Report: Activision bringing Guitar Hero back to consoles, maybe even this year

Four days after a report said Rock Band would return to console gaming, another report says Guitar Hero will make a comeback. Kotaku U.K., citing two different unnamed sources, says it may even launch this year.

Kotaku U.K. reports one source saying Activision will announce the series' return at E3 2015. The game will be made for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and, yes, new instrument peripherals are included in the plans. Visually, crowds and performers will take on more realistic looks, as opposed to the cartoony style of the original series.

Guitar Hero was once a cash register for Activision, bringing in $2 billion in revenue, lifetime, by 2009. But its overexposure through annual releases and spinoffs, and the global economic collapse of late 2008, sapped its consumer appeal. In early 2011 Activision put it on ice indefinitely.

Activision gave a coy no-comment to Kotaku U.K. that left open the possibility the rumor is on the level. "[We] have previously said, that as one of the most beloved entertainment franchises, we would only bring Guitar Hero back if we developed the right innovations to usher the franchise into the new generation of gaming."