(PRINTWORDS NEWS) Viacom Incorporation has sold its Harmonix Music Systems to Columbus Nova LLC after a low yielding year. Harmonix Music Systems is the maker of the “Rock Band” video game. Viacom Incorporate, the owner of MTV and Paramount Pictures, said earlier in November that it was seeking a buyer for Harmonix. Though the financial deals between these two companies are not disclosed, it is thought that Viacom sells it for about $ 100 million. The sale is the obvious outcome of the stunning decline in the popularity of Harmonix’s “Rock Band” games, where players use imitation musical instruments to play along with popular tunes. Viacom shares have fallen 1.1% at $45.57 after the Harmonix buy out news has flashed.
But Viacom did buy Harmonix in a swelling market. Viacom bought Harmonix for $175 million in 2006, amidst explosive demand for Rock Band and rival music game Guitar Hero. Harmonix invented Guitar Hero but sold the game to Activision Blizzard Incorporation. In 2007, Rock Band’s profits were so high that Viacom paid a $150 million bonus to Harmonix shareholders. The market of Rock Band peaked in 2008, as revenues from all music games hit $1.7 billion. But due to the sluggish economy, the game market crunched. Even last year’s version of Rock Band based on the music of the Beatles sold way below expectations.
He also said, “It grew faster than anybody expected, and it shrank faster than anybody expected.’’ Harmonix spokesman John Drake said the company was “returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio.’’ He said that Harmonix would continue to support its existing game titles as well as will continue to publish new songs, which can be downloaded from the Internet and added to the games.
