Guitar Hero veterans reopen rhythm game developer RedOctane Games

It has been announced that former Guitar Hero and DJ Hero developers have formed RedOctane Games, a new studio focused on rhythm games that shares the name of the original studio shuttered under Activision in 2010.

The details:

• As announced on Wednesday, the studio consists of “creators and developers who helped create and scale Guitar Hero and DJ Hero nearly two decades ago, as well as proven emerging development talent and community leaders from across today’s rhythm gaming space.” RedOctane is part of Embracer Group’s “Freemode” subsidiary, which provides support to independent companies within the gaming industry.
• The developer is being led by Simon Ebejer, a former Vicarious Visions and Blizzard executive who served as a production director on a number of Guitar Hero games under Neversoft. It has confirmed that it is already working on a rhythm game, which will be revealed sometime this year. “Rhythm games are about more than just gameplay; they're about feel, flow, and connection to the music and to each other,” Ebejer said. “RedOctane Games is our way of giving back to a genre that means so much to us, while pushing it forward in new and exciting directions.”
• The original iteration of RedOctane was the publisher of Harmonix’s Guitar Hero and its sequel before being acquired in a $100 million deal with Activision in 2006. The studio continued to operate under the Activision brand as Neversoft took over Guitar Hero but would later be shuttered in 2010. The founders of the original developer, Charles and Kai Huang, are involved in the new studio as advisors.

More gaming news:

• Popular Japanese charity speedrunning event RTA has been forced to pull Nintendo games from its line-up after the company stated that it would need permission for each title played during the event.
• MiHoYo is pulling the plug on support for the PS4 version of Genshin Impact next year due to technical limitations.