It seems that the death of major competition in the music rhythm game market is inevitable as Viacom has stated that they are willing to sell Harmonix and believe Activision to be the leading prospect. If that were the case Guitar Hero and Rock Band might then be merged into just one game series. It seems that Viacom does not believe the genre will grow or has anywhere to go, showing their lack of faith in Harmonix’s ability to continue generating revenue. This comes after Harmonix was apparently responsible for cutting a major chunk out of Viacom’s earning for Q3 (59%).
Viacom revenue was up overall but they just seem to not see any continued future in the Rock Band developer, which they purchased for $175 million in 2006.
Reasons for the sale include the fact that, while Rock Band 3 received critical acclaim, including overall review scores of 90% plus (excluding the DS version) at GameRankings.com, it failed to sell very well but the holiday season is coming up. According to VGChartz the game has only sold around 250,000 copies worldwide with the Xbox 360 version leading the way at 130,000 units after two weeks. My comparison, Rock Band 2 on the same console sold 348,000 units in its first week, which was the week leading into Christmas 2008.
A combination of things could probably be pointed at including market saturation, high prices for bundles and large ticket peripherals required to play the game.
Harmonix also created Dance Central for Microsoft’s new Kinect (and which I just played for a fourth time at the launch party and believe will score quite well with gamers).
This does not spell the end of Rock Band, though it does not have a bright future at present. If sales pick up over the holiday season, perhaps the new year will bring with it a new suitor to take the reins from Viacom and lead the company to continued success and growth. EA has been publisher on the titles but probably is not in a financial position to shell out $200 million for the company.
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