Activision and Harmonix / MTV Coming To Blows?
So... Harmonix and RedOctane - now owned by MTV and Activision Respectively. Once happy partners in one of the best franchises of the decade. Now... well, you know how "Ex-es" can be.

According the GamaSutra, they are now squabbling over a patch that would allow the Guitar Hero III controller to work properly with Rock Band on the PS3. Is this a bit of viciousness from Activision to try and stop the original Guitar Hero developer from eroding their sales during the critical Christmas sales? Activision claims that it is Harmonix that "declined Activision’s offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band." So Harmonix's statement could have been smokescreen to try and encourage customers to buy Rock Band in spite of the incompatibility, in expectation of a patch that is already working but (implied: temporarily) blocked.

What's the real story? It very well could be both. Synthesizing the two statements - Harmonix has a patch. Activision will agree to the patch only under certain conditions (concessions?) from Harmonix. Harmonix didn't agree to the terms (which could have been reasonable or entirely unreasonable, as far as we know). So Activision put pressure on Sony to block the patch.

So like squabbling divorced parents trying to win their kids' favor, they are painting each other as a bad guy. Am I getting warm here?

Labels: Biz, Guitar Hero

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 7:11 AM (Permalink)