One of the most unique gaming experiences was offered for decades by Activision’s Guitar Hero but we haven’t seen a main entry into the franchise since 2015. Activision released Guitar Hero Live and with its mediocre release (in terms of profits), most of us agreed this long-running series needs a break. However, it seems it might finally be time for it to come back.

Activision filed a new patent earlier this year for what sounds like an upcoming Guitar Hero game. To add to the speculation, an image is found alongside the patent that’s sure to excite fans of Guitar Hero. The following document is filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Are We Seeing a New Guitar Hero?

Utility Patent Application (A1) June 27, 2019 Applicants: Activision Publishing, Inc. Inventors: Michael J. Chrzanowski, Jonathan L. Hilliker, Robert L. Gallerani A music-based video game provides a user-directed sound generation feature. In some embodiments, the user is provided a video game controller simulating a musical instrument, which the user may operate similarly to its real musical instrument counterpart. A free play feature is provided for users to operate the video game controller, where a processor of a video game console receives input signals from the video game controller and outputs audio samples based on the received input signals. During the free play feature, multiple suggestions as to how to operate the video game controller are simultaneously provided to give users some guidance as to what to play using the video game controller.

They are calling it a “Music video game with user-directed sound generation,” so basically Guitar Hero?

My lack of how patents work means I can only speculate if this is for a fresh game or just a renewal for the existing franchise. But this is the only ray of hope Guitar Hero fans have seen for close to 4 years. Does this mean an upcoming Guitar Hero game is in development? Will we see this IP again? We’ll have to wait and see.