Activision: Guitar Hero III is first title to generate sales of $1 billion

Activision recently announced that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has become the first game ever to reach $1 billion in sales. This comes a little under a year from when the publisher announced that the Guitar Hero franchise had surpassed the billion dollar mark. Not bad for a series the company picked up for a pittance at $100 million in 2006.

The success of the franchise isn't just good news for the game industry, as Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith has cited Nielson SoundScan data, which claims that artists featured in the Guitar Hero series have seen download sales increase between 15-843%. As for the publisher's financial standing, if GameStop's top selling holiday titles are any indication, Activision should enjoy a lucrative quarter headlined by Guitar Hero World Tour, Call of Duty: World at War and that Lich King guy from the World of Warcraft.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/12/ac...rate-sales-of/