 Both RedOctane and Harmonix experienced changes in 2006 . RedOctane was bought by Activision in June — who spent US $ 100 million to acquire the Guitar Hero franchise — while it was announced in October that Harmonix would be purchased by MTV Networks . As a result of the two purchases , Harmonix would no longer develop future games in the Guitar Hero series . Instead , that responsibility would go to Neversoft , a subsidiary of Activision known for developing the Tony Hawk 's series of <unk> games . Neversoft was chosen to helm the Guitar Hero series after Neversoft founder , Joel <unk> , admitted to the RedOctane founders , Kai and Charles Huang , that his development team for Tony Hawk 's Project 8 went to work on weekends just to play Guitar Hero . Activision CEO Bobby Kotick believed that Neversoft would help them bring great games to the series , but on reflection , stated that had Activision explored Harmonix further as a continued developer for the series , things " may have turned out differently " . In addition , Activision began seeking other markets for the game ; a Nintendo DS version of the series was developed by Vicarious Visions , while a Guitar Hero Mobile series was created for mobile phones . The company also began considering the expansion of the series to band @-@ specific titles with Guitar Hero : Aerosmith . Later , in November 2008 , Activision acquired Budcat Creations , another development studio that had helped with the PlayStation 2 versions of Guitar Hero III and World Tour , announcing that they would be helping to develop another game in the Guitar Hero series . 
