Harmonix Layoffs Confirmed

[Andy Chalk]

Harmonix Layoffs Confirmed

Harmonix Music Systems [http://www.harmonixmusic.com/], which recently had a bargain-basement parting-of-ways with MTV Games, has been forced to reduce its headcount.

Half a decade ago, Harmonix was on top of the world with the hugely successful abandoned [http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Hero-Game-Only-Playstation-2/dp/B000GDPHAE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297111213&sr=8-1] by its owner and forced to lay off staff, yet that's exactly the situation the studio finds itself in.

"Harmonix is restructuring our organization to bring it into alignment with our current product development plans. Unfortunately, this means reducing the number of full-time staff," the company said in a statement sent to Joystiq [http://www.joystiq.com/2011/02/07/harmonix-layoffs/]. "We sincerely appreciate the work of each and every one of these employees. Harmonix is working to ensure that those affected are well taken care of as we make this change."

One of the problems facing Harmonix, however, may be that aside from an unnamed project for the Nintendo DS, nobody really knows what its plans are, which might make it difficult to find funding to keep the headcount up. The company didn't mention specific numbers but Joystiq said that 12 to 15 percent of the studio's roughly 240 employees have been let go.


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[Mrsoupcup]

Lesson learned kids, quantity never beats quality. Harmonix and Activision over Saturated their market and turned music games into a fad that will quickly be forgotten. Can't say I feel bad for them, I'm only willing to shell out 150 bucks for a plastic rythem toy once.

 

[Therumancer]

This isn't terribly surprising, Harmonix was a one trick pony riding on a gimmick that lasted a lot longer than it should have. They never seemed to be thinking ahead, so it's not surprising that when the fad passed, they were left without anything to fall back on.

We'll see what happens, but I'm pretty much expecting them to fall even further trying to emulate/recapture what was lost, when the interest has just started to move away from music games I think.

 

[civatrix]

"Harmonix is restructuring our organization to bring it into alignment with our current product development plans. Unfortunately, this means reducing the number of full-time staff"

translated from corporate speak to

"We have no work for people to do, some of them need to leave"

 

[Reed Spacer]

Well, this is what happens when you beat a dead one-trick pony.

 

[jaoblia]

awwwwwwMAAANN I freaking LOVED rock band 3 and all the great artists they had, they're goes getting court of the crimson king, supertramp, and yes into rock band.

 

[fix-the-spade]

It's a shame about lay offs, but I'm really, really surprised by just how quickly and massively the music game bubble burst.

2008 christmas time and Guitar Hero/Rock Band sets may as well have been gold plated, you could set whatever price you liked for them and people still lined up to pay. Not even three years on yet and Harmonix are rapidly heading down the toilet.

Amazing how quickly people get tired of being shovelled the same crap three times a year. I wonder if Call of Duty will suffer a similarly sized cliff drop or a steadier downturn.

 

[Ekit]

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Also, have they abandoned the Guitar Hero series if their only current project is a DS title?
It's good that they try something new, but it seems weird to abandon such a popular franchise.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

Sad to hear, I've always liked Harmonix as a developer - but yeah that's the problem with having your eggs in one basket. Here's hoping that their former employees can find new jobs, and hoping that Harmonix will find new ways to make the music game genre work.

Videogames and music are two of my favorite things, so I'll always be rooting for a developer whose goal is to put the two together.

 

[mjc0961]

This isn't terribly surprising, Harmonix was a one trick pony riding on a gimmick that lasted a lot longer than it should have. They never seemed to be thinking ahead, so it's not surprising that when the fad passed, they were left without anything to fall back on.

We'll see what happens, but I'm pretty much expecting them to fall even further trying to emulate/recapture what was lost, when the interest has just started to move away from music games I think.

actually compared to GH they imrpvoised more
First with the band concept
secondly with PRO mode and the keytar
and to be fair if those second improvements were in the second game, they may have actually gone far, alas no such luck.

The point is though, that no matter how many things they added to Rock Band, the bottom line is that they were still only making music games. That fad has passed now, and they have nothing else on their plate, so they're going hungry. Even Dance Central is part of that fad, but at least they can't kill that franchise quite as hard since you only need to spend $150 for the special controller (Kinect) once. Unlike Rock Band 3 which says "Okay, this time you also need to drop a shitload of money on the keyboard controller, and the pro instruments if you want to really play everything this game has in it" to consumers, what are they going to do for Dance Central 2? Make people buy ANOTHER Kinect? Yeah, don't think so.

But still, beyond music games, they have squat. They'd better learn how to make some other type of game, and fast.

 

[SaintWaldo]

Where do I sign up to volunteer, because these guys STILL have more to give us, despite the scorched earth that Bobby Kotick made of the music game market when he woke up and realized he'd fucked himself, first.

I'd go over every line, every pixel, every note of anything they want, for free, if I knew they'd listen when I was done. That is how solidly these guys changed games AND music for me, and I used to be, "one of those musician dicks". I was a professional musician, a guitarist and vocalist with some very satisfying personal watermarks on that track. I HATED the concept of music games in the shallow trough between Parappa and Rock Band. But once I watched that arrow follow my live voice while throwing back a score, it was over. Harmonix won my heart, soul, voice, hips, and thumbs.

