 Guitar Hero was created from a partnership between RedOctane , then their own company that produced specialized video game controllers , and Harmonix , a music video game development company who had previously produced <unk> , Amplitude and Karaoke Revolution . RedOctane was seeking to bring in a Guitar Freaks @-@ like game , highly popular in Japan at the time , into Western markets , and approached Harmonix about helping them to develop a music game involving a guitar controller . Both companies agreed to it , and went on to produce Guitar Hero in 2005 . The title was highly successful , leading to the development of its successful sequel Guitar Hero II in 2006 . While the original controllers for the first Guitar Hero game were designed by Ryan Lesser , Rob Kay , Greg <unk> and Alex <unk> of Harmonix and built by the <unk> Corporation of China , subsequent <unk> and future controllers were developed <unk> at RedOctane , with development led primarily by Jack <unk> . 
