Activision vs. Harmonix, Round 2
By Ron on Friday, December 14th, 2007 at 1:10 AM PST In Activision, Electronic Arts, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games, Microsoft, Sony
I’m sure all you PS3 Rock Band owners have been following the progress of the proposed patch to allow Guitar Hero 3 guitars to be used with Rock Band. If you are, I’m sure you saw the report that Harmonix had announced that Activision was blocking the release of that patch.
Activision has now fired their own salvo in this battle, denying that they have any part in blocking the patch, and calling the Harmonix statement ‘misleading.’ You can find this announcement in the support section of Activision’s website, and the full text appears below.
To Music Gaming Fans:
The recent announcement by MTV Games/Viacom’s Harmonix division that Activision is blocking Sony from releasing a patch and their plea to enable Rock Band software to work with Guitar Hero hardware paints a very misleading picture.
In fact, Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision’s offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band. We have been and remain open to discussions with Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom about the use of our technology in Rock Band. Unfortunately for Rock Band users, in this case Harmonix and MTV Games/Viacom are unwilling to discuss an agreement with Activision.
Activision’s top priority is to provide consumers with a seamless marriage of best-in-class hardware and software. We are focusing our efforts on innovating hardware and software that are designed to work together, work flawlessly and provide an enjoyable gaming experience.
Best regards,
Activision
So, what IS the truth in this situation? Who knows. All I know is that I am still without a second Rock Band guitar, and I am not all that happy about it. Hopefully, these two companies can settle their differences and work together to create a patch that will fix the compatibility issue once and for all. After all, letting the GH 3 Les Paul work with Rock Band owuld be a bonus for Activision, as PS3 owners who don’t already have it would most likely pick it up because they could not only play GH 3, but they’d also gain a second Rock Band guitar.
In a second read-through of this announcement, I have formulated a theory. It almost sounds like Harmonix wrote the patch submitted it, and then Activision said, “Fine, you can use it, but we expect an agreement that includes compensation for us.” While I don’t know if this is the case, it would certainly fit the tone of the statements from both companies. Until we have more information, it’s all just idle speculation.
More to come as it develops.
We’ll have to see if we can get some word from Sony on what the real deal is.
For now, gamers are screwed, it would seem.
“Fine, you can use it, but we expect an agreement that includes compensation for us.”
That’s the same impression I got. Harmonix won’t consider paying, Activision is ‘blocking’ by requiring them to pay (potential legal action if Harmonix didn’t compensate for use of “Activision’s technology”).
This is good, they should have it open to both guitars and equipment. If you paid for a guitar either Rock band or Guitar here you should be able to use it on either game, you own the damn thing. So EA and Activision dont be cheap about it, cant you all get along? you are only hurting the customers and makes you look small.