Guitar Hero has reached a milestone: In the 26 months since the first Guitar Hero title was released for the PlayStation 2, the rock-and-roll franchise has hit the $1 billion U.S. mark in its North American sales.

Activision, the game’s publisher, was quick to point out that Guitar Hero III broke sales records by both unit volume and dollar value for a single calendar year. Michael Griffith, Activision’s president and CEO, commented on the event:

“Guitar Hero is one of the biggest brands and one of the most powerful distribution platforms in all of entertainment today. Guitar Hero’s popularity with broad audiences is a confirmation that video games have become a true mass medium.”

The first Guitar Hero title hit the PlayStation 2 console in November 2005, and since then has spawned three sequels. The collective total sales is in the neighbourhood of 14 million units.

A big help to Activision in the dollar count is that each Guitar Hero title is sold both as a stand-alone disc and in a bundle with the guitar peripheral that allows gamers to rock-out in style rather than play with a standard game pad. Most Guitar Hero players have at least one guitar, while others purchased the new peripheral with each release, driving up the average dollar value of each sale.

Activision also said that in the weeks since Guitar Hero III was released, over five million add-on songs have been downloaded for the game.

Tags: activision, guitar hero, sales record

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