Although common advice, quitting while ahead often goes against human nature. Viacom, however, seems to have taken the adage to heart. After paying $175 million to acquire Cambridge-based video game maker Harmonix just four years ago, now, while the company stands to make an estimated $200 million during the holiday season, Viacom has put Harmonix up for sale. (Image courtesy: http://www.harmonixmusic.com/)“Harmonix has and will continue to create terrific video games,” said a Viacom spokesperson. “But for us, it is about focus. Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed.”
Harmonix’s latest game releases are the ground-breaking Rock
Band 3 and Dance Central. Rock Band 3 marks the first time the company has released a band simulation game that uses actual instruments. Dance Central is the first dancing game released that uses Microsoft’s Kinect hands-free controller. Considering both products are expected to be major hits, industry experts suspect Viacom has chosen to sell Harmonix now, while the company is performing at its peak and media exposure is high, to ensure a favorable sale price.One source, Wedbush Securities, predicts that the market for simulated dance and band games will have shrunk by about $375 million dollars from last December to this December. Regardless of the number of dollars quoted though, industry experts agree that the genre is in decline. (Image courtesy: http://bit.ly/dugYuB0)
While a decline is hardly a good thing for Harmonix, it doesn’t have to be devastating either. Under new ownership, the company will have the leadership to reorganize and make the best of a category of games that will continue to be highly popular in comparison to other genres. Perhaps, another four years from now, Viacom will be looking to buy Harmonix back. Stranger things have happened.
[Sources: http://bit.ly/cGtCSC, http://bit.ly/bmoG29, http://bit.ly/d1db5g]
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