Viacom Looks To Offload Rock Band Developer Harmonix

11 Nov 2010 at 19:46:32 by Peter Parrish

Harmonix, the developer of Rock Band and Dance Central, is available to purchase, after owners Viacom Inc. (who also own MTV and Comedy Central, among others) disclosed its desire to sell the company.

Viacom has listed the Boston-based studio as a "discontinued operation" on its third quarter financial report, but as EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich explained to Joystiq this is just a fancy accounting trick. "It is just a way for them to classify future losses so the impact of losses do not psychologically impact the sentiment towards the company," Divnich said. Essentially, by telling investors that the quarterly losses are from discontinued operations, it creates the illusion of separation between the successful and unsuccessful parts of the Viacom business.

Viacom's desire to sell may reflect a view within the company that the Rock Band series has run its course as a profitable venture. Rock Band 3 recently debuted at 26 in the UK sales charts - an unimpressive showing for a high profile release (though potentially misleading, as the game had only been out for two days.) Earlier in 2010, Green Day Rock Band disappeared almost without trace: selling just 82,000 copies across all platforms during its launch month in the US. While 2009's Beatles Rock Band fared much better (selling one million copies by December 2009,) this has to be offset by the cost of acquiring the Beatles license, likely to have been a considerable expense.

Speaking to Kotaku, a Harmonix spokesperson reassured fans that Rock Band and Dance Central will still be supported. "This announcement does not affect the ongoing work at the [Harmonix] studio as they continue to support Rock Band and Dance Central," the statement reads. "Harmonix has and will continue to create terrific video games ... Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed."

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