Vicarious Visions ceased development of Guitar Hero 7 after Activision publishing exec Eric Hirshberg visited the studio to check on the game’s progress and was not impressed by what he saw, according to a new report.

Back in 2011, Activision announced that it was ending the Guitar Hero franchise following a fall in sales, however it appears that a seventh title was in development at the time of the announcement. A source close to the project has told Kotaku that the game was in development from 2010 before it was cancelled in 2011 after being branded a disaster.

The game was set to return to the series’ roots with only guitar support and no drums or singing, but instead of the usual plastic button guitar Vicarious Visions opted for something more complex. “Not a real guitar, or even full six-stringed,” the source revealed.

“It had the classic Guitar Hero buttons on the neck with one extra new button, and six strings where the strum bar used to be. The strings were unresponsive and loose, and the guitars cost a fortune to make. No one could figure out a way to make it so your average Joe could buy one.”

The source went on to reveal that the real problems began once it came time to decide on the game’s track list. “When the songs started coming in, a great sense of dread came about everyone with an active brain,” the source said. “The game had all of the worst hits from the 1990s. They realized that, with our lack of budget and time, they couldn’t get quality music so they bought bargain basement music like ‘Closing time’ and ‘Sex and Candy.’ There were some songs in there that had been used at least three times in the GH franchises before.”

Vicarious Visions lost a number of staff following the cancellation and is currently working on a couple of unannounced projects.

Was the series cancelled at the right time? Would you have bought a new Guitar Hero game? Share your thoughts below.