Harmonix On Split With MTV Games: A “Reasonable Call”

The music boom in video games has ceased and although some popularity remains, titles like Guitar Hero and Rock Band no longer rule the charts.

A whole lot companies suffered during this rapid decline, and that includes MTV Games and Rock Band developer Harmonix. In speaking with Industry Gamers , Harmonix VP of Product Development Greg LoPiccolo talked about their time with MTV Games after his studio was sold to investment group Columbus Nova.

"I think there came a crossroads where it became apparent to them that they either needed to make a bigger investment in the game space or cut their losses. I think it became apparent that, in this day and age, you really need a big enough publishing organization to achieve economies of scale if you want to make it work and they didn’t really have that. They had us, but essentially our games had to carry the entire publishing infrastructure of MTV games which was not particularly efficient."

He went on to say that MTV made a "reasonable call" and Harmonix isn't holding a grudge. "I think we're pretty aware that there's a whole host of things we could not have accomplished without them," LoPiccolo added. And at the end of the day, he says Harmonix is "relieved and excited" to be operating independently again, so maybe their next project will really open eyes and turn heads.

They did it before. Why can't they do it again?