Come to think of it, EA posted a pretty hefty quarterly loss recently. They're not really in a position to buy anybody, much less makers of games that no longer sell all that well.
Edit: $201 million worth of loss, to be exact. And remember, that's just the last three months.
Actually now I wonder if Dan Teasedale left because of rumblings of this.
Being part of a company that was sold a year ago, I can attest to the fact you usually hear about it for quite some time in advance (although sometimes not in an official capacity, like in my case.) and people tend to jump ship - ESPECIALLY the higher ups.
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Actually now I wonder if Dan Teasedale left because of rumblings of this.
Being part of a company that was sold a year ago, I can attest to the fact you usually hear about it for quite some time in advance (although sometimes not in an official capacity, like in my case.) and people tend to jump ship - ESPECIALLY the higher ups.
It'll be impossible to prove unless Teasedale comes out and says it. But it's very possible, since both EA and Viacom have grumbled about Harmonix for quite some time.
Honestly, I think Harmonix' greatest hope is Ubisoft. They picked up Dance Central after EA passed on it, and since Dance Central is being touted by everyone as the best Kinect launch game by far, it might sell enough for Ubi to want to pick it up.
cloudeagle on
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David_TA fashion yes-man is no good to me.Copenhagen, DenmarkRegistered Userregular
Viacom (NYSE: VIA) is currently in talks with several buyers for game developer Harmonix, said Philippe Dauman, Viacom’s president and CEO, at the start of the company’s Q3 earnings call. He didn’t say anything about the poor sales that have plagued the unit, since hitting a high with its release of its Beatles Rock Band game late last year. “Our decision to exit this business strategy is to focus on what we do best, and that’s creating world class entertainment,” he said. “The console games business requires expertise we don’t have. For us, this is all about focus.”
Viacom was barely in the business as it was. They've never been into it.
I mean the thing that gives me the most hope is the integrity Harmonix has always had for the stuff they make. The bottom line is they WILL get bought by SOMEONE, and they will produce a quality product when that happens.
There's no way they'd be bought by anyone who either just wants to exploit the franchise or force them to churn something out. I just cant see it happening.
Also, remember last year when MTV gave them all a TON of money for hitting a sales goal or something? Buisness is fun!
mxmarks on
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If they stop putting out DLC, it's not going to stop you from enjoying the DLC you already have.
EDIT: Actually, I was kinda half kidding, but now that I re-read that... that's kind of evil. You don't care about the company, or the people who work there. You only care about support for the product that you've put money into? How does that work? You have what you have and that money is gone. If DLC were to stop today, you really would have all of the stuff you've paid for still. It just doesn't compute.
haha wow you read a lot into one sentence there chief
I'm not worried about Harmonix because they proved they were behind the success of Guitar Hero, and now have two amazing franchises on their pedegree. They'll do fine.
But don't start in with the "you can still play the DLC you own!" apologist crap already. Rock Band has always been sold as a platform, and there's a reason people have been getting excited for what new tracks are coming out every week for 3 years now, it's every bit as much of the Rock Band Experience (tm) as anything else. They aren't legally obligated to continue, but the expectation is there and I think that consumers are allowed to feel some sense of loss were they to stop. Which they might not even do.
Fair enough. Without qualifying why you weren't worried about Harmonix, it sounded kinda like "screw the company, I want my DLC's!!!"
But I disagree on the apologist tag. I think that line of thinking fits in with Entitlement Fail pretty easily. All things must pass. Not even the Dragonballs last forever!
If they stop putting out DLC, it's not going to stop you from enjoying the DLC you already have.
EDIT: Actually, I was kinda half kidding, but now that I re-read that... that's kind of evil. You don't care about the company, or the people who work there. You only care about support for the product that you've put money into? How does that work? You have what you have and that money is gone. If DLC were to stop today, you really would have all of the stuff you've paid for still. It just doesn't compute.
haha wow you read a lot into one sentence there chief
I'm not worried about Harmonix because they proved they were behind the success of Guitar Hero, and now have two amazing franchises on their pedegree. They'll do fine.
But don't start in with the "you can still play the DLC you own!" apologist crap already. Rock Band has always been sold as a platform, and there's a reason people have been getting excited for what new tracks are coming out every week for 3 years now, it's every bit as much of the Rock Band Experience (tm) as anything else. They aren't legally obligated to continue, but the expectation is there and I think that consumers are allowed to feel some sense of loss were they to stop. Which they might not even do.
Fair enough. Without qualifying why you weren't worried about Harmonix, it sounded kinda like "screw the company, I want my DLC's!!!"
