Activision: Guitar Hero beat Beatles because it's 'fun as hell'

by Justin McElroy { Oct 7th 2009 at 7:30PM }

We were just as perplexed as anyone when Guitar Hero 5 trounced The Beatles: Rock Band in the UK -- where we hear the Fab Four is fairly popular still. Thankfully, Activision's Guitar Hero business CEO, Rock 'n' Roll Dan Rosensweig, is there to explain it all. "The number one thing about Guitar Hero is that it's fun as hell -- it's focused on the guitar, and the variety and value proposition -- and the reviews are spectacular. So I guess we're the only ones not surprised."

Rosensweig went on to tell GamesIndustry.biz that "internally we always talked about the Fab Five - Guitar Hero 5 - was going to beat the Fab Four." So, we've also discovered Activision's real secret weapon that keeps it ahead of the competition: Hilarious wordplay.

Tags: activision, Dan-Rosensweig, ea, guitar-hero, guitar-hero-5, rock-band, the-beatles, the-beatles-rock-band

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

Zambowie @ Nov 19th 2009 8:46AM

I didn't know hell was fun.

Roger @ Oct 7th 2009 7:34PM

I'm telling you; Rockband: Nickleback would sell more units. If not for the "better than beetles" music but for the lulz!

green11420 @ Oct 7th 2009 7:35PM

That's funny as hell.

Hue Jass @ Oct 7th 2009 8:14PM

I'm happy for ya Rock Band an imma let ya finish, but Gutair Hero 5 is one of the funnest-as-hell games of all time.

Hue Jass @ Oct 7th 2009 8:17PM

Also @ Roger
You almost had a funny comment, but then you said Nickelback was somewhat respectable and that's just a facepalm fail. Then again I'm the one still quoting Kanye nearly a month later so I'm kind of fail right now too.

Brysonial the Bison @ Oct 7th 2009 8:41PM

So activision thinks hell will be fun if you go there hmmm

Azerael @ Oct 7th 2009 9:08PM

NICKLEBERKK.

connorhawke @ Oct 8th 2009 7:27AM

I will defend you Hue Jass...your comment is funny and i shall support it

bumblo @ Oct 7th 2009 7:34PM

Whatever, I still prefer Rockband 2.

JoeJoeCastillo @ Oct 7th 2009 7:36PM

the only reason Guitar Hero 5 sold so much is because it tries to be like Rock Band

Lone Starr @ Oct 7th 2009 7:38PM

which in this case sold less, which would mean if GH was trying to be RB, it would also sell less, which means you get infinite loop which leads to either the end of the universe or no more rhythm games.

hmmm....

Mazrael @ Oct 7th 2009 7:59PM

GH sells well because the first 2 games were so good..
Some will still have the idea that the RB instruments are crap.. in the EU, we still only have those.. then there's the whole EA thing of olde..
Neversoft only make games to make money like the 20-ish Tony Hawks & GH's, not for the love of the subject matter, like HMX (do)..

Scott @ Oct 7th 2009 8:31PM

@LoneStar: How does that even make sense? I guess you will also tell me that Microsoft never tries to do anything like anyone else (e.g. Apple), since MS clearly is the one making more money?

Lone Starr @ Oct 7th 2009 8:49PM

no, i don't think i was disputing his comment. i thought that was fairly obvious; apparently not lol

oolz @ Oct 7th 2009 9:48PM

Vgchartz lists both games as having sold around 1mil units world wide. Isn't the fact that Guitar Hero 5 doesn't have 3x the sales of The Beatles:Rock Band more of a story? I'm quite sure Harmonix is not disappointed by this.

VaultBoy @ Oct 11th 2009 3:42AM

RB instruments ARE crap. That hasn't changed. But i will give them good marks for improving the flimsy drum pedals for the second iteration. The RB guitars dont feel right. A fender body without strings is stupid, quit pretending its not a game because it is. There may be something Fisher-Pricey about the GH guitars but they feel better. Its harder to get lost on the fretboard, and some find the clicking to be a good thing.

MrAlex @ Oct 7th 2009 7:37PM

Ugh, shed a tear for the games industry.

Alive @ Oct 7th 2009 7:40PM

It just sounds like his reason for doing better was that he thinks that any game they make is always better...

VaultBoy @ Oct 11th 2009 4:04AM

Hehe...i get jokes. Seriously though. I enjoyed RB Beatles more than GH5 simply because I knew more of the songs on RB Beatles. This year's numbered GH title suffered from playlist failure, yes more-so than ever before. They had Avenged Sevenfold gear (there is schecter fretboard inlay that "synister" on it, from his signature series guitar, and possibly deathbat inlays as well) in the game but no Avenged Sevenfold music (WTF?) (despite your opinion of the band that is inconsistent). There are still great songs in the game (GH5) but as they release more titles the quality continues to be watered down. RB Beatles felt like a labor of love, and despite teh tremendous cosmetic changes made in GH5, the music wasn't good enough to back it up.

charlie b. @ Oct 7th 2009 7:41PM

fab... five? i... wait...
no, i don't get it.

charlie b. @ Oct 7th 2009 7:42PM

oh! i get it now! the people who work at Activision are heartless bastards!
that's funny!

