“Guitar Hero” Makers Want to Compete With iTunes
After selling 20 million copies and earning over a billion dollars, Activision Blizzard, the company behind Guitar Hero, think the next logical step for the franchise is to open up an iTunes-like digital music store. "I don't think there have been a lot of credible alternatives to iTunes, but Guitar Hero certainly has that potential," Bobby Kotick, chief executive of Activision Blizzard said, adding that "the natural evolution" of the franchise would be to create an online music platform. Activision Blizzard was formed yesterday as the result of the merger between Activision (the distributors of the Guitar Hero franchise) and Vivendi Games, the group responsible for World of Warcraft and the gaming arm of the company that also owns Universal Music. No solid plans are in place, but considering the business they've already done, the true competitor to the Apple empire may have just entered the arena.