USD 208.7m bonus for Rock Band devs

By GamesIndustry International Published 3 March, 2008

Performance-based pay.

Viacom will be paying Harmonix an additional USD 208.7 million under terms of the company's acquisition, based upon the success of Rock Band, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

MTV Games, a Viacom subsidiary, acquired Harmonix back in 2006 for USD 175 million. Viacom's Form 10-K statement, released last week, indicates that the company offered a financial incentive as part of the acquisition.

(Update: Viacom has since said that the money would be paid to former shareholders. Cha-ching for them.)

"In addition, to the extent financial results exceed specific contractual targets against a defined gross profit metric through 2008, former Harmonix shareholders will be eligible for incremental earn-out payments with respect to the years ended December 31, 2007 and December 31, 2008," the form read.

Viacom has already recorded a liability of USD 208.7 million for the expected earn-out payment and expects to have a final payment due in 2009 for performance through calendar 2008.

The company referred to the launch of Rock Band as "an unqualified success, setting the foundation for another valuable franchise".

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Comments (10) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • BadBoyBonner #1 4 years ago

    Ker-ching!

  • NewYork #2 4 years ago

    Good for Rock Band but I'm not liking this franchise talk.

    Keep it to the one game (and if there are updates like Rock Band 2, space them out more than the GH series) and focus on DLC.

  • old_skool #3 4 years ago

    that's alot of moola !!!

  • shamblemonkee #4 4 years ago

    release the damn game over here already :(

  • lolfish #5 4 years ago

    That's one big bonus.

    Well they probably earned it, good on em ;)

  • Kyle #6 4 years ago

    "In addition, to the extent financial results exceed specific contractual targets against a defined gross turkey sandwich profit metric who-hah badabing blah blah blah..." the form read.

    I literally couldn't read that paragraph, it was just a load of words to me. :S

  • Triggerhappytel #7 4 years ago

    I agree with NewYork - spread the obvious sequels out much more generously than Guitar Hero has done (ever couple of years is fine). It's a better long-term franchise business plan, and The Law of Diminishing Returns will take far longer to set in.

  • MGG #8 4 years ago

    @lolfish "That's one big bonus.

    Well they probably earned it, good on em ;) "


    It went to the ex-shareholders. Note, none of it appears to have gone to the developers themselves. What a surprise!

    In almost ten years in the industry, I have only heard of one of my friends or colleagues getting a profit share bonus. It was for 15 quid. He framed the cheque rather than cash it.

    Co-operatives are the future, they really are.

  • The-Bodybuilder #9 4 years ago

    high-fives for everyone.
    I'm sure the hard-working developers will love this.

    What's that? The developers won't see that £208mil? Only for the shareholders? I see.

  • cyber_nicco #10 4 years ago

    Often workers at these types of companies are given stock-options (at least here in the US), and should hopefully profit from this.