RedOctane Indie No More
Activision has scooped up the Guitar Hero publisher for an undisclosed sum.
Published: May 9, 2006
RedOctane was one of the first companies to ever give us poor schmucks. Oh, sure, we'd locked down publishers, covered the PS2 pre- and post-launch, and built up quite a following, but we'd never had a full-blown partnership before. RedOctane gave us that love, becoming our official one-click games rental partner, and thanks to them we flourished rather nicely.
Though the deal eventually died off as the company moved towards peripherals (they're still a solid rental house, though), we still remember the love the guys showed us, and it felt great to align ourselves with a local Bay Area company that bootstrapped itself from games rental house to hardware manufacturer, and when we heard they'd landed the publishing gig for Guitar Hero, it felt like a true indie move; Harmonix, a developer of niche (but absolutely awesome) rhythm action games was finally going to put themselves and their lesser-known publisher on the map.
And it worked. Guitar Hero was the kind of runaway success that we knew it would be, solidifying Harmonix as a bankable developer and ensuring a follow-up game in the form of Guitar Hero II. The indie publishing spirit was alive and well. So it's with a bit of sadness that we have to announce that Activision has plunked down the cash to scoop up RedOctane part and parcel. The company will still operate in our backyard down in Sunnyvale, and according to employees we've spoken to, Activision is staying hands-off, but we're bummed they aren't the indie publishing hope we'd kinda wished they could be.
This must be what it feels like when a small-time band suddenly hits it big.
“Our acquisition of RedOctane perfectly aligns with Activision’s strategy to broaden its portfolio by entering new genres that have strong global appeal,” boasted Ron Doornink, Director and Strategic Advisor, Activision, Inc. “Guitar Hero integrates music and gaming in a unique and highly engaging way that delivers a compelling game experience for both the current-and next-generation consoles. The success we are seeing today is a strong indicator that Guitar Hero and the many potential extensions, new platform exploitations and international versions appear to be somewhat transition proof, as consumers are responding to this product on current-generation platforms in a manner that defies traditional late-cycle behavior. We think the online capabilities of the next-generation platforms offer new and well differentiated opportunities to create additional revenues from downloadable music, which today represents one of the most popular downloadable content categories.”
Activision President and CEO Mike Griffith chimed in too, adding, “Activision’s well-established worldwide distribution capabilities coupled with the strength of the Guitar Hero franchise, places us in a position today to capitalize on the millions of current-generation systems in the market. Just as we lead the industry in making music an integral part of the game experience, we will now be making music itself a game, which is appealing to audiences all around the world.”
“RedOctane is incredibly excited about joining forces with Activision to lead the industry in the music-based gaming category,” squealed Kai Huang, President and Co-Founder of RedOctane, Inc.
Charles Huang, RedOctane's COO and Co-Founder of RedOctane, added, “The powerful combination of our deep understanding of the music-based gaming category and Activision’s global publishing infrastructure will enable us to realize our vision to remain the leader in music-gaming space.”
All parties seem happy about the deal, and Activision isn't a company that makes massive, sweeping changes once they buy someone, so we're hoping things stay just the way they have been. We're just going to miss those old partnership days. Congrats, guys, TPS will always be rootin' for ya.
Though the deal eventually died off as the company moved towards peripherals (they're still a solid rental house, though), we still remember the love the guys showed us, and it felt great to align ourselves with a local Bay Area company that bootstrapped itself from games rental house to hardware manufacturer, and when we heard they'd landed the publishing gig for Guitar Hero, it felt like a true indie move; Harmonix, a developer of niche (but absolutely awesome) rhythm action games was finally going to put themselves and their lesser-known publisher on the map.
And it worked. Guitar Hero was the kind of runaway success that we knew it would be, solidifying Harmonix as a bankable developer and ensuring a follow-up game in the form of Guitar Hero II. The indie publishing spirit was alive and well. So it's with a bit of sadness that we have to announce that Activision has plunked down the cash to scoop up RedOctane part and parcel. The company will still operate in our backyard down in Sunnyvale, and according to employees we've spoken to, Activision is staying hands-off, but we're bummed they aren't the indie publishing hope we'd kinda wished they could be.
This must be what it feels like when a small-time band suddenly hits it big.
“Our acquisition of RedOctane perfectly aligns with Activision’s strategy to broaden its portfolio by entering new genres that have strong global appeal,” boasted Ron Doornink, Director and Strategic Advisor, Activision, Inc. “Guitar Hero integrates music and gaming in a unique and highly engaging way that delivers a compelling game experience for both the current-and next-generation consoles. The success we are seeing today is a strong indicator that Guitar Hero and the many potential extensions, new platform exploitations and international versions appear to be somewhat transition proof, as consumers are responding to this product on current-generation platforms in a manner that defies traditional late-cycle behavior. We think the online capabilities of the next-generation platforms offer new and well differentiated opportunities to create additional revenues from downloadable music, which today represents one of the most popular downloadable content categories.”
Activision President and CEO Mike Griffith chimed in too, adding, “Activision’s well-established worldwide distribution capabilities coupled with the strength of the Guitar Hero franchise, places us in a position today to capitalize on the millions of current-generation systems in the market. Just as we lead the industry in making music an integral part of the game experience, we will now be making music itself a game, which is appealing to audiences all around the world.”
“RedOctane is incredibly excited about joining forces with Activision to lead the industry in the music-based gaming category,” squealed Kai Huang, President and Co-Founder of RedOctane, Inc.
Charles Huang, RedOctane's COO and Co-Founder of RedOctane, added, “The powerful combination of our deep understanding of the music-based gaming category and Activision’s global publishing infrastructure will enable us to realize our vision to remain the leader in music-gaming space.”
All parties seem happy about the deal, and Activision isn't a company that makes massive, sweeping changes once they buy someone, so we're hoping things stay just the way they have been. We're just going to miss those old partnership days. Congrats, guys, TPS will always be rootin' for ya.