advertisement

Rock Band hits sour note in Viacom financials

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Jul 28, 2009 9:59 am PT

MTV Games and Harmonix's rhythm franchise drag on parent company's Q2 results, as slow sales drive Media Networks segment's "41 percent decline in ancillary revenues."

The good news for Viacom is that its subsidiaries MTV Games and Harmonix are entering the final stretch of bringing the highly anticipated The Beatles: Rock Band out for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii on September 9. The bad news for the media company is that slowing Rock Band franchise sales have tripped up its Media Networks segment.

These boys have talent.

Reporting on its second-quarter financial results this week, Viacom said that revenues for its Media Networks division fell 8 percent to $1.97 billion. Harmonix's Rock Band franchise was explicitly singled out as a primary factor, with the media company saying the drop was "principally due to a 41 percent decline in ancillary revenues driven by lower sales of the music video game."

Rock Band was also a factor in the Media Networks division's 12 percent skid in operating income, which fell to $671 million for the April-June quarter. According to the company, the slip could be attributed to "lower advertising revenues, losses associated with Rock Band due to the soft retail environment, and $16 million in severance charges."

Besides MTV and MTV Games, Viacom's Media Networks segment encompasses several television networks and their umbrella organizations. These include BET, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon, as well as cross-media properties, such as the Addicting Games casual game portal and the Xfire communication and networking service.

All said, Viacom experienced significant weakness across a number of its divisions during the three-month period. Companywide revenues stood at $3.3 billion for the quarter, a 14 percent decline from the same period a year ago. The media company also saw income slip 32 percent to $277 million during the period.

96 Comments

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 1:12 pm PT

    What's Rock Band?....

  • condelirios

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 9:25 am PT

    Umm.. of course sales are down.. no new product for almost a year. I think they have to just forget about the numbers until after The Beatles Rock Band comes out. It is a going to be a HUGE hit.

  • bumsliepsp

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:46 am PT

    I think this is what's wrong with most companies. They seem to think things last forever and you should always make more money then you did the month before. The reality is that after awhile sales will drop it is simple logic. Although CEOs never see this as reality so they continue to pay themselves as though there is going to be a constant rising. This process is otherwise known as being idiots.

  • snake289

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:24 am PT

    Good Ol' Viacom ruining everything since 1971.

  • enix165

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 8:11 am PT

    I'm with Harerazer. =P Nevermind Tool, I've yet to meet anyone who likes them...XD If Pantera(RIP Dimebag Darrell...=() were to rerelease their old glam stuff, that'd make a great '80s Rock Band, but they don't seem too keen on it(their lead singer's ashamed of the hair, methinks...XD)...=(

  • CrackerRiley023

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 7:30 am PT

    awww, I feel so sorry for them, they only had $3.3 billion in revenue last quarter... what a shame.

  • guyguyguy1234

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 6:13 am PT

    Viacom, Viacom, Viacom. Havent you given us enough trouble?

  • Harerazer

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 5:38 am PT

    I wish they did love the 80's bands. Too many of today's bands are just plain weak. Back when you had Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, etc you knew you could get a good rockin' quitar riff. Now it's almost like they're going back to boy bands and faces...and way too much noise metal. Bring back the singers!

  • gmagnus

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 12:52 am PT

    If they're in love with 80's bands, they're sure not showing it in the DLC. There are far more songs from 2000+ than the 80's.

    http://www.rockband.com/music/songs

    Sort by year and page down when 1980 is at the top and 2000 is at the top. I got 6 pages of 80s and 14 of 2000s. And why would they do more up and coming bands when so many people whine that they aren't enough big names?

  • Mister__Awesome

    Posted Jul 29, 2009 12:47 am PT

    In this economy price cuts are nothing to be ashamed about, Harmonix needs to cope with that in my opinion.

  • ItsEvolution

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 10:50 pm PT

    Maybe it's time to lower the price of single DLC songs to $1.49 or 99 cents. Focus on more up and coming, cheaper-to-license bands and less on the 80's bands that Harmonix seems to be totally in love with.

  • Weddum

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 10:20 pm PT

    If only Rock Band was the first rhythm game to come out, and they started coming out on the current gen of consoles, we wouldn't have this problem of the genre feeling stale with continual GH releases. Face it, GH is the reason the genre is stale and needs to be revamped.

    Its also because of GH that Rock Band is having dwindling software sales. Consumers are so used to seeing a new GH game on the shelf every three months, and then they see the same Rock Band 1 and 2 on the shelf for years and think they aren't going to get more content, as I'm willing to be most people don't even know that Rock Band has a downloadable song library surpassing 650 songs. The casual buyers of music games, so to speak.

  • gnbfd

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 8:12 pm PT

    Also, it shocks me that no one had/s anything to say while Konami was/is milking its Benami games but when some other companies (Red Octane, Harmonix) came into the picture they get almost nothing but hate

  • Airek49

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 6:59 pm PT

    Now let's look at how much is being made from DLC sales.

  • gnbfd

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 6:12 pm PT

    I blame Activision. It's a shame too. RB is the better game by MILES. I hope this doesn't affect the DLC releases though

  • missonrs

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 6:03 pm PT

    dlc is expensive. even though you get to choose what you want in the dlc its atleast 50 cents more per song. and guitar hero would be better if they choose their songs more wisely.

  • Wula_

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 5:55 pm PT

    I got both rock band and world tour. And I gotta say I find rock band way better. Guitar hero has the better instruments but rock band has good music and with some songs being on both games. I find the rock band note charts way funner to play.

  • dortega120

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 5:52 pm PT

    Well obviously we can tell why sales are dropping. Its been out for over a year. Its wat happens with all [roducts of differnt categories, people just start getting tired of it as time passes; One thing I predict though. I bet a lot of people are waiting for the Beatles: Rock Band. Mark my words its going to be a huge success consumer-wise.

  • shakensparco

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 5:44 pm PT

    Oh no, Rock Band 2 has been out for what, a year? And the sales are dropping? Maybe its because most people who will buy it already have a copy!

  • Neosonic23

    Posted Jul 28, 2009 5:17 pm PT

    Rock Ban Does have a Better DLC Content. But GH has a better fan base. However. Most GH fans are wishing to have most of RB s DLC .

Rock Band 2 Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | DLC & Expansions | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices: $19.99 – 49.99

GameStop $19.99 SHOP ›
Amazon.com $19.99 SHOP ›
Deep Discount.com $38.99 SHOP ›
advertisement
advertisement
Click Here

Related Unions

Rock Band 2 Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Rock Band 2

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement