Forget Guitar Hero and Rock Band—Stage Tour Is Here to Resurrect Music Rhythm Video Games and Usher In a New Golden Age

In February, RedOctane Games announced Stage Tour, a rhythm-action game that brings back a video game genre that has long been dormant. It features the familiar look of a colorful note-highway with notes that players have to hit, each corresponding to a button or pad on a music instrument controller—such as a guitar or drum set.

Stage Tour, which is aiming to be released by the end of 2026, has sky-high ambitions for the video game industry. While Guitar Hero and Rock Band might be long-dead franchises, Stage Tour hopes to resurrect the rhythm game genre and usher in a new golden age of these experiences that many remember so fondly.

Some of the already confirmed songs that will ship with Stage Tour include Extreme's 'Get the Funk Out,' Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Dani California,' Weezer's 'Island In the Sun,' and Avril Lavigne's 'Bite Me.' Sorry K-Pop Demon Hunter fans, HUNTR/X isn't on the list—yet.

At San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2026, while testing out the game at their booth on the convention show floor, The Direct caught up with RedOctane Games Community Manager Jake Inselmann, who helped paint a picture about how Stage Tour will bring back the entire music rhythm game genre.

For more SDCC 2026 coverage, be sure to check out The Direct's interviews with the cast of Batman: Caped Crusader Season 2.

Stage Tour Will Revive the Rhythm Game Genre

RIP Guitar Hero, Long Live Stage Tour!

• The Direct: "I love Guitar Hero [and Rock Band], but you know, obviously, we all know it got oversaturated. It went through evolutions. It didn't work, and it just faded away. You guys want to revive it. What is the strategy there?"

Jake Inselmann: Well, the strategy is these games really have some staying power... People who grew up playing these games... that experience stays with them. And there's been a kind of a whole generation that hasn't had a proper game like this for a while. 'Rock Band 4' and 'Guitar Hero Live' came out in 2015. A lot of people who have been coming by today and at other events we've done, a lot of people are like parents with their kids, showing them this game for the first time, and it's really cool to be able to see the next generation and returning generations remember these memories and form new ones as well.

Inselmann and the team at RedOctane Games feel like there's "an energy in the air where it's time again for these kinds of games to come back."

Inselmann: In general, we feel like there's kind of an energy in the air where it's time again for these kinds of games to come back and maybe go mainstream. We've been supported for many years now by community-made projects like 'Clone Hero' and 'YARG,' these clone games that people have made to function and play just like 'Guitar Hero' or 'Rock Band,' because there were no real official games. So, we actually grabbed some of the developers of 'YARG,' and they are our core development team on 'Stage Tour.' Like 'Stage Tour' has been being built by community first, pretty much. But most of RedOctane Games is full of passionate people who never quit playing guitar and forming their own rock band. So it's very much a game for the fans, by the fans, and we're trying to introduce it to new audiences. I mean, these games just have a very universal appeal.

Why Should Audiences Buy a Complete Band Set In Today's Day and Age?

Band Sets Were Always Expensive, and Now More Than Ever.

• The Direct: "We're getting back to like the big expensive instrument sets. In today's day and age, it could be hard for a lot of people to make that choice. How do you feel like you are going to convince people that they absolutely need this?"

Jake Inselmann: We're building 'Stage Tour' to be as accessible as possible. We have a lot of different connectivity options. For one, the game will support guitars, drums, microphones, and we even have modes that are designed to be used with a standard controller that comes with your PlayStation 5, or even a keyboard that comes with your PC. So, you don't actually have to buy into the big, bulky hardware if you don't want to.

He continued, further explaining how the team is aiming to have the widest umbrella of support that they possibly can when it comes to how players can engage with the game.

Inselmann: If you have any interest in it, obviously that's the classic way to play, and we are supporting that big time. We're going to have a guitar and game bundle, just like the classic ones, so you can get both of them in one piece. But yeah, it is kind of a hard ask nowadays to say, hey, we want you to spend X amount of money on this big drum set, but we also want to support all the existing [instruments] that we can. You know, if you have a drum set, if you have a guitar, we want you to be able to use it. Obviously, on PC, that's probably the easiest platform to get that done. PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, those are a bit more challenging because there are more restrictions about what can be connected and what works, but there are a lot of community-made adapters out there that make that happen.

This Is How Stage Tour Will Avoid Faulty and Fragile Instruments

Yes, Guitar Hero—We Still Remember Those Shoddy Drums.

One issue fans had back in the day of Guitar Hero: World Tour was the game's infamous, poorly designed drums. The red pad, specifically, would often have issues, quickly rendering the instrument unusable. Of course, that was never the only part of the band controller that would break down.

So, how exactly will Stage Tour aim to avoid those problems with its new set of instruments, specifically that of its drums?

Jake Inselmann: I mean, the original instruments that were manufactured, you know, that was almost going on 20 years ago at this point. A lot of developments have happened in just the video game peripheral industry. Just in general, game controllers are built more robustly nowadays. Things are better. I have personally seen the ['Stage Tour'] drum kit one time. It wasn't even working. It was just like a quick prototype, just to get you to know the structure and feel ready. I can say from my experience, it felt solid. It felt really nice. It's all kind of a one-piece design with replaceable pads.

He went on to explain how "each drum pad will just be able to pop [right out]," and can be easily replaced.

Inselmann: Each drum pad will just be able to pop it right out, and if, for whatever reason, one breaks, or if, like it's double double hitting, you'd be able to buy just one single drum pad, or you could RMA one single drum pad, and we'd be able to get you a replacement one. So they're being built modularly for many reasons, for customizability and for replaceability as well.