But I disagree on the apologist tag. I think that line of thinking fits in with Entitlement Fail pretty easily. All things must pass. Not even the Dragonballs last forever!
When a main selling point of the game is weekly DLC updates, I don't think it's being Entitled to hope that they live up to that
TheFid2 on
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JC of DII think we're fucked up.I know I am.Registered Userregular
I mean the thing that gives me the most hope is the integrity Harmonix has always had for the stuff they make. The bottom line is they WILL get bought by SOMEONE, and they will produce a quality product when that happens.
There's no way they'd be bought by anyone who either just wants to exploit the franchise or force them to churn something out. I just cant see it happening.
Also, remember last year when MTV gave them all a TON of money for hitting a sales goal or something? Buisness is fun!
I do!
But apparently you don't remember that earlier this year they were told to give back their bonuses.
We’ve seen a lot of questions pop up in response to Viacom’s statements this morning regarding their intention to sell Harmonix. We’ve posted this thread to respond to those questions. Please keep your forum conversations regarding this matter in this thread. We’ll check in throughout the day as we’re able.
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. As stated earlier, Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed.
If you have additional questions or concerns, please post them in this thread. If you’re a member of the media with inquiry, you can reach out to us at [email protected]. (Please don’t email this address if you’re not from a press outlet).
I mean the thing that gives me the most hope is the integrity Harmonix has always had for the stuff they make. The bottom line is they WILL get bought by SOMEONE, and they will produce a quality product when that happens.
There's no way they'd be bought by anyone who either just wants to exploit the franchise or force them to churn something out. I just cant see it happening.
Also, remember last year when MTV gave them all a TON of money for hitting a sales goal or something? Buisness is fun!
I do!
But apparently you don't remember that earlier this year they were told to give back their bonuses.
reeeeeeally. I do NOT remember that. That is awful.
mxmarks on
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0
JC of DII think we're fucked up.I know I am.Registered Userregular
Honestly, I think Harmonix' greatest hope is Ubisoft. They picked up Dance Central after EA passed on it, and since Dance Central is being touted by everyone as the best Kinect launch game by far, it might sell enough for Ubi to want to pick it up.
I can't find anything that ties Dance Central to Ubisoft in any major way. The closest I'm getting is pages like GameTrailers calling it "Ubisoft's Dance Central," though DanceCentral.com and the game's case/loading screens make no mention of Ubisoft in the slightest.
More than double pedal, I'd like to have an actual pedal and pad so that you'd know exactly when the hit was occurring. It would be extremely helpful for any quick pedal work.
You mean you would like to have that, or that you don't know you can already get it?
I'm not currently aware of any way you can get such a thing without springing for an entire electric kit. I could very well be wrong about this. If I'm not though, for the cost of buying even a cheap electric kit, I can buy some nice pieces for my real kit.
I'm saying that having an actual pad for the bass drum in RB should be standard by this point, or at least available as an official add-on if it isn't already.
Yeah, there's a thing called a KickBox I believe that lets you use a real pedal with a kick pad. I think there's also some custom pedals that use a pad.
Edit: Something like these, though they're not cheap:
But I disagree on the apologist tag. I think that line of thinking fits in with Entitlement Fail pretty easily. All things must pass. Not even the Dragonballs last forever!
When a main selling point of the game is weekly DLC updates, I don't think it's being Entitled to hope that they live up to that
I guess it's one of those agreeing to disagree things. I don't want to muddy up the thread with negativity I mean, I'm absolutely with you! I want DLC forever and ever, but I know that that's not reasonable. Put it this way, so long as they have weekly DLC (with notable exceptions, like a holiday or something) while they exist as a company that is supporting this product, we can't complain. When it inevitably ends... well, they will have fulfilled their "obligation."
Fawst on
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JC of DII think we're fucked up.I know I am.Registered Userregular
edited November 2010
Well, for Rock Band 2 it does tout as a back-of-the-box feature, "New downloadable songs are released every week," but we know that that's ended by now with the release of Rock Band 3 DLC being incompatible.
Rock Band 3's back-of-the-box makes no such promises of weekly content, just that it supports your existing library and exports.
Ubisoft didn't do Dance Central, especially since they have their own dancing game to worry about.
And I really hope MS doesn't throw money at Harmonix to make them exclusive. Speaking as a Sony supporter and a fan of games, the industry doesn't really need that. They've even said that being single platform isn't conducive to good business.
Ubisoft didn't do Dance Central, especially since they have their own dancing game to worry about.
And I really hope MS doesn't throw money at Harmonix to make them exclusive. Speaking as a Sony supporter and a fan of games, the industry doesn't really need that. They've even said that being single platform isn't conducive to good business.
