Here are three sick Gibson guitar controllers made for Stage Tour’s Dec. 10 release
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
CRKD has released a trio of officially licensed Gibson guitar controllers for Stage Tour, the rhythm game from RedOctane launching on 10 December for PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S. The Stage Tour Pro Guitar Collection — comprising a Gibson Les Paul Oxblood Edition, Gibson SG Midnight Blue Edition and 8K Gibson Explorer 20th Anniversary Edition — is now available to pre-order via the official Stage Tour site or CRKD directly, building on an existing CRKD-Gibson partnership and giving fans premium alternatives to the game's bundled Kramer-branded peripherals.
Pricing varies by platform: the PlayStation-compatible SG costs $130, the Les Paul is $130 for Xbox or $120 for the Android/PC/Switch version, and the Explorer costs $130. All three feature Hall effect strum bars, mechanical frets and LED neck lighting, with the Les Paul and SG offering polling rates up to 1,000Hz wired and the Explorer reaching 8,000Hz. The Les Paul and SG ship alongside the game in December, while the Explorer arrives in mid-January. The controllers' release coincided with Stage Tour's Gamescom reveal of a further 20 tracks, bringing confirmed songs to 45 out of a promised 90-plus at launch.
- CRKD's three Gibson guitar controllers for Stage Tour are open for pre-order
- Prices run $120–$130; Explorer model ships mid-January, others in December
- Stage Tour launches 10 December with over 90 songs promised
New here? Start with this
Rhythm games have their roots in titles like Guitar Hero, where players use guitar-shaped controllers to hit notes in time with music. RedOctane, the studio behind the original Guitar Hero series, is now developing a new entry called Stage Tour, due out on 10 December for PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2 and Xbox consoles.
CRKD is a peripherals company that makes officially licensed controllers, and it has partnered with the guitar brand Gibson to produce premium guitar controllers modelled on real Gibson designs for use with Stage Tour. These sit alongside the more basic Kramer-branded guitar controller that comes bundled with the game itself, giving players a pricier, higher-spec option if they want one.
The wider context is that Stage Tour is trying to revive interest in plastic-guitar rhythm games, a genre that was hugely popular in the mid-2000s before fading. Alongside the hardware, RedOctane has also been steadily expanding the list of songs available in the game, which is a key part of how these games attract and hold on to players.