I PLAY DRUMS NOW BECAUSE OF THESE GUYS. Can you wrap your head around that? I'm talking about learning an actual instrument. Who the fuck even ATTEMPTED GIVING CULTURE BACK TO THE MASSES on this scale? That's EXACTLY what it is, folks. It's THAT big.

Yes, I can sit at a REAL drum set and play, now. I was NEVER able to do that before, and I had tried aplenty. I literally NEEDED Rock Band to exist to get a context that I could wrap that rhythm instrument skill around, because knowing guitar actually got in the way.

I'm putting keyboards on the list next. I'm almost forty. Do you know what it takes to motivate a FORTY YEAR OLD HONKY to learn the tricky keyboards? Your answer does not matter one fleck, because Harmonix does. If you think that isn't a money factory, you're a dinosaur and deserve to see nothing but a plastic toy. Like I used to. These guys are going to make it. I just know it. Your kids and I are gonna jam so damn hard next decade, and we're not gonna turn it down.

When Giles is fighting Anya during The Wish, Anya asks, "You trusting fool, how do you know the other world is any better than this?"

Giles' reply: "Because it has to be."

Darmok, and Jalad, at Tanagra.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

snip

This pretty much sums up my feelings. I play guitar now thanks to Rock Band, and I am rather capable at drums as well.

I see all of these comments about Harmonix beating down the music genre, but Guitar Hero pretty much did that on their own. Rock Band always pushed some form of change in their games(Aside from LEGO and Green Day, which were both pushed on to Harmonix by Viacom and MTV respectively). Guitar Hero would add some cheap gimmick and call it a day. Rock Band started off by expanding from Guitar Hero by adding drums and vocals. They went from there and upped the online accessibility of the game in Rock Band 2.

Guitar Hero follows up by doing the same and causing the issues in the market. Then they go on their way making games the same over and over again. Rock Band 3 comes out a few years later and it sports another new instrument and pro modes for all instruments, bridging the gap between playing a game and learning an instrument. Frankly I'd love to see what Guitar Hero is going to do to attempt to top that.

It saddens me to see such an awesome group have to let some of their staff go and I do hope them the best.

There is a good comparison to end this post on.

Rock Band is a music game.
Guitar Hero is a music game.

 

[tautologico]

snip

snip

I played the drums for most of my teenage years, playing in metal bands and such. I was away from playing music for some time when I got into Guitar Hero (starting with the first one). I started learning the guitar and got back to drums playing because of the first Guitar Hero games and Rock Band.

Harmonix didn't swamp the market with music games. That was Activision. And I think there's still a market there, even if it's not as hyped as it was before. I hope things work for the best for Harmonix.

 

[drisky]

snip

snip

I played the drums for most of my teenage years, playing in metal bands and such. I was away from playing music for some time when I got into Guitar Hero (starting with the first one). I started learning the guitar and got back to drums playing because of the first Guitar Hero games and Rock Band.

Harmonix didn't swamp the market with music games. That was Activision. And I think there's still a market there, even if it's not as hyped as it was before. I hope things work for the best for Harmonix.

I agree Activison killed guitar games just like skateboarding ones. Also I think kind presumptuous to say "one trick pony". Bioware only makes RPGs and everyone here loves them. Harmonix may not have been responsible for the over saturation, but they have to evolve anyways and find a new franchise for the music genre, I just hope they can do it.

 

[Reed Spacer]

I agree Activison killed guitar games just like skateboarding ones. Also I think kind presumptuous to say "one trick pony". Bioware only makes RPGs and everyone here loves them.

That's because RPGs at least have the capacity to be different.

Music games are, and will always be, nothing more than memory games with a soundtrack.

 

[PunkyMcGee]

snip

snip

I played the drums for most of my teenage years, playing in metal bands and such. I was away from playing music for some time when I got into Guitar Hero (starting with the first one). I started learning the guitar and got back to drums playing because of the first Guitar Hero games and Rock Band.

Harmonix didn't swamp the market with music games. That was Activision. And I think there's still a market there, even if it's not as hyped as it was before. I hope things work for the best for Harmonix.

I think it my job as a registered Harmonix fan-boy to agree with you (i would of said so myself if you hadn't already). Activison kills all the games I love through over-saturation, happened to Tony Hawk, now the music games. Why must they milk the things I love to death?

 

[drisky]

I agree Activison killed guitar games just like skateboarding ones. Also I think kind presumptuous to say "one trick pony". Bioware only makes RPGs and everyone here loves them.

That's because RPGs at least have the capacity to be different.

Music games are, and will always be, nothing more than memory games with a soundtrack.

Thats pretty closed minded, theres room for growth in anything. Let me use Papaton as an example, thats a rhythm game but they decided to combine it with a RTS, theres a new way to do rhythm right there. Just because you haven't thought of a way to innovate the music genre doesn't Harmonic can't come up with something.