Crap. Looks like I hallucinated that. Never mind, then.
Microsoft as a buyer I'm not so sure about. Remember, they sold off/closed all their internal studios except Rare, Lionhead and maybe a couple of small ones I'm forgetting about. Then again, there has been some major shakeups on the Xbox side of things at Microsoft, so who knows.
Crap. Looks like I hallucinated that. Never mind, then.
Microsoft as a buyer I'm not so sure about. Remember, they sold off/closed all their internal studios except Rare, Lionhead and maybe a couple of small ones I'm forgetting about. Then again, there has been some major shakeups on the Xbox side of things at Microsoft, so who knows.
And there is 343 made up of ex ensemble and bungie staff. Also turn 10. Both large internal studios.
Crap. Looks like I hallucinated that. Never mind, then.
Microsoft as a buyer I'm not so sure about. Remember, they sold off/closed all their internal studios except Rare, Lionhead and maybe a couple of small ones I'm forgetting about. Then again, there has been some major shakeups on the Xbox side of things at Microsoft, so who knows.
And there is 343 made up of ex ensemble and bungie staff. Also turn 10. Both large internal studios.
Not sure I'd really count Turn 10 as a "large" internal studio considering all they do is make a Forza game every other year, but granted, Microsoft owns them.
Picking up "Stayin' Alive", "Jive Talkin'", "Night Fever" and "You Should Be Dancing". A quick Youtube play tells me that I don't really know the other two.
If Harmonix is somehow bought by Microsoft and RB goes 360-exclusive from now on, I'll sadly have to give up on this series, but I'll sign up for whatever series they do next with a smile on my face (as long as it isn't Kinect-based).
If they stop putting out DLC, it's not going to stop you from enjoying the DLC you already have.
EDIT: Actually, I was kinda half kidding, but now that I re-read that... that's kind of evil. You don't care about the company, or the people who work there. You only care about support for the product that you've put money into? How does that work? You have what you have and that money is gone. If DLC were to stop today, you really would have all of the stuff you've paid for still. It just doesn't compute.
haha wow you read a lot into one sentence there chief
I'm not worried about Harmonix because they proved they were behind the success of Guitar Hero, and now have two amazing franchises on their pedegree. They'll do fine.
But don't start in with the "you can still play the DLC you own!" apologist crap already. Rock Band has always been sold as a platform, and there's a reason people have been getting excited for what new tracks are coming out every week for 3 years now, it's every bit as much of the Rock Band Experience (tm) as anything else. They aren't legally obligated to continue, but the expectation is there and I think that consumers are allowed to feel some sense of loss were they to stop. Which they might not even do.
Fair enough. Without qualifying why you weren't worried about Harmonix, it sounded kinda like "screw the company, I want my DLC's!!!"
But I disagree on the apologist tag. I think that line of thinking fits in with Entitlement Fail pretty easily. All things must pass. Not even the Dragonballs last forever!
When a main selling point of the game is weekly DLC updates, I don't think it's being Entitled to hope that they live up to that
At the same time, if Harmonix never makes another Rock Band game, do you think they'd dedicate a staff to doing song releases? I'm 50/50 on that idea. I mean, Sega doesn't make consoles any more but they still make games. So I guess anything's possible.
At the same time, if Harmonix never makes another Rock Band game, do you think they'd dedicate a staff to doing song releases? I'm 50/50 on that idea. I mean, Sega doesn't make consoles any more but they still make games. So I guess anything's possible.
Honestly? Nailing down the song rights and making the note charts is fairly time-consuming and expensive, especially with pro guitar and bass. And the money isn't guaranteed, especially as people stop playing the game.
We’ve seen a lot of questions pop up in response to Viacom's statements this morning regarding their intention to sell Harmonix. We’ve posted this thread to respond to those questions. Please keep your forum conversations regarding this matter in this thread. We’ll check in throughout the day as we’re able.
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. As stated earlier, Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed.
Regarding potential publishers, it’s premature to discuss specific publishers at this time, though we look forward to working with Viacom to find the best home for our studio. Please keep speculation about that to a minimum in this conversation.
Many of you have asked about DLC. To be clear, our earlier statement that we will continue to support our existing franchises holds true and work at the studio is not affected by this announcement. RB DLC will continue unabated. We’re excited to confirm that The BeeGees are our next DLC pack.
Some of you have been chiming in about our different partners and what this announcement means for [the Fender Squier/Mad Catz Hardware/EA Distribution]. Those partnerships are unaffected by this announcement with regards to existing titles.
