Harmonix sues Activision, then withdraws suit to talk
Variety reports developer Harmonix sued Activision on Monday for $14.5 million in royalties owed them from the Guitar Hero franchise, only to pull the suit Tuesday night. The filing of the lawsuit seems to have been all Activision apparently needed to talk things through outside of court.
The lawsuit revolved around Harmonix's technology being used in creating Guitar Hero III and royalties owed them for that deal. Harmonix, which created the first two GH's before publisher Red Octane was purchased by Activision, also claims it has not been paid for GH DLC, in-game advertising and other nitty-gritty details. Activision originally stated it had paid what it owed to Harmonix and "the claims otherwise do not have merit."
With Activision looking to drive the Guitar Hero franchise intothe ground the seventh level of hell, it looks like Harmonix wants to get some money out of watching its original cash cow get milked into oblivion.
Read -- Viacom withdraws 'Guitar' suit
Read -- The full court docs.
The lawsuit revolved around Harmonix's technology being used in creating Guitar Hero III and royalties owed them for that deal. Harmonix, which created the first two GH's before publisher Red Octane was purchased by Activision, also claims it has not been paid for GH DLC, in-game advertising and other nitty-gritty details. Activision originally stated it had paid what it owed to Harmonix and "the claims otherwise do not have merit."
With Activision looking to drive the Guitar Hero franchise into
Read -- Viacom withdraws 'Guitar' suit
Read -- The full court docs.






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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
randomshagz @ Mar 12th 2008 1:03AM
$14.5 million in royalties?
Wow.
ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Mar 12th 2008 2:29AM
That's over nine thousand!
/overmeme
phillypharm @ Mar 12th 2008 1:10AM
maybe activision will settle this by allowing that rockband patch to go thru for ps3 owners?!? but probably not.. sigh
Organic_Shadow @ Mar 12th 2008 10:17AM
I second that. I REALLY don't want to have to use a third party controller between RB and GH3. The Nyko guitar seems cool and all, but I would still much rather an official axe. Especially without the footswitch to change between which game im playing. =\
Jesse @ Mar 12th 2008 1:29AM
they shouldn't have withdrawn it would have served those cocks at activision right, they're ruining the Tony Hawk franchise, GH3 sucked compared to the first 2, how they managed not to fuck up COD4 is beyond me
CB @ Mar 12th 2008 1:35AM
Well it seems they don't mind whoring the Call of Duty name by letting Treyarch do another game.
Beatz @ Mar 12th 2008 3:46AM
The simple answer is to blame Neversoft, not Activision. Activision simply published the title, which means they had little if anything to do with making the title at all. It's Neversoft who continues to crank out mediocre sequels year after year.
sparki @ Mar 12th 2008 9:02AM
Oh don't worry, they're ruining COD franchise just fine... by not having Infinity Ward do COD5.
ScottyGEE32 @ Mar 12th 2008 2:25AM
Cool. I dislike how Guitar Hero is being treated ;_;
whymog @ Mar 12th 2008 3:14AM
It's like Harmonix gave me a birthday cake two years in a row, and then Neversoft came along and totally just shit on my cake this year. :(
IcePhoen1x @ Mar 12th 2008 6:13AM
well whymog, there's always Rock Band...that beats a birthday cake any day :D
Nate @ Mar 12th 2008 7:39AM
Yeah, Activision is the devil. Get Rock Band, it's friggin' fantastic.
ManekiNeko @ Mar 12th 2008 5:43AM
Viacom sued somebody. And in other news, the sun came up and someone breathed air.
Jhongerkong @ Mar 12th 2008 6:42AM
When the hell did Phoenix Wright ever say "WITHDRAWN"?
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Mar 12th 2008 11:39AM
Its right up there, at the top of the post. Don't you see it?
LiK @ Mar 12th 2008 7:59AM
funny, i know someone working on this case but i can't say about what since he might get fired. but it's all interesting stuff.
Matt B @ Mar 12th 2008 9:10AM
Maybe if there was more DLC, they would have gotten paid for some. The DLC for GH3 has been outnumbered by Rock band by what 30 songs to 1?