Rock Band is a game that gets around. Media giant Viacom purchased the Rock Band franchise from creators Harmonix, and then sold the property to an investment group, Columbus Nova. However, Viacom bought into Rock Band on the cheap, promising big bonuses to Harmonix in return for sales. Some 10-million sales later, Harmonix has yet to see the promised cash, and in selling the franchise, Viacom tried to wash their hands of the deal. What are the damages? Three-hundred and eighty-three million human dollars. The Hollywood Reporter has the story.
Viacom says it didn’t make any profit on those tens of millions of sales because hardware costs were so high. How could they know that making four different specialty controllers and licensing hundreds of music hits was so expensive?