Most importantly, the Rock Band and Dance Central will continue to be worked on at Harmonix for the foreseeable future. We’re not leaving them behind.
Posts
What if now that Activision has pretty much killed Guitar Hero...
...they buy Harmonix...
...and put them on Guitar Hero.
Edit: $201 million worth of loss, to be exact. And remember, that's just the last three months.
It's just releasing at a time when the economy isn't conducive to $100 plastic music toys
Wonder if Microsoft would make that kind of move.
Wouldn't be too terrible
Well, I guess if you owned it for the correct console that is
Being part of a company that was sold a year ago, I can attest to the fact you usually hear about it for quite some time in advance (although sometimes not in an official capacity, like in my case.) and people tend to jump ship - ESPECIALLY the higher ups.
It'll be impossible to prove unless Teasedale comes out and says it. But it's very possible, since both EA and Viacom have grumbled about Harmonix for quite some time.
Honestly, I think Harmonix' greatest hope is Ubisoft. They picked up Dance Central after EA passed on it, and since Dance Central is being touted by everyone as the best Kinect launch game by far, it might sell enough for Ubi to want to pick it up.
And also as long as Microsoft didn't see Dance Central as the only reason people have for getting a Kinect and basically turned Harmonix into Rare 2.
Viacom was barely in the business as it was. They've never been into it.
There's no way they'd be bought by anyone who either just wants to exploit the franchise or force them to churn something out. I just cant see it happening.
Also, remember last year when MTV gave them all a TON of money for hitting a sales goal or something? Buisness is fun!
Fair enough. Without qualifying why you weren't worried about Harmonix, it sounded kinda like "screw the company, I want my DLC's!!!"
But I disagree on the apologist tag. I think that line of thinking fits in with Entitlement Fail pretty easily. All things must pass. Not even the Dragonballs last forever!
When a main selling point of the game is weekly DLC updates, I don't think it's being Entitled to hope that they live up to that
I do!
But apparently you don't remember that earlier this year they were told to give back their bonuses.
reeeeeeally. I do NOT remember that. That is awful.
I can't find anything that ties Dance Central to Ubisoft in any major way. The closest I'm getting is pages like GameTrailers calling it "Ubisoft's Dance Central," though DanceCentral.com and the game's case/loading screens make no mention of Ubisoft in the slightest.
Yeah I have a roland kd8 kickpad, kickbox and a pearl pedal. It wasn't cheap but it was very very worth it. I
I guess it's one of those agreeing to disagree things. I don't want to muddy up the thread with negativity
Rock Band 3's back-of-the-box makes no such promises of weekly content, just that it supports your existing library and exports.
And I really hope MS doesn't throw money at Harmonix to make them exclusive. Speaking as a Sony supporter and a fan of games, the industry doesn't really need that. They've even said that being single platform isn't conducive to good business.
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Yeah that would be pretty tragic actually.
Microsoft as a buyer I'm not so sure about. Remember, they sold off/closed all their internal studios except Rare, Lionhead and maybe a couple of small ones I'm forgetting about. Then again, there has been some major shakeups on the Xbox side of things at Microsoft, so who knows.
And there is 343 made up of ex ensemble and bungie staff. Also turn 10. Both large internal studios.
Not sure I'd really count Turn 10 as a "large" internal studio considering all they do is make a Forza game every other year, but granted, Microsoft owns them.
If Harmonix is somehow bought by Microsoft and RB goes 360-exclusive from now on, I'll sadly have to give up on this series, but I'll sign up for whatever series they do next with a smile on my face (as long as it isn't Kinect-based).
And if not, there is also that metal BeeGees cover band also called Tragedy.
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Do you honestly expect it to last forever?
My Let's Play Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC2go70QLfwGq-hW4nvUqmog
Hard not to shake the feeling that we've already seen over half the DLC we ever will...
Honestly? Nailing down the song rights and making the note charts is fairly time-consuming and expensive, especially with pro guitar and bass. And the money isn't guaranteed, especially as people stop playing the game.
MTV is pulling out of the console games business.
By selling off Harmonix, and pulling out, they get to write it off as a "discontinued business".
However, Harmonix still exists as an entity.
If MTV games were truly killing off Harmonix, they would have just laid everyone off.
Anyway, a few statements about the matter from John Drake:
So, BeeGees confirmed!
I have 549 Rock Band Drum and 305 Pro Drum FC's
REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS
You're as Cold as Ice.
PortsCenter • Jump Leads • The Life Toyetic with Ben and Molly
They have several interested buyers so they will be wanted, dead or alive
I've got More Than a Feeling you may be right
I have 549 Rock Band Drum and 305 Pro Drum FC's
REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS