More Hero discs due next year

The CEO of Guitar Hero has confirmed to MCV that retailers can expect more disc-based releases for its music games in 2010.

In an exclusive interview, Activision’s music game boss Dan Rosensweig said retailers can expect more Guitar Hero, DJ Hero and Band Hero games next year – but perhaps not as many as the various different expansions that hit this year.

Instead, the firm is simultaneously beefing up its DLC strategy in a bid to boost retail sales.

You’ll certainly see a DJ Hero and the next iterations of Guitar Hero and Band Hero. But we’ll see how the market plays out and what the opportunities are. What you will see is the games become more vibrant and live longer [at retail] due to connectivity,” said Rosensweig.

The next Hero game, DJ Hero, arrives at retail at the end of the month with its own turntable peripheral. Family-oriented Band Hero is released in November.

Retail is the primary source of revenue for the Hero franchise due to its bundled instruments – Activision now wants to start releasing more digital content as an incentive to drive people back in store.

Said Rosensweig: We are really happy to be mostly purchased via retail – and we intend for that to remain our primary route to market. We don’t see physical and digital as one versus the other – retailers enjoy the fact that the two complement each other.

We will focus on what the fans want – we are working on our 2010 slate, and you might see fewer SKUs, but we will focus on the best games, the most-highly reviewed titles that continue to lead the category in terms of innovation.”