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

G

Grecco

Member
duckroll said:
This is as good a sign as any that the great boom of music games is over.
Click to expand...


Music Games simply evolved into dancing games. Once that fad is over something else will come up too. Music Games will never die. They evolve.
 
A

AndyMoogle

Member
Uh, so what happens with Rock Band now? No more DLC, no more RBN and no Pro Guitar? The title of the article states that Viacom are selling Rock Band, but the text states that they are selling Harmonix. Are they selling both, or just Harmonix?

EDIT: I guess we'll see once Harmonix release their statement.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
End of an era. Too bad, I really enjoyed RB2, and their presence at PAX East this year was huge with attendee performances and RBN. Hope MS or EA picks them up, the world needs more dance central. Would be hilarious if/when DC outsells RB3.
 
B

butter_stick

Banned
AndyMoogle said:
Uh, so what happens with Rock Band now? No more DLC, no more RBN and no Pro Guitar? The title of the article states that Viacom are selling Rock Band, but the text states that they are selling Harmonix. Are they selling both, or just Harmonix?
Click to expand...

Hopefully both. Then, for us, the impact would probably be lesser.
 
S

Suzzopher

Member
AndyMoogle said:
Uh, so what happens with Rock Band now? No more DLC, no more RBN and no Pro Guitar? The title of the article states that Viacom are selling Rock Band, but the text states that they are selling Harmonix. Are they selling both, or just Harmonix?
Click to expand...

Harmonix would be costing them money, if they keep a team on releasing DLC for Rock Band they could start to make money with that studio now gone. I can't imagine selling Rock Band would be very sensible of Viacom.
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
AndyMoogle said:
Uh, so what happens with Rock Band now? No more DLC, no more RBN and no Pro Guitar? The title of the article states that Viacom are selling Rock Band, but the text states that they are selling Harmonix. Are they selling both, or just Harmonix?

EDIT: I guess we'll see once Harmonix release their statement.
Click to expand...

If they don't want Harmonix then I doubt that they want the game that they're known for right now.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Shurs said:
I could see Costanza exploiting some system in order to acquire them.
Click to expand...
He'll stack amazon coupons to buy them with used trade in credit he got from hoarding games at the circuit city liquidation.
 
A

AndyMoogle

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
End of an era. Too bad, I really enjoyed RB2, and their presence at PAX East this year was huge with attendee performances and RBN. Hope MS or EA picks them up, the world needs more dance central. Would be hilarious if/when DC outsells RB3.
Click to expand...
It's not hard to outsell RB3 though. :(
 
I

iamcenok

Member
Whoooaah! That sucks very much. I hope somebody good picks them up (not milk'tivision).
I hope they continue on the RB and DC series.
 
W

Wildstar75

Member
I'd buy these guys, too bad I don't have the money ;). As long as Dance central 2 comes out, I don't care who buys them. But Microsoft would be a good fit.
 
G

Grecco

Member
If Viacom is selling HMX and not Rock Band.


Maybe. Hear me out for a sec. Viacom could hire Neversoft since most of those are out of work after Activision fired them, and Activision could buy HMX. So RB4 by Neversoft and GH7 by HMX in a year or so.
 
I

I AM JOHN!

Banned
So in the end, for as much as people have spent criticizing the hell out of them for years of "missing the boat," I guess EA not having a stake in Rock Band was really smart after all. :x
 
P

piratepwnsninja

Member
Wildstar75 said:
I'd buy these guys, too bad I don't have the money ;). As long as Dance central 2 comes out, I don't care who buys them. But Microsoft would be a good fit.
Click to expand...


I dunno...If RB can't make money anymore spread across three platform, they'd be hard pressed to make money on a single one. Unless MS completely refocused what they were doing to Kinect-only experiences.
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
We don't know how the deal is set with the sell of Harmonix. Do the franchises stay with Viacom? I doubt if Harmonix is gonna take those with them.
 
N

navanman

Crown Prince of Custom Firmware
Suzzopher said:
I am willing to bet Microsoft snap them up. Focus them on creating Kinect experiences.
Click to expand...

This. They are best buddies..

WTF will happen to all the DLC though for PS3, Wii and all the back catalogue which I presume where licensed for use on more than one platform.


Archie said:
I bet Viacom is kicking themselves for giving the HMX founders $300 million. :lol
Click to expand...

Didn't they try to sue them to get the money back?
 
P

parasight

Member
Man this is a huge bummer. Harmonix is my favorite developer; I buy all their games. I really hope they make it through this. We need DC2!
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
TheOddOne said:
We don't know how the deal is set with the sell of Harmonix. Do the franchises stay with Viacom? I doubt if Harmonix is gonna take those with them.
Click to expand...
It probably depends what the person who buys them wants to pay for.
 
S

Secks4Food

Member
Damn, even if someone buys them and Rock Band name, I'm assuming DLC is going to suffer without that MTV licensing hookup.

Please someone buy them :(
 
U

U2NUMB

Member
Really is a bummer.. I have enjoyed every RB game so far.

MS Needs to buy them.... then with every DLC song sold you also get it on Zune for free... something like that but perhaps there is just no way to make money at this point in the music gaming world.
 
W

Wildstar75

Member
Just because they are being sold, doesn't mean its necessarily a bad thing for Harmonix or the genre. The right buyer which provides creative freedom and fair expectations could be great. This genre needs innovation. Rock band was innovative, but the plastic junk is building up. And the game is getting stale. Dance central is a great innovation in the dance music genre. I think they have in them to continue to innovate and lead the evolution of music games. Lets just hope they find a buyer who agrees with me and supports that.
 
F

farnham

Banned
good choice

the guitar hero boom is over
Wildstar75 said:
Just because they are being sold, doesn't mean its necessarily a bad thing for Harmonix or the genre. The right buyer which provides creative freedom and fair expectations could be great. This genre needs innovation. Rock band was innovative, but the plastic junk is building up. And the game is getting stale. Dance central is a great innovation in the dance music genre. I think they have in them to continue to innovate and lead the evolution of music games. Lets just hope they find a buyer who agrees with me and supports that.
Click to expand...
with viacom it was easier for harmonix to get licenses from musicians
 
F

FlashFlooder

Member
This is insanely bad news. I hope they can somehow continue to support / expand the Rock Band franchise. They are doing everything right... so unfair.

They just revealed yesterday that they had sold something 75 million downloadable tracks on the platform. How can they possibly not be profitable with those numbers?
 
F

farnham

Banned
Jexhius said:
There's nothing about the collapse of this market that's crazy or unexpected.
Click to expand...
well they flooded the market with plastic guitars, drums, dj turntables and keyboards

it was bound to happen
 
S

ShockingAlberto

Member
Not hard to see this coming.

RB3 even made a ton of overtures toward profitability, but it's not enough if you can't get the game in enough hands.
 
N

navanman

Crown Prince of Custom Firmware
Raistlin said:
This better not mean no more DLC ... does it?
Click to expand...

More than that, why would I or someone else keep buying DLC now if the product or platform is dead?

Need the see what Harmonix saw later today about all this..
 
N

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Grecco said:
Music Games simply evolved into dancing games. Once that fad is over something else will come up too. Music Games will never die. They evolve.
Click to expand...
.

Music centric games will be around for many more years to come and eventually branch out in a lot of different concepts
 
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