Remember when Guitar Hero was sitting atop the rhythm gaming world? The dream is now officially dead, with Activision disbanding its Guitar Hero franchise, canceling the 2011 release, and moving its focus to franchises with a more reliable earning potential.

"...Due to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing's Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011," the company announced in its lasted earnings report. "The company also will stop development on True Crime: Hong Kong. These decisions are based on the desire to focus on the greatest opportunities that the company currently has to create the world's best interactive entertainment experiences."

This is a big move, but it's not particularly shocking. Sales of music games have been decreasing steadily, and last year's Guitar Hero 5: Warriors of Rock was a purely mediocre product. The company had not innovated the series in some time, nor has the franchise displayed the earning potential that Activision prizes.

The cancellation of the True Crime reboot is much more surprising, as the game looked impressive the last time we saw it, and the name seemed to retain some of its interest with consumers.

There is also some evidence that layoffs hit Vicarious Visions, which developed Wii versions of Guitar Hero games, along with Freestyle Games, the developer of the DJ Hero series.