Guitar Hero 7 Canned

Guitar Hero 7 crushed under the weight of too-high ambitions

Ambition got the best of Vicarious Visions and claimed Guitar Hero 7 as a high profile casualty.

Recommended Videos

Vicarious Visions, who helmed development, planned to nix drums and singing, but add more elements in their place. The guitar, it was revealed, was set to have six strings instead of one stum bar, and an extra button on the neck of the instrument. Unfortunately  however, the prototype models were both shoddily made and expensive — a fatal combination, according to an anonymous source speaking to Kotaku

 “The strings were unresponsive and loose, and the guitars cost a fortune to make. No one could figure out a way to make it so your average Joe could buy one.”

The venues were also in line for an overhaul. The dev team aimed for dynamic venue changes numerous times per song. When a song element changed, the venue changed to fit the piece perfectly. However, this and the creation of brand new characters in a brand new style left the game with jacked up looking characters. According to the source, they were left with:

“characters [whose] necks were over a foot long… They all looked like they were punched in the face.”

And of the all-important music:

 “The game had all of the worst hits from the 1990’s. They realized that, with our lack of budget and time, they couldn’t get quality music so they bought bargain basement music like ‘Closing time’ and ‘Sex and Candy.’ There were some songs in there that had been used at least three times in the GH franchises before. They realized that with a setlist of over 80 songs, a music video unique to each song was out of scope as well. So pretty much every song was in the tomb or the back of the moving truck, with different lighting and camera cuts, and maybe a little graffiti. So they had a game that looked bad, had bad music, had very limited venues, and more was getting cut as time went on.”

Vicarious Visions simply couldn’t sustain the weight of the ambitions set to revive the waning franchise. Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg cut the game from the publisher’s lineup after seeing the game’s progress, but the publisher insists that the franchise is not gone for good; they’re simply giving the game a true face-lift before trying again.


GameSkinny is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more
related content
Read Article D&D Marries Stardew Valley in This New Fantasy RPG
Player tends to livestock on farm in Mirthwood
Read Article Fallout 76 Kicks off April Fools Early With Rotating Events
Spooky Scorched about to attack.
Read Article New Dragon’s Dogma 2 Title Update Adds Multiple Saves, More Appearance Changes, Performance Tweaks, and More
the player charging a dragon in dragon's dogma 2
Read Article Predator: Hunting Grounds Will Get New Content With IllFonic Takeover
Predator watching prey from the treetops.
Read Article Overwatch 2 Introduces Its First Free Hero in Season 10
Venture holding her drill and Baptise, Zarya, Pharah, and Lifeweaver standing behind her
Related Content
Read Article D&D Marries Stardew Valley in This New Fantasy RPG
Player tends to livestock on farm in Mirthwood
Read Article Fallout 76 Kicks off April Fools Early With Rotating Events
Spooky Scorched about to attack.
Read Article New Dragon’s Dogma 2 Title Update Adds Multiple Saves, More Appearance Changes, Performance Tweaks, and More
the player charging a dragon in dragon's dogma 2
Read Article Predator: Hunting Grounds Will Get New Content With IllFonic Takeover
Predator watching prey from the treetops.
Read Article Overwatch 2 Introduces Its First Free Hero in Season 10
Venture holding her drill and Baptise, Zarya, Pharah, and Lifeweaver standing behind her
Author
Imayen Etim
Imayen Etim is a freelance writer and GameSkinny contributor based in Gainesville, Florida. She can be contacted at imayen.e [at] gmail.com