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Marking 20 years after the legendary game first launched in North America, giving everyday gamers the opportunity to feel like rock legends. Figuratively speaking, but try telling that anyone who's mastered Free Bird’s lengthy guitar solo before an enthusiastic crowd of friends.

Created by the developers, Guitar Hero gave players a guitar-shaped controller to follow coloured notes moving along the screen synchronized to the music. Every sequence corresponded to particular chords, creating the feel of an authentic performance.

Harmonix had already experimented in the music genre prior to teaming up with the publisher, later acquired by Activision in 2006. Together, they laid the groundwork for an unlikely massively profitable franchise which made a remarkable impact on numerous musicians included, showcasing classic bands to a new generation of younger players.

Michael Dornbrook, ex-chief operating officer of Harmonix, remembers the early financial challenges in securing the songs – even though the first two games primarily featured rerecorded tracks.

“We reproduced every song since the cost prohibitive,” he explains. “Despite having the publishing rights by themselves, it was extremely difficult. We failed to secure bands like the Who – the publisher had virtually no money, and we were fairly certain the project would flop. But once the game took off, album purchases and radio play increased, all artists desired to participate.”

He continues: “Among the amazing things was how many mothers and fathers got in touch expressing gratitude for introducing their kids to the music they loved. It evolved into an intergenerational phenomenon.”

Classic Rock Gains a New Audience

Irish group the Answer included Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Lead musician Paul Mahon recalls the way the game revived older hits back into vogue: “Guitar Hero provided a larger, younger audience. Generally such music was considered music that was past it, but then when it was included in the game and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it was cool. This validated it, and got rid of the outdated label. It gave our catalog renewed popularity.”

At that time, the band's debut album was still not available in the US, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform of discovery for the band during their a North American tour supporting AC/DC. “Their crew had on Never Too Late during travel, and some of them knew us from Guitar Hero,” he notes.

Major Band Spin-offs and Lasting Influence

Music's heavyweight names soon capitalised on the series’ popularity, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen featuring in dedicated spin-off titles centered around their music collections and associated lore, visuals and rock’n’roll mythology. In the case of, the Aerosmith edition, it was said earned the group more money compared to their records. It moved more than 500,000 units in its first week, and sales of their songs saw an increase significantly during an era as the industry was already collapsing.

Guitar Hero still motivates quick-handed dedication within the community. Earlier this year, an online personality achieved an impressive attempt featuring Through the Fire and Flames – a notoriously difficult power-metal song made popular by the game – using a fan-made version, a no-cost alternative with almost identical gameplay but an array of personalization features. This track is challenging enough on expert mode, let alone played at double speed while hitting a single one of the thousands of cues. They claimed it took nine months to accomplish.

“The game is a fun, fantasy thing. Just as with other games, that doesn’t mean you should use actual weapons and go to war,” notes musician Herman Li.

DragonForce previously wrapped up a profitable run when their hit was featured in the third game, but Li says it made them widely recognized. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that we were selling albums like crazy,” he says. “It exploded on the subsequent tour, and we were playing right ahead of top acts at the event.”

Indeed, the band's visibility via the game proved so vast that it has risked overshadow everything else the band has done. Recently, the song was used in a trailer for a major film. “In the past I felt otherwise, but I’ve made peace with it,” he admits. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – everyone’s got a unique musical journey and I’m glad we’ve been part in fans' experiences”.

Enduring Legacy from the Iconic Controller

The best marketing, be it for automobiles, clothes or games, goes further mere transactions – it inspires a longing. Did Guitar Hero harness this? “Precisely what our team aiming to achieve,” Dornbrook says. “The excitement of being a rock star on the stage. From day one, the co-founders felt that humans have a natural urge to make music, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to do it”.

The majority installments were released in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, including derivative titles such as the DJ version, complete with a turntable controller, and Band Hero. After that, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments died down, except for a short-lived revival several years later.

Titles like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have maintained the community alive, with expectations of something from the original publisher on the way. Recently formed developers has entered work on their first music game. The initial creators are participating as special advisers. Is the world ready to embrace another game following Guitar Hero?

“Our team believed such titles might become similar to sports games allowing annual update every year,” he remarks. “There’s so much new music that it could be evergreen, thus I remain optimistic. It's entirely possible why it can’t continue for future fans.”