The original Guitar Hero debuted in November 2005, but the franchise has been in a lull for a long time. The last game, Guitar Hero Live, was released in 2015, and there has been no specific mention of a new title since then. But the Guitar Hero fandom continues in 2025, with a new controller coming to the Wii later this month.
Hyperkin has announced that an updated version of its Wii Guitar will be taking pre-orders ahead of its January 8 release date. The product is called Hyper Strummer and includes support for the Wii’s Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles, excluding the first title. Rock band game.
New year, new Wii…etc. Introducing the Hyper Strummer! With this updated model of the previous Wii Guitar, we’ve been working hard and wanted to give you a little surprise to see what’s coming this year! HyperStrummer is set to take pre-orders now! pic.twitter.com/e82FJN6bCk
— Hyperkin (@Hyperkin) January 1, 2025
At $77, the Hyper Strummer is a bit pricey. However, it is made to resemble the classic Guitar Hero controller. It’s also powered by the Wii Remote, so players don’t have to pick up batteries for this controller. It’s unclear how many Guitar Hero or Rock Band players will still be using Wii in 2025, but perhaps Hyperkin took this into consideration before starting this project.
Now that Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard, the company now controls the fate of future Guitar Hero games. Earlier this year, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer revealed that he took over Guitar Hero before it became a huge hit. In 2022, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick noted that he and Spencer had discussed bringing Guitar Hero back, but we haven’t heard anything new about those discussions since. Guitar Hero was also one of the finalists to be added to the Class of 2024 at the Strong Museum’s Video Game Hall of Fame. However, the game was not included in the selected titles that year.
