During a CES keynote in Las Vegas on Friday, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith wowed the crowd with news that over the holidays, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock became the first single game ever to surpass $1 billion in sales.  This news comes after Activision announced in January of last year that the overall franchise had broken the billion dollar mark within a record 26 months.

While this showcases the success of the gaming industry itself, we all have seen the stories proving that these games have helped fuel growth in other industies as well – especially the struggling music industry. Citing Nielsen data, Griffith said download sales for artists appearing in Guitar Hero have risen 15-843 percent.

Additionally, guitar retailer Guitar Center in late 2008 published results of a survey they held showing that 67 percent of rhythm gamers who responded claimed that they were likely to pick up an actual instrument within the next two years.  Eighty-one percent of players said that Rock Band or Guitar Hero had motivated them to ask their loved ones for a musical instrument as a gift this holiday season.  We showed you the special website  Guitar Center had created around the holidays for those people looking for the right way to ask for a musical instrument.

While the war may rage on between Guitar Hero World Tour, the series’ full band version of the game, versus Rock Band by rival Harmonix, this, at least, is one for Activision to notch on their post as a win.  Harmonix were the creators of the original Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II games, but later moved on to greener pastures after being bought by MTV games and started working on their next project:  Rock Band.  Guitar Hero III was the first work produced after the franchise no longer had the original creative talent aboard, by developer Neversoft.  When Activision announced last year that the franchise had surpassed the $1billion dollar mark, there were some who scoffed and said the news didn’t “really” count since it included everything since 2005, which they couldn’t claim credit for since they didn’t own the rights back then.  This newest piece should quiet the doubters for a while, since it is only the Guitar Hero III game on all platforms being counted.