Rock Band dev sold for $50 – report

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 4 January, 2011

Cheap as chips.

Media giant Viacom reportedly sold Rock Band creator Harmonix to investment group Columbus Nova for the princely sum of fifty dollars.

Columbus also assumed Harmonix's liabilities, reports All Things Digital.

"That includes expensive music rights fees, and responsibility for lots of unsold games and equipment sitting on warehouse shelves," the report's author, Peter Kafka, said.

The sale apparently nets Viacom $150 million in tax benefits. Kafka predicted restructuring at Harmonix.

On Christmas Eve Viacom announced it had sold Harmonix to Columbus Nova in what was effectively a management buyout. The exact sale price was not disclosed.

It bought Harmonix in September 2006 for $175m (£113m), but struggled to capitalise on the success of the original Rock Band.

Harmonix, now independent, insists the music genre is alive and well and has revealed it is "hard at work on some unannounced projects that we think you're going to be pumped about".

"We are excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately-owned studio," it said.

Both Columbus Nova and Viacom refused to comment.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Ultrasoundwave #1 1 year ago

    They should have come to me first.............i would have paid $60.

    Hopefully Dance Central 2 will be on the way ASAP!

  • Optimaximal #2 1 year ago

    I think its safe to blame Activision for the collapse of the music genre. They farmed Guitar Hero way to hard.

  • cianchristopher #3 1 year ago

    Woah, that's an entire genre that rose and fell within 4 years. Astonishing.

    /yeah, I know it's been around longer, but Guitar Hero on PS2 in 2005 was the one that kick-started the current trend, and the twenty or so Guitar Heroes that came out in 2009 were the ones that killed it.

  • makeamazing #4 1 year ago

    What happened with the music Genre is soon to happen with the Dance and Fitness genre, too many games too many similar releases, some poor sales on the way imho.

  • Eraysor #5 1 year ago

    The annoying thing about this is that it was Guitar Hero that deserved to fail, not Rock Band. I do agree that the genre is pretty much dead though. I bought Rock Band 3 and enjoy it, but only because I've been enjoying these games since GH1.

  • beastmaster #6 1 year ago

    "In Philadelphia, it's worth 50 bucks!"

  • Stomp224 #7 1 year ago

    Who ever has paid $50 for chips? Eurogamer salaries must be higher than I previously thought

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #8 1 year ago

    If they can just manage to get the average consumer to understand that the Rock Band platform is miles above all the others, they'll do good. Since jumping on to the series for Beatles: Rock Band back in September 09, I've been playing Rock Band religiously every weekend.

  • Dolly #9 1 year ago

    Fuck me, I spent £40+ on DLC in a drunken stupor on xmas day. Could have bought the bleedin company for less!

    In all seriousness, i hope that Rock Band is able to continue in a smaller 'niche' capacity, now that the more general 'fad' is over. Playing the real tunes on my keytar is awesome, and I can't wait to get the Pro guitar.

  • StolenGlory #10 1 year ago

    $50?

    Overpriced.

  • PlugMonkey #11 1 year ago

    I don't think the more general 'fad' is over. I didn't go to a single person's house over xmas where some sort of rhythm action game wasn't played.

    The problem for the developers is that, for the most part, that game was GHIII.

    People are still playing rhythm action games, but their appetite for updated versions isn't on the same level as exists for CoD. More tellingly, nobody had even heard of Rock Band 3, keyboards, pro guitar, the RB store or any other development of the last 4 years.

    The audience is still there, but they're just not being reached.

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #12 1 year ago

    @Stomp224 Have you ever been to Brighton? The price of chips on the pier is ridiculous!

  • arcam #13 1 year ago

    The music genre is surely about more than plastic instruments and pretending to be in a rock band?

    Maybe the expensive, peripheral-based music genre is dying, but the music genre will live long as long as there are talented developers working in it.

  • Dolly #14 1 year ago

    But are all the people who bought Guitar Hero III still playing it all year, or did they perhaps just whip it out for xmas when they had people around?

