Guitar Hero
In 2015, Activision announced the first new title to the series in 5 years, "Guitar Hero Live", released in October 2015. The title is considered a reboot of the series, with development being performed by FreeStyleGames, who had developed the "DJ Hero" games previously. As of December 1, 2018, Activision disabled the GHTV servers for Guitar Hero Live, reducing playable content from approximately 500 songs to 42 on disc tracks.
Harmonix
At this time, RedOctane, a peripheral manufacturing company who had enjoyed Harmonix' previous games, approached Harmonix about developing the software for a game that would be based on a guitar-shaped controller, inspired by the "GuitarFreaks" which was popular in Japan. This relationship led to the creation of "Guitar Hero", published by RedOctane in 2005. The game features similar gameplay elements to "FreQuency" and "Amplitude". "Guitar Hero" uses a guitar-shaped controller designed uniquely for the game. Specifically, the "Guitar Hero" controller was designed with five color-coded "fret" buttons and a "strum bar". "Guitar Hero" became largely successful, both critically and commercially, resulting in the well-received 2006 sequel "Guitar Hero II", also developed by Harmonix.