Rock Band has found a new home!

Well, after a short period of uncertainty, and me shitting bricks that they wouldn't get picked up, Harmonix have at last confirmed that the sale of the company has gone through.

It looks like the company has indeed gone back to....Harmonix themselves. The listing from the Viacom website states that "Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) announced today that it has sold Harmonix Music Systems to Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Columbus Nova, LLC."

And just gone up on the Rock band forums is a statement from Harmonix dev HMXJohnD, Which says:

"Hey Guys:

We’re happy to confirm the news today that the sale of the company is complete. We appreciate all of your support, comments and warm wishes in the preceding few weeks.

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.

Thanks for your continued support and stay tuned for more information here on RockBand.com".

Brilliant news, i'm sure you will all agree.

Rock band up for sale??

Viacom announced yesterday that they are to sell Harmonix, developer of the Rock Band game series and the new title for Kinect, Dance Central.

The reaons being is that by their own admission they have not been able to sucessfully break into the videogames industry.

As reported on gamesindustry.biz, Viacom state that their decision is down to a change in focus, and that "The console games business requires an expertise and scale that we don't have".

What this means for Harmonix is that they are in need of being snapped up. Who this will be is not yet known. The important this is that for the time being, Harmonix will still be supporting both Rock Band and Dance Central. A statement released yesterday on the Rock band forums by John Drake states "This morning's announcement does not affect the ongoing work at the studio as we continue to support our existing franchises, Rock Band and Dance Central. As stated earlier, Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed."

So there we go. Just after bothe Dance Central and Rock Band arrive to ctitical acclaim (see my upcoming Rock band review), the rug seems to have been pulled out from under them.

No doubt publishers are alreading lining up, with rumours that EA, Microsoft and indeed Activision are having a proverbial "sniff about". And still no word on what this means with the deal with MTV. But i'll be keeping you all informed as to the goings on.

But if you're reading this Harmonix, please....stay away from Activision.