Media giant Viacom, parent company of MTV Games, and owner of the profitable Rock Band series, recently released their calendar year 2009 figures. Viacom’s “Media Networks” division (MTV Games and subsequently, Rock Band) saw 2009 revenue drop 5%, to 8.29 billion, and fourth quarter revenue drop 6%, to $2.3 billion. In a conference call, Viacom’s CEO and president, Philippe Dauman, expressed the company’s take on the numbers, and how they’ll move forward.
Dauman plans to institute a more cost-effective business model within Rock Band: choosing songs or artists that can affordably give rights to MTV Games.
“… It certainly was a challenging year in 2009 for the video game industry in general and certainly for our Rock Band franchise.
“As we go forward, we are continuing to focus more on software than hardware, looking to reduce the cost structure associated with Rock Band, being selective in the music titles that we choose for Rock Band based on their cost. The music industry will assist with this category to make sure that it can continue on a profitable basis in the future and then finally we think we have the best games in the category [and] we’ll continue to roll out exciting products.”
Time will tell whether this business model will work for Viacom. In the meantime, stick with PlayStation LifeStyle, as we’ll keep you up-to-date on this developing situation.
