At the end of 2010, MTV decided to divest itself of Rock Band developer Harmonix following years of declining music game sales. IndustryGamers recently chatted with Harmonix VP of Product Development Greg LoPiccolo who reflected on his time at MTV after being sold to investment group Columbus Nova.
He noted that Harmonix definitely benefited from being a part of MTV and he bears no ill will towards the company, but he did state that the infrastructure of MTV Games basically placed a very heavy burden on the Rock Band group.
"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," LoPiccolo explained to us.
He continued, "And so I think they got this 'in-or-out' moment and made what, I think, is a reasonable call; it’s their call. From our perspective, I think we’re pretty aware that there’s a whole host of things that we could not have accomplished without them from a music licensing standpoint and just from a financial support standpoint. When they bought us we were a little developer and in collaboration with them we achieved a lot. So I think the parting of the ways was a reasonable business decision that they undertook for pretty clear reasons, but I think we have a deep appreciation for what they were able to bring to our business and what we were able to accomplish together. And now, I think we’re relieved and excited to be on our own again and sort of masters of our own destiny."
With MTV giving up on Rock Band, and the fate of the studio up in the air, it was a scary few months for Harmonix. After all, there was no guarantee that a firm like Columbus Nova would come along to purchase the developer. Interestingly, though, LoPiccolo insisted that the top brass at Harmonix was never very worried.
"I would have to say, it sort of wasn’t [scary]. Because we knew our own worth," he remarked. "And there was kind of a lot of optics and noise. I think one of the things we’ve demonstrated to the world at large and to ourselves is that we have a demonstrated ability to make good stuff. And I think we had a confidence that somebody would see that and have that perspective. And it worked out like really beautiful for us. We’re very happy with our relationship with Columbus Nova and they seem like they really understand what our worth is and are happy to give us the freedom to develop our business. So we couldn’t be more happy with how things turned out."
What's next for Harmonix? We'll find out at E3 in June.
