Pointing to their strong ties to the music industry and claim over the coveted Beatles license, Viacom gloats amidst a major DLC breakthrough.
When you’re currently in control of the most universally powerful brand in the history of music and your competition is left with — well, it doesn’t really matter what your competition has because when you’re trolling around with The Beatles you’ve pretty much won the game. “Game over, man,” as some might say. So it’s no surprise that at the 36th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, claimed that the Rock Band franchise has an easier time attracting talent than their competition in Activision’s Guitar Hero.
“There’s a strong music orientation to our company,” said Dauman, whose Viacom is the parent company of MTV Networks and Rock Band developer, Harmonix. “Many of our networks are ideal vehicles to promote the game, and you’ll see more and more of that as we move forward.”
The greatest strength in Dauman’s argument lies solely in their upcoming game based on The Beatles, which was made possible due to the brand power that exists in MTV Networks.
The Viacom owned Harmonix is breaking new ground with the Rock Band series this week, clearing the 500 song mark with the release of a 13-song track pack dedicated to No Doubt, which they had previously promised by end of 2008. The Boston-based developer looks to be making a killing off of downloadable content sales, having sold 28 million Rock Band tracks to date.
