Viacom to sell Harmonix

[Number45]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-1...tml?cmpid=yhoo (via GAF).

Viacom Inc., the owner of MTV Networks and Comedy Central, said profit beat analysts? estimates after higher viewership of its cable channels led to increased advertising sales.

Profit, excluding the sale of its Harmonix game business and tax benefits, was 75 cents, topping the 70-cent average of 26 analysts? estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Viacom said today it will sell Harmonix, creator of the Rock Band music video game.

Speculate!

[Bort]

Would be good to see the original HMX owners buy the company back.

Will be interesting to see if Viacom keep RB or try and sell that as well.

[abigsmurf]

Surely the most obvious choice would be EA?

[Flabio]

From Eurogamer:

In a question and answer session Viacom said Harmonix made a loss of around "$65 million" for the financial quarter

Ouch. Those low sales aren't going to fill that hole.

[sj33]

They probably think the music genre is coming to the end of it's life. We shall see of course, but they're going to have to do more than include new instruments if they wish to keep the genre going.

[Neon Ignition]

Harmonix would probably work better as an independant. They've had massive success between Guitar Hero and Rock Band but that era is practically over and they were always an interesting but non-big leaguer dev so if I was a big firm I'd be hesitant to spend solid money on them.

[Bort]

If there isn't some form of independence it wouldn't be long before everyone jumps ship.

I'm sure MS would love them to be another Kinect house but an internal buyout with partial EA partners money would be HMX best option.

yay, speculation.

[Bort]

HMX official response.

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?208088-Response-to-Questions-about-Viacom-Selling-Harmonix

Hi Guys:

We’ve seen a lot of questions pop up in response to Viacom's statements this morning regarding their intention to sell Harmonix. We’ve posted this thread to respond to those questions. Please keep your forum conversations regarding this matter in this thread. We’ll check in throughout the day as we’re able.

This morning’s announcement does not affect the ongoing work at the studio as we continue to support our existing franchises, Rock Band and Dance Central. As stated earlier, Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please post them in this thread. If you’re a member of the media with inquiry, you can reach out to us at [email protected]. (Please don’t email this address if you’re not from a press outlet).

edit, follow up

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?208088-Response-to-Questions-about-Viacom-Selling-Harmonix&p=4171165&viewfull=1#post4171165

Regarding potential publishers, it’s premature to discuss specific publishers at this time, though we look forward to working with Viacom to find the best home for our studio. Please keep speculation about that to a minimum in this conversation.

Many of you have asked about DLC. To be clear, our earlier statement that we will continue to support our existing franchises holds true and work at the studio is not affected by this announcement. RB DLC will continue unabated. We’re excited to confirm that The BeeGees are our next DLC pack.

Some of you have been chiming in about our different partners and what this announcement means for [the Fender Squier/Mad Catz Hardware/EA Distribution]. Those partnerships are unaffected by this announcement with regards to existing titles.

Most importantly, the Rock Band and Dance Central will continue to be worked on at Harmonix for the foreseeable future. We’re not leaving them behind.

More to come!

[teddymeow]

Blimey.

It's a shame that RB didn't sell too well and it'll be interesting to see some Dance Central numbers.

Hope the guys find a publisher who will be able to look after and grow their business. Theyre a great bunch of people who are really passionate about the subject matter of their games and it'll be a massive shame if they can't do that anymore.

[Skull Commander]

Well that's EA out the running:

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/42029/EA-CEO-Buying-Harmonix-would-be-catching-a-falling-knife

[abigsmurf]

Can kinda see their point given the sales of Rock band and guitar hero.

However they're the ones that created the gameplay behind these mega franchises in the first place. Give them some R&D budget, make them create a new franchise.

Ubisoft don't strike me as a publisher who'd go after them, maybe Atari or THQ?

[Family Fry]

MS would have more to gain, pull them in for Dance Central DLC and the sequel.
Make them a Kinect studio.

[fuse]

However they're the ones that created the gameplay behind these mega franchises in the first place. Give them some R&D budget, make them create a new franchise.

With all due respect they were hardly putting out groundbreaking ideas - they took what Konami had done in Japan and converted it for a western audience. Not to say they didn't do it well, but given it's been their bread & butter for the past goodness knows how long, they are hardly a creative hotpot.

Shame to see them in trouble as I do enjoy the games they've made, but it's always been a strange company for me. Having such a heavy focus on entirely taste subjective DLC seems like a bit of a gamble, for one. I don't believe I ever saw RB2 for what I'd call a 'good' price either, and more recently, the Rock Band 3 launch has been an absolute farce - most people I speak to are barely aware it's out, and the only peripheral I've seen is a stack of Wii keyboards in every HMV I go to.

Hope they find a good home that can do a better job of looking out for them.

[teddymeow]

Sony to the rescue! Get them to develop new funky PSN based music games (like Amplitude 2) but have a clause to allow multiformat DLC to continue for RB & DC.

[Neon Ignition]

It's going to end up being someone left field. They don't have the track record to prove they can make big hits outside of the already stalling music genre to be worth any of the big studios heavily pursuing. It's likely not going to end too well for Harmonix