Dust off your plastic axe - RedOctane is back and promising the 'next great music rhythm game'

RedOctane is back - with a very slightly different name, RedOctane Games as opposed to RedOctane Inc - and is promising that it's already begun work on the 'next great music rhythm game' no less.

The announcement came on X (as noticed by Wccftech), and for those thinking 'Red-who?' - RedOctane Inc was the publisher and creative force behind the Guitar Hero games that first came out in 2005 (the outfit was subsequently closed down in 2010).

Yes, those were the very first plastic guitar games, before Rock Band came along, and the remit was expanded to not just axes, but mics, drums, and indeed the keyboard.

We're still at the very initial stages of hype here, of course, and nothing concrete has been said about what kind of game we're looking at. The question is: Will it involve plastic guitars in any way? (I still have a couple of those in a cupboard).

It's promising that RedOctane Games is talking about using feedback from the gaming community, and inviting ideas to be spun up on its Discord channel. And given the popularity of Fortnite Festival in recent times, it's clear there's an appetite for this kind of experience still.

With a new generation having been introduced to this format, the stage could be set for something new to take off - let's hope whatever RedOctane Games has got on the boil makes the most of the potential here.

RedOctane Games is headed by Simon Ebejer, who was Production Director on a few Guitar Hero games when he was at Neversoft. Also, the founders of the original RedOctane Inc - brothers Charles and Kai Huang - are part of the new firm's special advisory board.

On top of this, most of the dev team working on the popular YARG - Yet Another Rhythm Game, a popular open source Rock Band-alike - are part of RedOctane Games. So, things sound like they're shaping up promisingly, albeit we're still at a very early stage as noted.