If by some odd circumstance there's a downloadable Guitar Hero song you've been meaning to grab, and just haven't managed to get around to it in the nearly four years (!!!) since a new one of those games came out, you might want to do that soon. Because that song, along with all the other downloadable Guitar Hero tracks, are going to disappear from the online marketplace. Like, permanently.

Activision has announced that it is about to end its DLC support for all of its various plastic instrument titles, which include DJ Hero, Band Hero, and the many sequels and band-specific titles made under the Guitar Hero banner. No, I'm not talking about adding new songs to those games--they stopped doing that ages ago. I mean that the DLC stores for those games are about to become altogether empty. According to the publisher (as first reported by IGN), March 31 is the deadline for anyone still interested in picking up an extra DLC song or two. After that, the online servers for the game will remain online, and any songs purchased prior to that date will still be functional in whatever game you happen to be playing. But following that deadline, all DLC songs will disappear from the online marketplace, presumably never to return.

This isn't terribly surprising news. Following Harmonix's halting of new DLC for its Rock Band online stores, the developer revealed that it would have to go through the process of relicensing those DLC tracks as contracts expired. In some cases, that's resulted in individual tracks and packs exiting the online store. In Activision's case, it sounds like the publisher wasn't much interested in trying to re-up those deals on a case-by-case basis, and instead is just wiping the stores.

The good news is that you still have a couple of weeks to grab whatever songs you might have been holding out on purchasing, and at least some of those tracks will be sold at a discounted rate until the March 31 deadline. So presuming you haven't already regretfully sold off all your plastic instruments, there's no time like the present to get that super hot Linkin Park A Thousand Suns pack, or the entirety of Oasis' completely forgettable 2008 album Dig Out Your Soul. Or you could buy one of the dozens of not-terrible songs the franchise also had for sale, I suppose. Whatever makes you happy.

While the invasion of plastic instruments had it's time, I wonder the extra content ever will be available in other forms. Free for instance (the beatmaps, not the song itself). All those DLC beat maps shouldn't be left out there hanging.

No more heroes.

What's a guitar hero?

I got a copy of DJ Hero 2 a couple years ago for nearly free. Still wondering if it's worth grabbing that DLC. Probably not. Bummer it won't even be an option soon. They should just discount it all to crazy cheap the day before they take it off. Might as well get something for it before never getting anything for it again.

I completely forgot that Activision made a game called Band Hero.

Was there ever a Jim Croce DLC? I may have to finally get Guitar Hero if they have that.

This reminds me... I kind of miss Rock Band games :(.

Did they ever release Television or Smiths songs for these games? I always felt like whenever I looked through the store it was all music I had hardly any interest in.

I bought GH3 just so I could play the Halo 2 theme, which was DLC. Worth it?

Four years? Fuck man just remembering how popular those games were its crazy how far from the public conscious it is now in a quick time.

That over saturation really did a lot of damage

Looks like another stretch of my seeing DJ Hero for dirt cheap, being tempted to but it, then never doing it

I might actually get a couple of those DJ Hero packs. That game is awesome.

If this isn't the last song downloaded I'll be disappointed

How much does every song cost? I want to do something stupid.

Good thing I already imported the discs for Guitar Hero 5. And bought Juke Box Hero.

Rock Band 3 had "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" and there were probably others you could buy.

I have actually been meaning to pick up DJ Hero 2 after I finally went back and enjoyed the shit out of the original DJ Hero last year. Better sure one of the track packs had Tone-Loc on it so I BETTER GET THAT HOT BANGER BEFORE IT'S GONE.

I also totally forgot that Band Hero ever existed.

EDIT: Annnnd I just bought a new copy of DJ Hero 2 on eBay for €6. Huzzah.

That and lets face it, they were never actually good games. Kinda like Wii Sports, kinda novel at the time but as actual games they suck. Hitting buttons on command isn't my idea of a good time even though it was vaguely amusing while drunk at parties.

lets hope in the future, someone saved all the songs and is hosting a server for historical preservation of buying DLC Music.

Really preserving the medium, these Activision guys.

Good riddance.

I'll be kinda sad when this happens to the Rock Band store, tho.

