Activision might not be ready to go on record as being interested in acquiring Rock Band developer Harmonix out right, but it seems that the publisher is not afraid to express its admiration of the developer and the importance of its franchise for the Guitar Hero series.
Eric Hirshberg, who is the chief executive officer of
Activision Publishing, has told Industry Gamers as part of an interview that he could not comment on potential interest in Harmonix, but that, “I can tell you I’ve got a ton of respect for Harmonix, and I agree with everything you’ve said about them. They’re a hell of a developer, and very innovative, and I’ve got nothing but love for them. As a fan, I can certainly say they are a great developer and they’ve done a great job in this space.”
Recently, sales of music simulation titles, like Rock Band 3 and Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, have been significantly lower than analysts were expecting and well under the numbers posted by the last generation of games in those franchises.
Hirshberg acknowledged that but says, “I think that we would be foolish to not try and build on the strength of the Guitar Hero brand, because as you said, it’s a pretty strong brand with great recognition and great likability, and there’s a lot to work with there.”
The executive has talked about how Guitar Hero will aim to innovate in order to make the genre attractive again, but it's not clear what the developers could do in order to convince gamers to again pay for fake plastic instruments and tracks that they might already own.
Parent company Viacom has put Harmonix up for sale and claimed that
Rock Band had not been performing as well as they should have done over the past few years.
Viacom says that several companies are considering a move but would not name them.
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