The latest in the battle between the makers or Rock Band and parent company Viacom is getting messy. They're going back and forth on who owes who, but the latest findings say that Viacom owes Harmonix a whopping $383 million.
This totally flips Viacom's world upside down, as they recently filed a suit that claims that former original shareholders, including Harmonix's founders, owe Viacom $131 million from some bad math.
This mess all stems from bonus payments to owed to Harmonix's former owners following the 2006 acquisition of the studio by Viacom. They paid a bunch up front, and then paid a bit more in a bonus in 2007 for Rock Band sales, but gave up nothing the next year, and then asked for a refund of all money paid.
It's not all over yet, though. LA Times says that Viacom has filed a suit looking to dump on the this new decision as it excluded evidence and arguments.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
10:00 AM on 12.28.2011 | 
Anything that knocks down pegs from Viacom, I support.
They should move in with their aunt and uncle.
I for one love the rock band franchise. I'm sad to think it's seen its day. It's a great party game, and a fun challenge if your up to it on expert.
But it's cool to be a d-bag about it, right?
Problem?
And then I ate some sunflower seeds.
the problem i had with these games is i just didnt care for any of the songs they released. or even the bands for that matter.
i even went back and tried to play GH2 the other day, just could not get into it. was so repetitive and boring. then you get to a section with 3 out of 4 songs are annoying and terrible. i remember at one point turning the sound off on my tv just to get past a stupid song so i could play the next batch.
give me RB GWAR and i might be interested again.
I still play it too...
Hope this ends up working out in Harmonix's favor in the end, even if Viacom's countersuit changes the amount before all's said and done. They've done great by their fans and seem pretty swell besides.
Fuck them both!!!