Viacom wants to get rid of “Rock Band” Harmonix
From Business Week, ((Viacom said today it will sell the unprofitable Harmonix unit, creator of the “Rock Band” music video game. Excluding the game business and tax benefits, profit was 75 cents, topping the 70-cent average of 26 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. ))
I'm really surprised Harmonix is considered unprofitable, because those music games are huge hits. Could it be because of the licensing fees from the record labels?
In some weird way Harmonix receives money from the makers of Guitar Hero too. Kind of strange...
From BusinessWeek, ((Harmonix, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was acquired for $175 million in September 2006. The studio collects third- party royalties from Activision Blizzard Inc.’s “Guitar Hero,” which it also created. Viacom classified Harmonix as a discontinued operation. ))
So, they have income coming from a gamer series they really develop for, but helped create.
(( Harmonix lost about $65 million in the quarter, according to Chief Operating Officer Tom Dooley. ))
Maybe I'm basing this on “fuzzy math”?
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2 comments:
I am wondering if they just didn't put out new content for a little bit if they would start making a profit again.
Yeah, part of the problem is over saturation and making too many of shoots. I find it amazing that they've thrown their hands up and gave up in the videogame market
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