In 2008, Activision released its first-ever entry in the Guitar Hero video game series to focus entirely on a single band. Entitled Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the installment, of course, featured a selection of songs by Aerosmith, including such hits as “Sweet Emotion,” “Livin’ on the Edge,” “Dream On,” and “Walk This Way.”
The game’s success led to other band-specific entries in the series, with later releases being centered around Metallica and Van Halen. The folks responsible for the Rock Band games clearly took notice, and before long, they churned out their own themed projects showcasing the catalogs of groups like the Beatles and Green Day.
Speaking of how well the Aerosmith entry did, just weeks after it came out, Billboard made note of a 40% increase in the band’s album sales. A few months later, CBS News reported that the game had already sold one million copies. By April 2010, that number had risen to 3.6 million. As of right now, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is considered to be the highest-grossing band-centric video game out of all the Guitar Hero and Rock Band releases.
Aerosmith Once Made a Video Game That Became One of Their Biggest Money-Makers Ever
In fact, the installment raked in so much money that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick claimed it was the most successful project the band had ever worked on. “[Their] version of Guitar Hero generated far more in revenues than any Aerosmith album ever has,” said Kotick during the company’s analyst day presentation in September 2008. “Merchandising, concert sales, their ability to sign a new contract [have] all been unbelievably influenced by their participation in Guitar Hero.”
Kotick’s assertion has understandably raised a few eyebrows over the years because a quick glance at Aerosmith’s album sales reveals that eight of their records have sold more than 3.6 million copies. However, when you consider that the Aerosmith edition of Guitar Hero retailed for around $100, the statement makes a lot more sense. Factoring in the aforementioned merchandising and ticket sales, there’s no telling how much the band members ultimately got out of the deal. But one thing’s for sure: It was not a poor business decision on their end.
The post This Aerosmith Project Made Way More Money Than Any of Their Albums appeared first on VICE.
