A press release from Activision sent out today stated the Guitar Hero franchise has rocked it way up and passed the 1 billion dollar mark in the United States and in turn set an industry record.

It went on to say, since the launch of the Guitar Hero series in 2005, it has "sold in excess of 14 million units in North America alone". With Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, recently released in 2007, "was the #1 title in units and dollars for calandar year 2007, making it the #1 best-selling video game of all time in a single calendar year".

It would seem the transfer of the series to Activision hasn't hurt sales of the title what-so-ever, and from these numbers you can bet your bottom dollar Guitar Hero will be around for a long time to come.

You can view the official press release here.

[Source: Activision.com]