Lost (2004–2010) Season 1 had plenty of unforgettable moments, but John Locke’s introduction hits differently. Michael Giacchino’s score makes the whole scene feel timeless.
Activision paid $99.9 million for Guitar Hero's publisher in 2006, made over $2 billion off the franchise, then killed the entire genre in four years. Today that publisher's name came back from the dead to sell plastic guitars again.
RedOctane was two brothers, Kai and Charles Huang, who started out selling dance pads. They published the first Guitar Hero in 2005 and it hit $1 billion in North American sales in 26 months, faster than any franchise before it.
So Activision did what Activision does. Annualize.
In 2009 alone they shipped Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, DJ Hero, and Guitar Hero editions for Metallica, Van Halen, and Smash Hits. Six music games in twelve months.
That playbook works for Call of Duty because a sequel only asks for $60. A Guitar Hero sequel asked you to justify the $100 plastic guitar already in your closet, and every new SKU competed with the last one on the same shelf. Genre revenue went from $1.7 billion in 2008 to about $300 million in 2010. Activision shut down RedOctane, then the whole Guitar Hero business unit.
They strip-mined ten years of demand into three.
Now the Huang brothers are back as advisors at a revived RedOctane, the studio head is a Guitar Hero veteran, and Stage Tour launches December 10 with 90 licensed songs and 180 real Gibson guitars. Fifteen years of untouched demand, and the people who invented the genre finally get a second run at it.
🚨🎙️Reporter: “Wayne, a lot of people are saying that challenge was a clear red card. What’s your take?”
🗣️Wayne Rooney: “A red card? Never. I’ve watched football long enough to know the difference between a hard challenge and a sending-off. The funny thing is, the outrage only seems this loud because it’s Messi involved. If that was any other player, we’d have moved on within five minutes.”
🎙️Reporter: “So you think people are overreacting?”
🗣️Rooney: “Absolutely. Every little incident becomes a global crisis when Messi is on the pitch. People are crying for a red card because it fits the narrative they want. For me, it’s a foul, nothing more. Football has become far too dramatic.”
No tiene comparación. En realidad, en la evaluación futbolística global, nunca la tuvo. Pero hoy, y desde hace unos años, su superioridad es inobjetable. Lionel Messi es el mejor jugador de la historia. Si alguien te lo discute, no entiende un carajo de fútbol. Así de claro.