• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Viacom to sell Harmonix. [Update 2: Activision: Oh gee oh boy we sure love Harmonix]

A

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
butter_stick said:
The only GH character that matters is Lars, and he looks better in GH5 than GH2.
Click to expand...

J1ksI.jpg
 
R

Raide

Member
How odd.

Did not see this one coming. If they do buy them, are they really going to have 2 band games side by side? I get the feeling one of them will be shelved or maybe combined but I really don't see the point of the latter idea.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Activision?
I'm not sure how to feel about that, I wouldn't have believed it could happen a couple years ago, but I do agree that it's better than seeing them get shut down. Dang.
 
R

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
Whether the next music game is called Rockband or not, Activision would be stupid as hell if RB DLC doesn't work with it ... and if it doesn't support MIDI instruments. They need to continue the platform ... no ifs ands or buts.


If they truly believe the music genre has life left in it, and by music genre I mean instruments, starting over would pretty much guarantee the genre dies.
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
Activision should buy Harmonix and the rights to the Rock Band franchise, then rotate between RB, GH, and DJ Hero every year, with DLC in the interim. Three year cycles on games, constant DLC, one (best) version of hardware, and less dilution overall.

A man can dream right?
 
A

APZonerunner

Member
Skiptastic said:
Activision should buy Harmonix and the rights to the Rock Band franchise, then rotate between RB, GH, and DJ Hero every year, with DLC in the interim. Three year cycles on games, constant DLC, one (best) version of hardware, and less dilution overall.

A man can dream right?
Click to expand...

And then after two years they'll try to sell or close them like Bizarre. No thanks.
 
R

Raide

Member
Skiptastic said:
Activision should buy Harmonix and the rights to the Rock Band franchise, then rotate between RB, GH, and DJ Hero every year, with DLC in the interim. Three year cycles on games, constant DLC, one (best) version of hardware, and less dilution overall.

A man can dream right?
Click to expand...

I would rather they make one definitive band game, which would mean dropping Guitar Hero and making Rock Band even more awesome. There are way too many controllers out there already, plus having to mess around with DLC licences etc.

One game to rule them all. :D
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
Raide said:
I would rather they make one definitive band game, which would mean dropping Guitar Hero and making Rock Band even more awesome. There are way too many controllers out there already, plus having to mess around with DLC licences etc.

One game to rule them all. :D
Click to expand...

I agree, and I'd rather have Rock Band only going forward. I was thinking that Activision wouldn't want to drop the Guitar Hero brand. Though, after Warriors of Rock bombed, it may be more willing to consider that.
 
R

Raide

Member
Skiptastic said:
I agree, and I'd rather have Rock Band only going forward. I was thinking that Activision wouldn't want to drop the Guitar Hero brand. Though, after Warriors of Rock bombed, it may be more willing to consider that.
Click to expand...

It would make more sense to have 1 game and pool all of the players together, instead of diluting them over several different games.

Going forward they should have...

Rock Band (Hero)
Dance Central
DJ Hero

Having DC integration with Rock Band would also be pretty awesome.
 
M

Magnus

Member
Jesus, who cares. Everyone I know went from having GH2 and Rock Band to not giving a shit afterward. Market got oversaturated after that year and impenetrable to the average consumer. Genre ran its course, it's done. Three plastic instruments was enough for my household.
 
F

FoneBone

Member
I would think that both Rock Band and Guitar Hero are dead as far as annual installments go, regardless of who buys who.
 
W

Wired All Wrong

Member
Magnus said:
Jesus, who cares. Everyone I know went from having GH2 and Rock Band to not giving a shit afterward. Market got oversaturated after that year and impenetrable to the average consumer. Genre ran its course, it's done. Three plastic instruments was enough for my household.
Click to expand...
The people who still play the games? I've been playing RB multiple times every week since RB1 came out. Best series of the generation. I care about the future of these games. I've invested A LOT of money into this series and I'd like to see it continue for a long time.
 
F

faceless007

Member
Kotick in February

When we were buying Guitar Hero and buying RedOctane, the makers of Guitar Hero, we knew about Harmonix. We had always known them as sort of a somewhat failed developer of music games. They always had really good ideas, but nothing that was really commercially viable until Guitar Hero and at first we thought, ‘okay, it’s a good piece of software, but if we gave it to Neversoft, they’re going to knock the ball out of the park with this.’”

