Stage Tour is an upcoming rhythm game developed and published by RedOctane Games for PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2, that acts as a spiritual successor to both Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
Originally announced for a fall 2026 release, Stage Tour is set to be released December 10, 2026. The game is set to feature traditional controls comparable to both Guitar Hero and Rock Band, including guitar and bass peripherals, a drumming peripheral, vocal support, and also introducing a stylized gamepad mode that was first introduced in Fortnite Festival.
Gameplay Stage Tour is currently confirmed to contain 5 core gameplay modes: Quickplay, which replicates the classic Guitar Hero and Rock Band experience albeit with the addition of modifiers (where the notes could be doubled, the notes could be shuffled around, the song can be sped up to 125% faster, etc.) Practice, which allows a player to practice parts of a song and allows them to slow down the track in order to learn the fretting and rhythm Judgements, which is similar to Quickplay, but will have a different scoring system with scoring assigned to how accurately timed the notes are hit Karaoke, a casual mode where the player and their friends can sing to the songs in the game with no score penalty Tour Mode, which will be a rhythm game take on the roguelike genre of games in order to create an experience where no playthrough will be exactly the same due to the presence of power ups that players start with, can earn, and can purchase on each run
Development Prior to the re-establishment of RedOctane Games and after the release of fan made games such as Clone Hero and YARG, the rhythm genre saw a mainstream resurgence with Fortnite Festival, which saw a partnership with CRKD to distribute guitar controllers and gamepads. Prior to the official announcement of Stage Tour, RedOctane Games partnered with Eidos-Montréal for motion capture and quality assurance, and Third Kind Games, who have developers that worked on prior Activision games including DJ Hero and Guitar Hero Live. Stage Tour is set to be distributed with guitar controllers themed after Gibson brands of guitars, first releasing with a Kramer model while also featuring multiple models of Gibson and Epiphone-branded guitars in-game in a multi-year partnership.
Promotion Stage Tour has been actively promoted by featuring demo versions of the game and guitars at events RedOctane Games have been present at, including a 7-song demo at IGN Live with the initial revealed setlist, an expanded demo of songs and prizes at San Diego Comic-Con and has a demo alongside an exhibition on some of the new modes featured in game present at Gamescom. Stage Tour has been revealed at Gamescom to be releasing with a full set of hardware bundles, including but not limited to just the game, but also a game + guitar (one or two) bundle deal, a game + full band deal (one guitar, one microphone, offered wired or wireless, and a drumming peripheral, with further options to include a secondary bass pedal and cymbals akin to the Rock Band pro cymbals).
Soundtrack Stage Tour will feature a soundtrack primarily focused around rock and metal music; the currently announced songs as of October 7 include: Year Song title Artist 2023 "Mimi's Delivery Service" Good Kid 2006 "Dani California" Red Hot Chili Peppers 1990 "Get the Funk Out" Extreme 2016 "Square Hammer" Ghost 2024 "RATATATA" BABYMETAL & Electric Callboy 2020 "Terminator Oscillator" Static-X 2001 "Island in the Sun" Weezer 2021 "Bite Me" Avril Lavigne 2023 "Airhead" Honey Revenge 2007 "For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic" Paramore 2025 "Do Me Like That" 2018 "Jane!" 2023 "" Jfarrari 2025 "Siren" Castle Rat 2020 "Broken Dreams, Inc" Rise Against 2008 "Psychosocial" Slipknot 2014 "" Mastodon 2025 "" Mammoth 2017 "Blind and Frozen" Beast in Black 1987 "Just Like Heaven" 1995 "Just" Radiohead 2022 "Just Pretend" Bad Omens 2026 "In The Stars" 1999 "All Star" Smash Mouth 2006 "Starlight" Muse 2022 "Bad Habits" Ed Sheeran ft. Bring Me the Horizon 2006 "Red Flag" Billy Talent 2005 "Pump It" Black Eyed Peas 2023 "More Than You Know" Blink-182 1983 "Photograph" Def Leppard 1982 "Rio" Duran Duran 1994 "Grace" Jeff Buckley 1990 "Tornado of Souls" Megadeth 1989 "Kickstart My Heart" Mötley Crüe 2023 "Heartbreak Feels So Good" Fall Out Boy 1986 "Land of Confusion" Genesis 2022 "Lux Æterna" Metallica 2003 "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" 2014 "Shut Up and Dance" Walk the Moon 1995 "In the Meantime" Spacehog 2024 "" Tenacious D 1979 "I Fought the Law" 2000 "Teenage Dirtbag" Wheatus 1983 "Sharp Dressed Man" ZZ Top 2023 "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl" Olivia Rodrigo 1994 "Parklife" Blur 2014 "Night Witches" Sabaton 1999 "When Worlds Collide" Powerman 5000 2023 "Do Me a Favor" 2021 "Limbo Man" 2026 "Raised on Rock N' Roll" 2004 "Metalingus" Alter Bridge 2009 "Fire" Kasabian 2024 "You Wanted War" Sum 41 1992 "Under a Glass Moon" Dream Theater 2022 "Handshake With Hell" Arch Enemy 2026 "" Sylosis 2026 "Gaslighter" Alien Ant Farm 2026 "Golden Child" 12 Stones 2023 "The Urge" Judge & Jury ft. Tyler Connolly of Theory of a Deadman 2021 "Damage Done" Jonathan Young ft. RichaadEB
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