Along with the other fields of the entertainment industry, many people find great interest when new gross records are broken. This has dated back to the early 90s, when the iconic puzzle game Myst was hot on the shelves. The record was held until the release of The Sims in 1999, which proved to be unimaginably popular, with today's number of copies sold ranging around fifty million. Yesterday, on January 12, it was announced by Activision Blizzard CEO Mike Griffith that Guitar Hero III became a billion dollar success.

Today's three home consoles have offered new appeal to a wider audience and due to the fact that Guitar Hero III is universally available and unique, it is no wonder that it has become a best-seller. There are a number of variables beyond Guitar Hero's individuality that makes it have such a high grosser. The price tag is fairly hefty for a game, boosting the sales from every package sold. The availability is very strong and the series has a considerable fanbase.

Along with the obvious marketing reasons, (such as Activision's spoken commitment to franchises that gross north of 100 million dollars,) the Guitar Hero download support that is endorsed by the artists themselves is favorable. In fact, statistics show that the download rate of songs have increased from 15% to 843%. Mike Griffith has expressed his pleasure that the Guitar Hero community site has 600 thousand user accounts and the song download number is currently upwards of 21 million.

Griffith also commented about the game's success, "Video games are overtaking movies, recorded music and TV - these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors. Video games are poised to eclipse all other forms of entertainment in the decade ahead."