Activision launches refund scheme for Guitar Hero Live players after it withdraws its song library

Activision has opened a refund program for Guitar Hero Live players in the US after the publisher pulled support for Guitar Hero TV, removing all but 42 songs from its song library, which had previously housed almost 500 tracks.

While the lawsuit filed against the publisher was dismissed, the company has now voluntarily opened a refund scheme for anyone who bought the game – which was originally released in October 2015 – in the US between December 1st, 2017 and January 1st, 2019.

"Activision is offering a voluntary refund program for customers who bought the Guitar Hero Live gaming system on or after December 1, 2017, in the United States," the website says (thanks, Digital Trends). "Customers may qualify for a refund if: they purchased Guitar Hero Live in the United States during the period starting December 1, 2017, and ending on January 1, 2019; they submit a completed Claim Form by the deadline of May 1, 2019; and their purchase of Guitar Hero Live since December 2017 can be confirmed by Activision."

To claim, players are required to provide a receipt or a copy of their bank/credit card statement, but even if they have not retained proof of purchase, Activision "will attempt to verify [the] eligibility" of all claims, even those without a receipt. The amount refunded to players will depend upon what their purchase price and will not exceed the standard retail price.

We’ve reached out to Activision but right now, there’s seemingly no similar scheme in place for players in the UK or Europe.

In other Activision news, the company is reportedly laying off "hundreds" of staff later today, Tuesday, February 12th, amid rumours it is restructuring to "centralise functions and boost profits". Anonymous sources believe the layoffs will primarily affect staff outside the development teams, such as marketing, publishing, and sales. It’s thought the cuts will be announced ahead of the company’s scheduled quarterly earnings call on Tuesday.

There’s been a lot of change at Activision recently. Activision Blizzard recently parted ways with its CFO, Spencer Neumann, and re-appointed its previous CFO, Denis Durkin, to the position instead.

Activision Blizzard recently released its Q3 2018 financial results and reported revenues of $1.51bn (£1.16bn). The firm expected revenues of $1.49bn so it’s up compared to its prior outlook but slightly down year-on-year as it made $1.61bn (1.24bn) during Q3 2017. Breaking down the revenue by company, then-CFO Neumann revealed Activision’s Q3 revenue reached $397m (£305m), with the "key contributors [being] Call of Duty digital in-game revenue and Destiny 2: Forsaken, although the latter underperformed [their] expectations".

Since then, Activision has also parted company with Destiny developer, Bungie, with the latter assuming full publishing rights.