Expansion to the Guitar Hero franchise will be coming in many forms in 2009, with five major releases planned in the Hero franchise. While Guitar Hero 5 is expected to arrive in September, other releases will push the franchise in some new directions.

While Activision has not settled on the exact name for the fifth Guitar Hero title, currently everyone continues to just call it Guitar Hero 5 until more information on the title is released by Activision. It is currently thought that the fifth Guitar Hero will be released on multiple platforms, including the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, and Xbox 360.

Beyond Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Van Halen is expected to arrive in August. The new DJ Hero is slated for October, Band Hero should hit the streets in November, and the Drum Hero should drop in the same time frame. While the dates for appearance are still somewhat in flux, Activision does seem to want to capitalize on the popularity of the franchise by both pushing the franchise in new directions while at the same time trying to attract new players with something for everyone.


The Guitar Hero series continue to be a cash cow for Activision and the company does not seem at this point to fear any burnout among players. We think it will be interesting to see how players react to the new editions in the franchise and what the sales numbers will be for these new titles in comparison to the actual Guitar Hero 5 release.