Guitar Hero is coming to mobile, and stumbles out the block with AI announcement

When it comes to fast-and-furious rhythm games, although the genre never really took off in the West, there was one huge exception: Guitar Hero. Now, this legendary franchise is set to make a comeback, and it's coming to the mobile platform! However, Activision's announcement has hit a sour note right from the start.

Instead of a trailer or a press release, the announcement was made via an AI-generated promotional image on Instagram. This move has overshadowed the excitement of the franchise's return, especially following another widely-reported instance of AI use in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. The use of AI art has drawn significant criticism, leaving fans disappointed.

As for what Guitar Hero Mobile will look and sound like, details are scarce. The series did come to mobile nearly 20 years ago, as shown below, but fans are hoping for something impressive this time around.

Broken strings: Many have criticized the art used in the Guitar Hero Mobile announcement as being egregiously bad, possibly not even created with modern image generators. This could mean that Guitar Hero Mobile might be dead on arrival, especially with strong competition from popular games like Space Ape's BeatStar.

While the idea of Guitar Hero returning is exciting, and there's huge potential for it to work well on mobile, Activision's use of AI art has undeniably struck a wrong chord. Despite the potential positives, the announcement has left much to be desired.

In the meantime, if you're interested in seeing how other top franchises have fared on smartphones, check out the top 9 Final Fantasy games on mobile.