Activision vs. Harmonix, Round 3: Money for Controller Compatibility
By Shawn on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 5:50 PM PST In Activision, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games
It seems GamingToday was right on the money about Activision’s true motivations behind the problems with releasing a patch to allow Guitar Hero III guitar controllers to be used with Rock Band.
“Unfortunately for Rock Band users, Harmonix has been unwilling to discuss an agreement that will allow us to provide that option in a manner that maintains the high standards people have come to expect from Activision,” company spokesperson Maryanne Lataif told The Boston Globe.“We believe we should be compensated for the use of our technology,” she said.
Harmonix, which claims to have already created a patch to allow controller compatibility, says that it only wants what’s best for gamers.
“We are really and truly not looking at this from the financial standpoint,” said company spokeswoman Spencer Saltonstall. “We are looking at this from the consumer standpoint.”
She adds that there are 7,000 Chinese workers assembling guitar controllers for Rock Band at this moment and consumers can expect them to be on shelves next month.
Ironically the Xbox 360 version of the game which is compatible with the Guitar Hero III controller has only sold 68,000 copies. The PS3 version of Rock Band has sold over 247,000 copies.
“I think they’re all sods,” PS3 RockBand owner Tom Bramwell told GamesIndustry.biz sister site Eurogamer.net.
“The irony is that I only bought the Guitar Hero III PS3 controller so I could use it with Rock Band instead of the Fender Stratocaster bundled with the Harmonix game itself. In other words, I extended my custom with Activision in order to do a thing it is now prohibiting out of a desire to prevent itself losing my custom.”
Activision is shooting itself in the foot by losing potential sales. This is really, truly stupid in my estimation.
They’re shooting themselves in the foot because of a huge money potential. Remember that. This could hurt them more though, and they may eventually come around if they get enough bad press.
Like some others have said, activision is just plain stupid. If the patch went through they could have sold so many more of their guitars, making them more money. Now as it stands, I will NOT buy anything from them. I know I am only one person, but it is whats wrong with our society, GREED!!!!!
I bought Guitar Hero III thinking I could use my Rock Band guitar. No dice, so I’m returning Guitar Hero III and will never buy their game until they make it compatible. A patch could have earned them at least one more $50 sale.