Acti explains Guitar Hero, True Crime cull

The Guitar Hero franchise has been officially killed off following consistent decline in the music sector, Activision has announced.

"Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," explained a statement from the publisher.

Redundancies at series developer Vicarious Visions have not been officially confirmed.

Activision also confirmed that forthcoming open-world action title True Crime: Hong Kong has been axed, though its explanation for that decision was rather less coherent.

"The company also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."

Again, details of any lay-offs at developer United Front have not yet been released.