The first two games in the series focus on rock songs, the third game has an eighties theme. They continued with the game Rock Band, a similar concept but with additional instruments such as drums and a microphone. Harmonix was acquired by MTV Networks and did not own the rights to the game mechanics and name.

Future installments in the series were developed by Neversoft Entertainment. was soon after the release of the first game acquired by Activision Publishing, Inc. and the initial publisher, RedOctane, Inc. The first three games in the series were developed by Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. Multiple players can participate at the same time and various versions of the peripherals were released with each version. In later versions other instruments were introduced such as drums and a microphone for the vocals. Guitar Hero is a series of music/rhythm games where players use a guitar-shaped peripheral to simulate playing the guitar to music tracks.