Riccitiello: Buying Harmonix will be like catching “a falling knife”

That was slightly harsh.
Hmm he mentioned earlier in that article that there are 25 companies on their radar but only at 5-10% of their asking price. That sounds interesting.

These comments can probably mean
1) EA is probably taking much bigger losses publishing Rockband
2) MTV Games is probably putting a much higher price on Harmonix than it’s actually worth currently.

Either way Harmonix is definitely going to see a downsizing of workforce which is probably what they’re trying to minimise but sadly it might be inevitable.

Dear VG247,

Please correct your article or your facts… RB3 did not sell 7k copies in it’s first week on sale in the UK, it sold 7k copies in it’s first day on sale in the UK as it only came out on 29.10 and the sales data you are making this bold claim from is for week ending 30.10. So either get the sales data for the games first 7 days on sales (29.10 – 03.11) and claim that as the first weeks sales or change the article so that it does not distort the truth.

God damn sensationalist game journos!

**Edit** Not that I think the first full weeks sales will sound any more impressive, it just irratates me that you put “in it’s first week in the UK” when you really mean “in week ending 30.10, 1 day after launch”

@1 His comments mean that Harmonix develop music games, and that genre is dead.

music games don’t work anymore!! i’m glad for it cause it’s always the same and they’re tooooo expensive for nothing, plus the DLCs.

@1 His comments mean that the genre isn’t profitable but it doesn’t make what he said any less different than that they probably did lose money publishing it this time.
Say what we want about Activision but they are still moving software with titles like Band Hero, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero etc actually still featuring somewhere in the charts.
It doesn’t mean it’s selling well but it does mean that they move about roughly 10k units at least each week across those games. If a year old game like Band Hero sells in the full price charts at pos 20-30 and Rock Band can’t even hit the top 40 you know it’s more to do with marketing, product or the company as opposed to other factors.

The genre dying is one thing, but moving numbers that they can’t even hit the top 40s of an individual format means the company is doing worse than its competitors in terms of market penetration (but that’s mostly due to how Rockband launched primarily for the US). It’s not like EA won’t look at their competitior’s sales.

My problem with RB3 wasn’t that it was a bad game, but instead that I need new plastic instruments. Things break and they wear out. And we played RB/RB2/GH games more then most any other games we own.

But I can not afford 150guitars and 130Drums, pro or not. The Guitars are easy to replace, the drums have proven near impossible. I have hunted all over for new/used drums. The only thing I can find are worn out used ones about to die, or new ones sold in left over Kits/Bundles those prices(even with black friday sales are 100usd+.

For me the downfall of RB3 was when Harmonix cut a deal with MadKats to subcontract the instruments.

I LOVE the music games. I don’t see that changing. But right now heading into xmass I have 95usd in the bank as of yesterday. Today is payday, but much of that is already ear marked for bills and such. Damn ass recession.

Long story short, love RB3, but it is too expensive to keep playing.

@2 I agree, but worse than that is the 7k number is apparently the only one that’s ever been available so far. Aside from NPD saying it ranked #15 in the US in October (not bad considering it came out 5 days before the end of the month), there has been absolutely no sales info on RB3. I think it’s done better than most people think, and it has more long-term potential than GH:WOR thanks to Harmonix’s superior DLC offerings, people having to save up for instruments, or some moving on to Pro mode when they’re ready. Hopefully we’ll have the November figures soon.

Rock Band fucked up with the new instruments in the UK. Can’t get the much touted guitar until march. Can’t get a guitar and game set. Can’t get the cymbal add on pack. It’s an outstanding game, but they really fucked up with the bundles.