Ah, Guitar Hero. For me and many other rhythm game fans, you and Rock Band provided quite an experience. Who could forget the plastic guitar phenomenon of the mid-to-late 2000s? Unfortunately, it was not to last the way that other yearly franchises such as Madden and Call of Duty have managed to keep going, as an overload of spinoff titles from both series ended up leading to consumer fatigue and eventual disinterest that ultimately led to the death of new games in both series, as well as the termination of new downloadable songs for the Rock Band franchise last year.
Guitar Hero fans were less fortunate in that regard, as DLC for both it and its fledgling sister series DJ Hero were both cut short in early 2011. Now, it’s about to get even more unfortunate, as series publisher Activision has announced that all downloadable tracks for both franchises will be vanishing for good from the online marketplaces on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii on March 31. No specific reason was cited, but seeing how Harmonix has had to remove certain tracks from the Rock Band library due to licensing deals expiring, it’s a pretty safe bet that Activision was due for some re-licensing, but didn’t see any way to make a profit from the process any more.
The games affected by this include the main Guitar Hero series from Guitar Hero II to the sixth entry, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, the pop-heavy spinoff Band Hero, Guitar Hero: Metallica, DJ Hero, and DJ Hero 2. It is worth noting, though, that many of these songs are now sporting discounts for their remaining availability period, so if you think you might have a hankering to pick a plastic instrument back up someday, now would be a good time to grab any tracks you might have missed.