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30 percent of Guitar Hero players are girls

• By John Davison
• October 30, 2009 11:52 AM PST
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Activision's goal is to expand the franchise to attract new players with differing tastes, but Guitar Hero CEO Dan Rosensweig is quick to note that the franchise already has a large female following.

In anticipation of this week's release of DJ Hero, and in response to questions about the viability of the music genre as a whole, Fortune posted an interview with Guitar Hero CEO and president Dan Rosensweig today to press him on the future of the genre, and the competitive situation with Rock Band. After deftly dodging nearly all of Fortune's more pressing questions about the prospects of the business, he did divulge some details on the label's strategy for expansion beyond Guitar Hero 5.

DJ Hero is just one important step, as it introduces a new way of playing, a new kind of set-list, and a new intended-audience, but possibly more important is the expansion into the broader family and female-focused markets. Band Hero is one of the first steps into this area, and that product is predominantly focused on bringing families together with "safer" musical choices that bump the game's rating to an "Everyone 10+" (for "Mild Lyrics," and "Mild Suggestive Themes") versus the "Teen" rating for Guitar Hero 5. Interestingly, despite the "family" focus, the ESRB has already noted that Band Hero includes scenes of "pole dancing" and "fantastical succubus with cleavage and panties." Many families' (and female players too) primary complaint with Guitar Hero and Rock Band in the past has been the fact that some of the lyrics can get a bit saucy. For moms and dads, the thought of gathering together with the kids to sing rousing anthems about sex and drugs can be a little uncomfortable, and there's understandably an assumption that this won't be the case with a "family" oriented edition of the franchise. According to the ESRB, this might not be the case however. The rating notes that the songs included feature lines such as "I'm so horny," and "your sex is on fire." Perhaps not something a kids wants to hear their dad singing either, we'd wager.

Regardless, Rosensweig did divulge some information about the current audience for Guitar Hero, stating that "A very large group really wants great guitar music, and they don't want us to confuse that. And there's another group of people who love that, but also love to have more current music, more family music, music more popular for girls -- 30 percent of our players are already girls, and we want that to grow. One of the great things about having a franchise like this is you can really meet all kinds of consumer demand."

The current set-list for Band Hero includes more of an emphasis on female artists including Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson, Joss Stone, No Doubt, Spice Girls, Lily Allen and Hilary Duff.

UPDATE: In keeping with the girl-friendly vibe of Band Hero it seems that Activision is leaning on brands to assert this. Amazon has just updated its product listing for the game as Band Hero featuring Taylor Swift.

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