According to AllThingsDigital, Harmonix was sold by Viacom to investment group Columbus Nova for the promo price of... $49,99! Quite a lot less than what you have to pay for Rock Band 3.

Of course things aren't as simple as they may appear. The buyer also had to take over all the debt as well as the responsibility for the music rights and unsold games and hardware in factories and warehouses.

Also the deal was done in such a way that Viacom could recuperate about 150 million dollars in tax advantages. Harmonix was bought by Viacom back in 2006 for about 175 million dollars.

As promised, support for the games will remain while the development studio thinks about the next game now that they're independent again. Their PR boss already said that gamers will go crazy about this next title! But don't they always say that?

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