Did they mention if only songs you have currently downloaded will work, or will we be able to redownload songs we've purchased should a console burn out on us?

That's a very important distinction.

Slightly OT, but where is my DJ Hero sequel/spiritual successor? Electronic music has gotten way bigger in the US since that series was released; someone needs to make money off of that shit.

Dj hero 2 is great if the doc is crazy on sale I'll grab a couple

Dig Out Your Soul wasn't... No, nevermind, it's pretty bad, carry on Navarro.

@mysteriousbob: They are rhythm games, and very, very good ones. Hitting buttons on demand is what that genre is, so you just dismissed an entire genre with that statement.

@amyggen: they were great games it's just unlike most rhythm games there were much more big bulky pieces of plastic that came with it. Add that activistion released 3 or 4 games a year at it peak and people turned on it . Retailers even quicker .

@landonrobinson: If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure the content still exists on the servers. It just isn't available for sale any longer. It should still exist in your download history.

I remember when I downloaded my music back when Rock Band was released, thinking it was a bad idea because I knew one day the songs would be all gone. That day is quickly approaching. What I did not factor in was not giving a shit when it finally happened. You couldn't pay me to go through and find/hook-up/re-download all that shit on a platform I don't even own anymore. Sad, because this certainly wont be the end of this. Guess I can finally throw out all that gear. Ridiculous I still have them. I know.

Too bad this is the only series which has Muse songs. T_T

@darkstalker: Oh to be sure, I'm not arguing that. Activision ran that shit in the ground and then stomped on it. I was just arguing that especially Guitar Hero was really good regardless of Activision running it into the ground.

Well, fuck. Totally broke until the day after it goes offline, and I'd been meaning to buy the DJ Hero and DJH2 DLC for a while.

As one of the two people who still give a damn about rhythm games, this is unfortunate. Totally understandable, but unfortunate.

wii sports is not a bad game, I have never had a bad time playing it.

And lo, the plastic instrument fad reached its conclusion. For the markets did close forever and ever, never again to accept payment for the hymns of Cobain. Amen.

I think I own basically every song available for those games.

Okay.

Cool.

@hailinel said:

And Beatmania IIDX, Pop'n Music, Guitar Freaks, and Drummania all still continue on to this day in Japanese arcades, unconcerned with all of this.

I'll be there with my "Good Riddance" post ready.

Maaann... I really liked DJ Hero.

Once I went the way of Rock Band, I never looked back. Guitar Hero always ended up looking incredibly shallow in comparison. Added to that, their suite of DLC always felt incredibly lacking, especially compared to what Harmonix were putting out on a regular basis.

I will hold out hope that the rhythm game craze will come full circle once again, in due course.

@nmc2008 said:

Any particular reason why? Does this affect you in any way? Or do you just like to be super negative on the internet? Because that's such an original POV.

Sad to see this one song go

I have all the songs I want but I might buy some more just in case.

How much plastic controllers do people still have? I got my keyboard and the do controller. That's all I care to own. I could see myself hooking up rb3 as a keyboard learning tool but who knows

HEAR THAT DRAKE?! THE GRAVY TRAIN'S THROUGH!

@mysteriousbob: I'd say the first two Guitar Heroes were good games and all the main Rock Bands were good games. I never really played any other ones, but I don't see how they are bad games in anyway. True they aren't games you get heavily invested in and are more of a party game, but that doesn't make them not good.

That doesn't surprise me, the games are better suited to the arcade format (fuck having that plastic crap hanging around your house) and they are usually higher quality 'instruments'.

I've deleted my GH songs for the sake of hard drive management so I guess I should download those songs again?

Funny (or sad) thing I noticed btw, the very first thing on my download list is the Haze demo. Out of all things, why the Haze demo.

I remember when ever you'd want new dlc for a good game on xbox live you had to browse threw all the Rockband/guitar hero quick cash in dlc songs before finding it... Definetly don't miss that part of the market place!! Good riddens.

I wonder if they'll play DJ Hero on Unprofessional Friday this week. They should.

Thankfully Rock Band Customs means for Band Hero and Guitar Hero at least we should be okay