We really didn’t even think ‘hey, we should go to Boston and meet these Harmonix guys and see what they’re up to. And of course, had we gone, I think the world of Guitar Hero would have been rewritten and it would be a lot different today and probably a profitable opportunity for both of us and an opportunity where you’d have even more innovation in the category.
Click to expand...
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
butter_stick said:
RB DLC will never work in a game named Guitar Hero, and GH DLC will never work in a game called Rock Band. Labels won't allow it.
Click to expand...

Activision really has never given a shit about DLC for Guitar Hero, while Harmonix has put out thousands of songs to download. If I were Activision, having bought Harmonix (and Rock Band with it), I would ditch the Guitar Hero framework and build off Rock Band.
 
B

butter_stick

Banned
Skiptastic said:
Activision really has never given a shit about DLC for Guitar Hero, while Harmonix has put out thousands of songs to download. If I were Activision, having bought Harmonix (and Rock Band with it), I would ditch the Guitar Hero framework and build off Rock Band.
Click to expand...
I think the most songs GH WoR can have in it at the minute is 700 or so. Not having as much DLC as RB isn't the same as not caring about DLC.

Bobby would never ditch GH for RB. GH3 sold 15 million. He'd want to replicate that success. It won't happen this gen, but as soon as there's a new console generation to sell new controllers for they could strike gold again.
 
N

navanman

Crown Prince of Custom Firmware
Eurogamer have a piece up about Harmonix suing Viacom up today:
The sale of Rock Band developer Harmonix by parent company Viacom has turned sour after the developer filed a lawsuit that alleges Viacom "diverted opportunities" from Harmonix for its own benefit so it wouldn't have to fork out millions in performance-related bonuses.

An ex-shareholders group, which includes Harmonix founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, reckons Viacom manipulated costs to avoid a performance-related payout, according to Gamasutra.

Viacom bought Harmonix in 2006 for a whopping $175 million, but millions more were expected to be paid in performance-based earnings.

Harmonix claims it should have received 3.5 times any gross profit in excess of $32 million earned in 2007 – with no cap. The 2008 payment would be under similar terms, but gross profit would have to be over $45 million.

The ex-shareholder group alleges Viacom "diverted opportunities" from Harmonix for its own benefit so it wouldn't have to fork out the cash. The claim revolves around Viacom's Rock Band distribution deal with EA Partners.

Apparently, Viacom realised that for every $1.00 of distribution fees that Harmonix saved during 2008, it would have to pay an additional $3.50 of earn-outs to the ex-shareholders.
Click to expand...

Eurogamer
 
C

Castor Krieg

Banned
Harmonix claims it should have received 3.5 times any gross profit in excess of $32 million earned in 2007 – with no cap. The 2008 payment would be under similar terms, but gross profit would have to be over $45 million.
Click to expand...

Who is the dumbass that thought of that? You make $40 million, so by this logic you need to pay 3.5 x 8 = $28 million to Harmonix, bringing your total to $12 million? You earn $50 million, have to pay 3.5 x 18 = $63 million, making you go into red? So the more you earn the more you loose? :lol

Either journalist misunderstood someone, or ppl are smoking crack there.
 
C

Caj814

Member
R.I.P Harmonix. Who knows what will happen once Guitar Hero: Rock Band gets ran into the ground until it hits the earths core.
 
S

Sipowicz

Banned
Activision will stay well away. Harmonix is dead weight and the only thing they have going for them is a just dance knockoff for an xbox 360 peripheral
 
B

butter_stick

Banned
Sipowicz said:
Activision will stay well away. Harmonix is dead weight and the only thing they have going for them is a just dance knockoff for an xbox 360 peripheral
Click to expand...

Buy Harmonix and kill them: competition destroyed.
Let Harmonix exist: Dance Hero has more competition.

Hmm.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Activision Q4: WoW Sub Rev Down 10%, CoD:E=1.5M, Sky Toys=20M, $99M Profit
2
90
5K
Mrbob replied
Konami Sues Viacom Over `Rock Band' Music Video Game
2 3
148
12K
Junior Asparagus replied
  • Locked
Morgan Stanley's $11 Billion Makes Chicago Taxpayers Cry
36
2K
jamesinclair replied
EA Posts Fiscal Q3 Net Loss of $641 million, Cuts 1100 Jobs, Closing 12 facilities
2 3
143
11K
Mkliner replied
  • Locked
GM quarterly profit plunges 90 percent on mortgage losses
4
405
ToxicAdam replied
Top Bottom