anyone still played Guitar Hero 3....

Guitar Hero is dead to me. Rock Band all the way.

Kizzle: May 9th 2008; 1:52PM

Guitar Hero 3 is obsolete.

Rock Band is the future.

klitorisaurus: May 9th 2008; 3:02PM

100% agree. GH is like a Rock Band demo for poor kids who can't afford the real game :P

jsn: May 9th 2008; 1:42PM

they're all free songs, of course they're going to have lots of downloads... this is total smoke and mirrors..

copa: May 9th 2008; 1:59PM

There is no doubt that if you take out Still Alive, and you take out the free unlocks / downloads from GH3, Rock Band will have a higher number of paid downloads.

This is why Harmonix should release paid download numbers for Rock Band. Unlike Activision, their numbers will continue to look impressive even if you take out the free songs.

Ghen: May 9th 2008; 5:24PM

I'd like to see paid vs paid downloads. I can't believe GH3 has more even with selling more copies of the game since the Wii and PS2 versions don't count.

m: May 9th 2008; 1:43PM

Yeah, but how many of those were free? (Halo theme, etc.)

Brian: May 9th 2008; 2:31PM

Halo, Dropkick Murphy 3 song pack, and Dream On.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award): May 9th 2008; 1:45PM

Or how many of these song were merely unlocking songs already on the disc (ala the boss battle tunes)? Also, notice how they say individual songs. 15 million INDIVIDUAL songs. My thoughts? Those two free packs would be 6 songs per user who downloaded.

embassy: May 9th 2008; 1:50PM

"Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith confirmed that the Guitar Hero franchise has passed the 15 million mark in individual song downloads"

franchise? as in, all 3 games plus the 80s edition?

compared to ONE rock band game in less than a year?

thats not too impressive if that's the case.

Hashbrown Hunter: May 9th 2008; 1:52PM

um...Guitar Hero III is the only one with song downloads so far.

Fernando Rocker: May 9th 2008; 1:54PM

And Guitar Hero II for the 360.

embassy: May 9th 2008; 2:01PM

thanks for making that clear, still, 15 mill downloads over 2 games compared to 10 mill over one still isnt that impressive. especially considering rockband is a new IP. And the timeframe is still very impressive for rock band.

Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award): May 9th 2008; 2:07PM

Hashbrown Hero... Guitar Hero II on 360 had DLC too.

Youthinized: May 9th 2008; 3:34PM

And also to point, all the GH2 songs for DLC on the 360 was developed by Harmonix.

So what they really need to disclose, is how many songs that GHIII has sold and not include GH2 since they weren't on their own.

Purple Haze: May 10th 2008; 2:23AM

Not to mention Rock Band only being out in America at the moment and GH being out anywhere they could make money from.

deaftly: May 9th 2008; 1:52PM

Reminds me, I have to still get that Muse pack.

Jon2309: May 10th 2008; 6:06AM

It's alright, but except for Stockholm Syndrome, the songs are way too easy, even on expert.
Of course, it's muse, so it still rocks.

bearxor: May 9th 2008; 1:53PM

The press release does state franchise, which would only include 3 GH games, GH2 and 3 for 360 and 3 for PS3, since the Wii and PS2 versions don't have available DLC.

Still, Activision won't ever tell us how many of those songs were paid for vs. given away for free. There's only been one free Rock Band song thus far...

Phillip: May 9th 2008; 2:20PM

But still no Wii downloads. One might wonder why they don't like money. They seem to whore out the franchise enough these days.

Odog4ever: May 9th 2008; 5:28PM

One might wonder why nintendo doesn't offer a hard drive so Wii owners can get DLC. Maybe they are too overwhelmed by all of the 3rd party shovelware submissions...

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force): May 9th 2008; 2:23PM

Bah, Heroin Hero would have better sales than that.

Cian: May 9th 2008; 2:26PM

This number is pointless until they tell us how many of those downloads were of the boss battle songs, "Dream" on, The Halo Theme (on Xbox), and Three Kings...

I have a feeling there will be a significant difference.

Helloimbob: May 9th 2008; 2:40PM

The number is obviously 5 million really.
Each pack is of 3, therefore any download would be a 3 pack and 15m/3 is 5m.
And Rock Band is by song so thats 10m sales for rock band but only 5m for GH3

I really want rock band... Just the £140 price tag places it out of my reach...

Mike E.: May 9th 2008; 4:21PM

I would have said this was a blatant lie, but then I realized that:

a. It's over the entire franchise
b. Most of the tracks are free

I have no doubt that Rockband will crush this when the game arrives in Europe. I'm sure they've made a lot more money already, as well.

Adam: May 10th 2008; 8:02AM

GH3 also takes into account the number of FREE song DLC. God only KNOWS how many people got the Halo theme. Harmonix only counts paid songs.

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