Guitar Hero 3 First Video Game To Pull In $1 Billion

With the explosion in interest around video games in the last few years, it’s interesting to see that the first individual video game to rack up $1 billion in sales is one that’s all about music – much of it that can safely be considered classic rock, to boot!

Mike Griffith, publishing CEO for Activision announced recently that Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock has generated $1 billion in sales. Griffith revealed the news of the milestone at the Consumer Electronics Show, which wrapped up a couple of days ago in Las Vegas.

One particularly interesting fact relayed by Griffith was that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sold more than three times as many units during the first week of its release as did the group’s most recent album. Perhaps an indication of the way consumers – at least younger ones – are moving when it comes to how they want their musical entertainment presented.

These music-themed games continue to have a significant impact on sales of more traditional products like CD’s, since groups that have been featured on Guitar Hero games have experienced an increase in music downloads between 15 and 843 percent.

Seeing so many classic rock acts featured on games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band has to be heartening to many fans like myself who grew up with this music, and are now beginning to see a whole new generation of young people being turned on to what many of us consider to be the best music of all time.

It looks like whomever coined the phrase “Rock and Roll will never die,” just may have been right.