Does Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard give Guitar Hero a new lease of life?

techradar.com:

A bevy of franchises will likely soon be joining team Xbox, as Microsoft today announced it’s agreed to buy gaming publisher Activision Blizzard for close to $70 billion. Alongside Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, and other huge brands making their to the company’s portfolio, another much-loved series received a mention: Guitar Hero.

The rhythm game series got a brief shoutout on the official Xbox website, hailing it as one of many titles heading to Microsoft, along with the likes of Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft, and Overwatch.

It’s the first mention of Guitar Hero from a games publisher in several years, as the series hit a dry patch of mainline releases some years ago after focusing on a mobile release.

The most recent game in the series, Guitar Hero Live, was released back in 2015 to a middling critical and commercial reception. So much so that Activision sold its developer, FreeStyle Games, to Ubisoft a couple of years later.

Microsoft’s decision to highlight the brand in today’s acquisition statements might suggest it has a brighter future ahead.

Once a beloved game for letting you live out your rock ’n’ roll dreams in the innocent safety net of your own bedroom (with a miniature plastic guitar to boot), Guitar Hero had a solid run that ran out of steam by the early 2010s. The attempt to revive the brand with Guitar Hero Live, which had the added novelty of accompanying POV videos taken from the perspective of professional lead guitarists, didn’t pan out.

So, what’s likely to happen to the franchise under Microsoft’s wing? It might be prudent to expect a big push on mobile. Alongside all its talk in today’s announcement about Xbox Game Pass, streaming, and reaching new players, Microsoft hasn’t been quiet about setting its