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Marking 20 years after the legendary game first launched in North America, providing players everywhere the means to become a rock star. Not literally, though you'd be hard-pressed telling that someone who's mastered the epic four-minute guitar solo before a packed living-room audience.

Developed by Harmonix, the game provided users with a plastic guitar peripheral to match coloured notes moving along the screen in time with the music. Each riff corresponded to specific notes, producing the feel of an authentic live show.

The studio had already tried its hand with rhythm games before partnering with the publisher, later acquired by Activision in 2006. Collaboratively, they established the foundations for an unlikely massively profitable series which made a significant influence on numerous musicians featured, showcasing classic groups to millions of gaming enthusiasts.

A former executive, ex-chief operating officer from the developer, recalls the early financial challenges of licensing the recordings – even though initial releases mostly used rerecorded tracks.

“We rerecorded every song because the dollar figure was so high,” he says. “Despite having the necessary permissions alone, it was extremely difficult. We couldn’t get bands like the Who – the publisher was operating on a shoestring budget, and our team was pretty convinced it would fail. However, when the game became a hit, album purchases airtime were going up, all artists desired to participate.”

He adds: “One of the amazing things was how many parents reached out and thanked us for introducing their kids to the music they adored. It evolved into a multigenerational thing.”

Timeless Music Gains a New Audience

Irish blues-rock band the Answer had Never Too Late in the 2008 release the popular installment. Guitarist Paul Mahon recalls how the series revived classic rock back into vogue: “The game provided a bigger, younger audience. Generally such music was considered outdated material, but then when it was included in the title and teenagers were finding it, abruptly it became trendy. That legitimised it, eliminating the outdated label. It gave all our music renewed popularity.”

In 2008, the band's debut album was still unreleased stateside, meaning Guitar Hero served as a primary platform for exposure for the band during their US tour supporting the rock giants. “The roadies had on the song during travel, and several knew us from Guitar Hero,” Mahon says.

Major Band Spin-offs Enduring Impact

Rock’s heavyweight names quickly took advantage of the game's success, including bands like Aerosmith, Metallica and others featuring in specialized spin-off titles that focused on each band’s catalogue and related lore, imagery and rock’n’roll mythology. For example, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, it was said to have made the band greater revenue than any of their records. It sold more than half a million units in its first week, and demand for Aerosmith’s music saw an increase of up to 40% during an era when the music business was already collapsing.

Guitar Hero continues to inspire nimble-fingered dedication within the community. Recently, an online personality achieved a remarkable feat of DragonForce’s the challenging track – an infamously tough anthem popularized through the game – using a fan-made version, a freeware game with almost identical mechanics and extensive personalization features. The song is difficult enough on expert mode, not to mention played at double speed and without missing a single one of its near 4,000 notes. They stated it took nine months to accomplish.

“Guitar Hero is a fun, imaginary experience. Just as with Call of Duty, that doesn’t mean you ought to use actual weapons and enlist,” notes musician the artist.

The band had already completed a successful tour before their hit was featured on Guitar Hero III, but Li says it made them a household name. “I recall the record label calling to tell me that we were records were moving like crazy,” he shares. “Popularity surged on the subsequent tour, and we performed just before the headliners at the event.”

Indeed, DragonForce’s exposure from Guitar Hero proved so vast that it has threatened to overshadow everything else accomplishments. Last year, the track was used in a trailer for Despicable Me 4. “In the past I felt differently, but I’ve made peace with it,” Li says. “If you only hear one DragonForce song, that's fine – each person has a unique path in music and I'm pleased we’ve been part of people’s lives”.

Enduring Impact from the Plastic Guitar

Top-tier marketing, be it for automobiles, apparel or games, extends beyond than selling something – it inspires a longing. Was the game able to harness this? “That’s exactly what our team trying to create,” Dornbrook says. “That thrill of being a rock star on the stage. Since the beginning, the co-founders believed there’s an instinctive urge to make music, and they wanted to use technology to enable everyone to participate”.

The majority of Guitar Hero games came out in just a half-decade from 2005 to 2010, featuring spin-offs like the DJ version, including a turntable controller, and the band-focused game. Subsequently, the publisher’s interest in plastic instruments waned, aside from a brief comeback several years later.

Titles like Clone Hero and Fortnite Festival have kept the scene active, with set to be a new product from the founders on the way. A new studio has entered work on their first music game. Original co-founders are both involved as special advisers. Are gamers prepared to welcome another game in the spirit of the classic?

“Our team believed such titles might become like Madden allowing annual releases,” Dornbrook says. “With abundant new music it could remain evergreen, so I’ve always been hopeful. It's entirely possible for it to persist for future fans.”