Rock Band Still Not Profitable

05 Nov 2009 at 16:53:37 by Andy Alderson

Viacom has revealed its Rock Band franchise is still losing money, despite the release of The Beatles Rock Band earlier this year.

In its recent quarterly earnings report (courtesy of the LA Times), Viacom revealed that the Rock Band series is yet to prove to be profitable for the company.

"Rock Band was a negative contributor to margins in the third quarter," said Viacom’s chief financial officer Tom Dooley.

"We expect it to break even or be slightly profitable in the fourth quarter from a margin point of view. It really depends on how many units we sell in the holiday season."

The company has lost money on the Rock Band games, largely due to the costs involved in manufacturing the game controllers. Despite the fact that Rock Band 2 and The Beatles Rock Band are compatible with older Rock Band and Guitar Hero controllers, the games are yet to make a profit.

Viacom chief executive Philippe Daumann said that while The Beatles Rock Band launched well, "the economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like."

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