Digital Legal

Axl sues over Guitar Hero III

By | Published on Wednesday 24 November 2010

Axl Rose has gone legal over ‘Guitar Hero III’, which included his song ‘Welcome To The Jungle’, one of the “greatest hard rock songs of all time” according to the lawsuit.

Rose is suing the ‘Hero’ franchise’s maker Activision over allegations they broke promises to ensure former Guns N Roses guitar man Slash would not appear as an avatar in the version of the game where ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ was featured, and also that no songs from Slash’s new band Velvet Revolver would be included. Slash was included as an avatar and a Velvet Revolver track was present.

In an emotive lawsuit, Rose claims Activision’s Head Of Music Tim Riley and Music Supervisor Brandon Young both gave him assurances that Slash would not appear in the game. The legal papers claim: “Activision understood the extraordinary value Guns N Roses and ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ could add to the ‘Guitar Hero’ platform … [and] began spinning a web of lies and deception to conceal its true intentions”.

The lawsuit provides lots of insights into Rose’s alleged conversations with Activision – which he claims included discussions around developing a bespoke ‘Chinese Democracy’ game – and his bitterness towards his former bandmates. He also claims that at a party earlier this year the aforementioned Riley gave Rose a verbal apology for his company screwing him over with regards ‘Guitar Hero III’.

The legal papers claim: “In tears, he [Riley] apologised for the way in which Rose and Guns N Roses had been mistreated by Activision. He said ‘I can’t sleep at night’ and asked Rose to forgive him”.

Activision is yet to respond to the latest artist lawsuit filed against it in relation to its pretend-to-play games.



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