Guitar Hero III Generates $115m In Seven Days

Officials from Activision have announced that consumer sell through for Guitar Hero II: Legend of Rock has exceeded $115 million within seven days of the game’s North American release, becoming the single largest product launch in the publisher’s history. Activision claims that Guitar Hero has remained the number one best selling franchise in the U.S. throughout September, according to NPD Group data. All three games, and expansion pack Rocks The ‘80s, have now sold more than six million units worldwide, according to combined data from The NPD Group, Chart-Track and Gfk. Guitar Hero III was launched on PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 28th in the U.S. and is due for release in Europe on November 23rd. A PC version is also due for release later this year, although a much rumored Nintendo DS version has still yet to be confirmed. The game’s first song pack has already been released for download online, with The Interscope Soundtrack Pack available exclusively for the Xbox 360 version. Three additional song packs for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions are due to be released in November, containing three songs each. Activision has expressed interest in releasing downloadable content for the Wii version but none has been formally announced. “Guitar Hero III is the game that everyone is talking about. It is the only video game to make the Toys ‘R’ Us Hot Toy list for 2007 and Toy Wishes’ Hot Dozen 2007, which forecast the most popular holiday gifts of the season. Despite having significantly increased our production capabilities for the holiday, there is still a high likelihood that we will not be able to meet demand for this game on every platform,” stated Robert Kotick, Activision chairman and CEO.