    In terms of sales, this genre is on its arse (which saddens me), but your average person isn't bothered about paying £100's more for new instruments etc. To them, they have already got all they need if they ever fancy playing it again. Appealing to the hardcore is probably the only way that this genre is going to keep an audience, and ever hope to become profitable again. As a real life musician, Rock Band 3 is the tits to me as it combines my two favourite hobbies in a semi-serious way. I probably wouldn't have even bought RB3 if it was just more tunes to go along with the previous two Rock Bands I already own tbh.

  • toy_brain #15 1 year ago

    Just to be an arsehole, I'm delighted to see the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises curl up and die.

    I have no hatred for rhythm action games per se (though I am totally shit at them), but things were starting to stagnate pretty badly. GH and RB games both looked very similar, played more or less the same, and RB's big innovation was to go even further down the 'just like a real instrument' hole than ever before - thus making the more casual player feel even more isolated (yes its optional, but if you dont want it, why upgrade from RB2?)

    With any luck the developers will take this opportunity to come up with something totally new. Have a look back at their old Frequency/Amplitude games, maybe take some inspiration from Rez, Vib Ribbon etc and make the genre about more than stabbing buttons to a beat.

    Here's hoping.......

  • PlugMonkey #16 1 year ago

    @Dolly

    Of the people I know, one of them definitely still plays it regularly. All he wants is more songs. He went to the GHIII store while I was there and I couldn't believe how bad it was. It was painful. I told him to get RB3, which he hadn't heard of.

    Last I heard, the RB store had done something like $75,000,000 in sales. That's where the business is. If they want my advice (and I'm sure they're dying for it) they should forget new boxed products, new peripherals, pro mode and the rest. They're expensive, and the market isn't ready for them. Just get behind the store as a service and push it like crazy. Give the software away with no songs for free, and make a killing on people spending $40 in one sitting impulse buying songs we like, like you did, like I do, and like my mate would have done if GHIII's 'store' didn't make him sift through demo videos to find the damn songs.

  • Codger81 #17 1 year ago

    The instrument overkill has finally caught up, hopefully now they'll focus on making the actual content.

  • Sonic_D #18 1 year ago

    Harmonix created the best music game yet with RB3. I know the Pro mode isn’t for everyone, but I have both the keys and the protar and love it. Yes it is expensive, but I will be getting my money’s worth no doubt. Without Pro mode RB3 would not have been the evolution that the genre needed to keep someone like me interested.

    Unfortunately those in charge of the marketing and distribution have messed up bad. No one outside of hardcore gamer mates know about the keyboard or protar or Rock Band 3 at all. Many more knew about RB: Beatles and some have picked it up on the cheap.

    As for these warehouses full of unsold games and kit, where are they?! There are people on the forums here on EG who are struggling to buy any of the pro kit.

    I really hope Harmonix survive this and do not lose too many staff. Hopefully Dance Central sales will prop them up and now they are independent they can have more control over how their games/kit are marketed and distributed.

    I also agree that the GH series is responsible for the oversaturation. There have been too many RB games too, but nothing like the GH series.

  • ubergine #19 1 year ago

    In Australia, RB3 software released in very limited quantity and the only hardware released for it, the keyboard, was pre-order only. The only stock which made it to store shelves was a canceled pre-order here or there. An EB Games higher up (I think he was an area manager) reckoned it was down to EA not supporting it. This article here makes it sound like Harmonix was worth more to Viacomm in their final days together as a failure (to get the 150 million in tax breaks) than a success.

    There was an article recently which seemed to make out the deal between Harmonix and Viacomm was unbelievably bad for Viacomm (I didn't rightly understand it, bears some investigation by someone who gets paid for this shit, but it sounded like the more profitable Harmonix was the worse off Viacomm would be!)

    This could be another one of those ongoing stories (Like Activision and, well everyone, but mainly Infinity Ward 1) where people automatically blame the dastardly owner but the real causes could be much greyer.

    I'm just pissed off that I can't easily find a Rock Band 3 Keyboard after it's hobbled release.

