The original Guitar Hero debuted in November 2005, but the franchise has been in a lull for a long time. The last game, Guitar Hero Live, arrived in 2015 and there hasn’t been any concrete word about a new title since. However, the Guitar Hero fandom lives on in 2025, and there’s a new controller coming to the Wii later this month.
Hyperkin has announced that an updated version of the company’s Wii Guitar is up for preorder ahead of its release date, January 8. It’s called the Hyper Strummer, and it includes support for Wii’s Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles, with the exception of the first Rock Band game.
New Year, New Wii… Guitars. Introducing the HYPER STRUMMER! An updated model of our previous Wii Guitar, we have been working hard and wanted to give you a little surprise of what is to come this year! The HyperStrummer is set to pre orders start NOW! pic.twitter.com/e82FJN6bCk
— Hyperkin (@Hyperkin) January 1, 2025
At $77, the Hyper Strummer is somewhat pricey. But it was made to resemble the classic Guitar Hero controllers. It’s also powered by the Wii remote, so players won’t need to pickup any batteries for this controller. It’s unclear how many Guitar Hero or Rock Band players are still using the Wii in 2025, but presumably Hyperkin took that into account before committing to this project.
Because Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard, the company now controls the fate of any future Guitar Hero games. Earlier this year, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer revealed that he passed on Guitar Hero before it became a breakout hit. In 2022, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick noted that he and Spencer had discussions about bringing Guitar Hero back, but we haven’t heard anything new about those talks since then. Guitar Hero was also one of the finalists to be added to 2024’s class at the Strong Museum’s Video Game Hall of Fame. However, the game wasn’t among the titles selected for that year.
