Rock Band Developer Secures Its Independence

Harmonix Music Systems is, once again, an independent game developer. MTV Games parent company Viacom announced this morning that a buyer had been found for the studio behindRock Band,Dance Central, and the first twoGuitar Herogames.

Viacom confirmed via today's press release that it has sold the company to Harmonix-SBE Holdings, LLC, a division of the New York-headquartered investment firm Columbus Nova. The financial terms of the deal were not specified by either party.

Harmonix communications manager John Drakecommentedon the sale in a thread on the official Rock Band forums. A selection from his post follows:

"Viacom and MTV Networks have been an amazing home for us over the past 4 years. It's where we launched both Rock Band and Dance Central, worked with The Beatles, Green Day, AC/DC, The Who and thousands of other artists. We want to take a moment to thank everyone in that organization who helped make these awesome games possible.

"We're excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio. As for what it means for you, the DLC schedule marches on for Rock Band, we will continue our support of previously released titles and we're hard at work on some unannounced projects that we think you're going to be pumped about."

And for anyone concerned about the future of the company's existing franchises, MTV Multiplayerreportsthat Harmonix will retain all rights to its current intellectual properties. Essentially, that means the developer is free to continue on with any Rock Band or Dance Central sequels it might have planned.

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