In a conference call on Wednesday, Activision Blizzard announced that they will be releasing less than 10 Guitar Hero game SKUs this year, down from the staggering 25 released during the course of 2009. Meanwhile, Call of Duty fans can expect the seventh instalment of the first person shooter series in 2010.
As reported by 1UP, while the number of Guitar Hero game SKUs counts each platform as a single game, it is still a noticeable change. The figures also include a new Guitar Hero game - quite likely Guitar Hero 6 which is expected to be completed in April.
A number of lay-offs and closures at Activision have also been confirmed, including RedOctane who were the original publishers of Guitar Hero before they were taken over by Activision in 2006. However, Kotaku reports that those directly responsible for the Guitar Hero controllers will keep their jobs and now work for Activision directly.
Luxoflux, known for games such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is also going to be closed, although Kotaku suggests that some staff will be moved to Call of Duty developers Treyarch. Neversoft is also reported to be dropping the Guitar Hero team once Guitar Hero 6 is completed in April, with the franchise possibly being moved to Vicarious Visions.
And perhaps not surprisingly, the company said that Call of Duty will be moving to an annual release, starting with the yet to be named Call of Duty 7, which is expected later this year. Although Activision didn't give any details about the game's setting, they told 1UP that they do not expect Call of Duty 7 to be as successful as Modern Warfare 2 was.
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