14 DAY TRIAL // The media conglomerate Viacom has announced that it plans to sell Harmonix, the company which has created the original Guitar Hero, all the main Rock Band installment and the recent Dance Central, classifying it as a “discontinued operation.” Viacom acquired Harmonix through its MTV subsidiary back in 2006 and paying an upfront sum of 175 million dollars and then dolling out significant sums in performance related pay.
The pairing between Harmonix and MTV Games seemed like a natural one at the time, when the music simulation genre was taking off and achieving significant sales despite the fact that gamers needed to pay higher prices in order to pick up instrument bundles.
Since then the music genre has been slowly losing traction with gamers, mainly because prices remained high because of the fake plastic instruments just as consumers were spending less on entertainment because of the worldwide economic downturn.
On the official forums of Harmonix John Drake, who is a official representative, has said, “This morning’s announcement does not affect the ongoing work at the studio as we continue to support our existing franchises, Rock Band and Dance Central”.
He added, “As stated earlier, Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed.”
Harmonix and MTV Games recently launched Rock Band 3, the newest installment in the series, which allows gamers to play keyboard based sections in their favorite tracks and adds the three way vocal harmonies first seen in the game dedicated to The Beatles.
Rock Band 3 also introduces a Pro mode for those players who are interested in taking their virtual instrument playing as close as possible to real life.
The company has also said that it plans to deliver a constant stream of new songs for Rock Band 3 via downloadable content in the coming months.