  • arcam #20 1 year ago

    As for these warehouses full of unsold games and kit, where are they?! There are people on the forums here on EG who are struggling to buy any of the pro kit.

    I'm just pissed off that I can't easily find a Rock Band 3 Keyboard

    All Rock Band 3 peripherals (and software) are available here, all in stock and across all platforms. Except the 'real' guitar from Squier, which isn't released until March. I would have thought if you are a Rock Band 3 player that frequents the EG forums, you would have been able to find these easily enough. They've been there and in stock for months.

  • darc #21 1 year ago

    It's probably been said already, but I think both major devs (eg. Rock Band, Guitar Hero) made a mistake in releasing too many sequels - and too many peripherals - in too rapid a succession without adequate product differentiation. They shore the proverbial sheep, killed the golden goose, milked us dry, whatever... I think the market started to get the sense that it was bleeding money for no good reason. They could have maintained more goodwill and kept a good thing going by developing fewer new products and simply providing tons of DLC (songs) for existing products. (And some of those cheesy band-specific boxes were the worst of both worlds IMO - Beatles RB excluded.)

    Now that the damage has been done, they'd do well to start trying to define new modes of gameplay and/or new applications. Actually, they've been doing this for over a year; they just need to market them better. If someone is ever going to buy RB4, on it's current trajectory, they will probably want to have some interest in really learning some performance skills. If they're going to buy GH5 or whatever the next one would be, they'll probably want to have some interest in mixing songs or creating new charts.

    Otherwise, the old games work fine, and why can't I just download some new content every so often?

  • Sonic_D #22 1 year ago

    @arcam – yes I know that website has them, they have gone out of their way to stock RB3 kit and let those the forums here to know about them and for that I applaud them, but what about instore? Many people want to buy in person, delivery doesn’t suit them (due to the need to be in to receive the items) or they don’t like to buy online. Personally I got mine over the net, but for the casual or purchaser the product needs to be to instore.

    BTW is yr tag arcam in reference to the Hi Fi company, if so what kit you got? I just upgraded thanks to some old second hand amps, loving em.

  • arcam #23 1 year ago

    @Sonic_D I understand the appeal of buying in-store, but have you seen the size of those boxes? If retailers are limited by stockroom size, a single set of Rock Band drums is using up the same amount of space as about 200 regular games. And as no-one seems to be that interested anyway, it sounds like an easy decision for the average retailer.

    And yep, 'arcam' is from the hi-fi company. I have an old Arcam Delta 290 that I bought second-hand a long time ago. It's actually started to cut out occasionally recently so I was thinking about updating it, but I have it paired with a set of KEF Coda 7 speakers and it sounds absolutely gorgeous. That warm, velvety sound you only seem to get with older equipment, so I will only replace it if it really becomes unusable.

  • Sonic_D #24 1 year ago

    I'd agree for the drums and standard guitars, but they should have been stocked up with the keyboards and a few protars as these are the new parts of the game. I can understand why they didn't, with marketing so lacking they'd rather stick to the GH games which get at least some screen time. I've still seen many GH and Tony Hawks bundles lying around instores, just not RB3. Depressing really.

    As for hi fi, I'll PM ya as it's a bit off topic :)

  • Jamiesan #25 1 year ago

    While Acti certainly helped oversaturate the rhythm genre, the poor distribution and advertisement of RB3 and the keytar have been aweful. At most, casuals had heard of the pro mode, which has put them off. Not a single person I've spoken to knew about the streamlined interface, the fact that you can use existing DLC/import songs from previous games, and all the other features that make it a great party game.

    Also, why would you sell off a company that has made an epic amount of money from DLC? I wonder if they had some kind of arrangement where box sales and DLC sales weren't split evenly? I can certainly see a big media company like Viacom not being able to see the value of DLC compared to traditional boxed products, and agreeing to something along those lines.

  • HL706 #26 1 year ago

    Now that they're under new ownership - how about a massive discount for the instrument bundles?