Marco le Polo @ Oct 7th 2009 7:42PM

Oh yeah, I´ll tell you something
I think you'll understand
When I say that something
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand

Or. Not.

MystileArmor @ Oct 7th 2009 9:45PM

Is there anybody going to listen to my story,
all about a douche who had something to say...

He's the kinda douche you hate so much,
he makes you vomit,
and he makes me want to punch him every day.

Oh douche....
Oh douche......

HippoHero @ Oct 7th 2009 7:42PM

The reason guitar hero sold more units is because it's "fun as hell"? WTF?

The reason Guitar Hero sold more units is because The Beatles were topping the charts before a significant proportion of gamers were born.

the_pop @ Oct 7th 2009 8:42PM

Or it's because The Beatles Rock Band was a dull chord-snore fest whilst Guitar Hero 5 actually had some songs which were fun to play on the plastic geetar.

Wayne Campbell @ Oct 7th 2009 9:09PM

Well played.

mynk @ Oct 7th 2009 11:09PM

sigh, playing the beatles will enlighten you in ways that a fire and flames notechart never can, and the day you realize what you really take out from that experience, you'll hate yourself for that comment.

Blind Io @ Oct 8th 2009 1:14AM

I kinda have to agree with the_pop. The guitar charts in this game won't win anyone over who aren't huge fans of the Beatles already. And the whole harmonizing feature will sound horrible unless you can find 2 other people that can pull it off (which is harder than everyone thinks it is). The bass and drums are the only parts fun to play on this game. The only purpose this game serves is a candy coated history of a great band. If you want a better bang for your buck go buy the Beatles discography that was newly release on cd and then you get to hear the band as they should be....without ur friends voice (badly) singing Lennon/McCarthy and the sound of missed notes.

Fane [A-MF Brigade] @ Oct 8th 2009 4:59AM

Normally, I dismiss the people who want RB/GH to be really hard, but even my 62-year-old father would rather play RB2 than TB:RB because the guitar charts are more interesting. We all enjoy singing The Beatles songs, though, and that adds a level of difficulty to playing the instruments. No one really liked GH:WT, though, so we won't be getting GH5, even if it is improved.

Spike (GT: SitriStahl) @ Oct 8th 2009 5:12AM

@the_pop
GH5 and TBRB are chordfests, its just that TBRB has GOOD songs, while GH5 just has fast, random chords, with a questionable soundtrack

the_pop @ Oct 9th 2009 4:45AM

mynk seriously? I play GH/RB to have fun and TB:RB is boring there is no two ways about it. As much as dragonforce SUCKS to listen to it is fun to play and I would much rather play it. If I wanted to become enlightened I wouldn't be playing a video game I would listen to the beatles while taking copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs.

Doug @ Oct 7th 2009 7:42PM

I like The Beatles and I prefer Rock Band, but I bought GH5 instead of TB:RB because I just didn't want to play Twist and Shout in a rhythm game.

There is no earth-shattering doom here, no need to sneer. It's about fun, remember.

Doug @ Oct 7th 2009 8:36PM

You guys do know that Activision is a holding company--that you're hating a corporate entity which does not make these games.

Devs make the games. Devs like Infinity Ward. People who like games.

Show me people who are going to boycott MW2 because it's released by Activision and I'll sell my GH5 and join you in down-voting people who play games released by Activision.

I'd hate to break up a good mob-scene of hatred, but the facts suck, don't they?

Special Agent Steve @ Oct 7th 2009 8:43PM

So you were just dying to play a "Eagles Of Death Metal - "Wannabe in L.A." rhythm game instead?

Yeah, who could blame you? Oh, that's right- everyone.

This is why Activision is evil, and yes I'm boycotting Modern Warfare 2 b/c of the price on PC. Waiting till it's

Doug @ Oct 7th 2009 8:52PM

Wow, Steve... I was buying games for a totally ridiculous reason... to have fun... I did not know it was about being cool with strangers on a web forum. Seriously, thanks for the info.

The Aquacharger (PSN:Elvenmonk) @ Oct 7th 2009 9:43PM

In the case of Neversoft, it is Activision. Neversoft is owned by Activision. It's basically the equivalent of like EA Sports, or EA BIG. Both of which are development studios, but completely owned by EA in every way. That's what Neversoft is. They're a dev studio that is Activision.