Guitar Hero Devs Worth $100 Million+

[Kefkataran]

Noticed this bit of news over at 1Up (http://www.1up.com). It seems Activision just released their form from their SEC filing about purchasing Guitar Hero publisher Red Octane. So just how much did they pay? From the full article (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3152754):

On June 6, 2006, we completed our acquisition of 100% of RedOctane, Inc. ("RedOctane") for an aggregate accounting purchase price of $99.9 million including transaction costs, consisting of $30.9 million in cash and 2,382,077 shares of Activision common stock valued at approximately $30.0 million based upon prevailing market prices, and $39.0 million payable in Activision common stock within two years of the closing date, which is recorded in other liabilities. In addition, in the event the net income of the business over a certain period of time exceeds certain target levels by certain amounts, certain former shareholders of RedOctane will be entitled to an additional amount of up to $51.0 million payable in shares of Activision common stock.

Very nice news. If there's anyone that deserves that big of a check, it's Red Octane. Here's hoping Guitar Hero 2 "exceeds certain target levels by certain amounts" so they get that extra $51 mil.

[Goronmon]

Too bad that $51 million is in the form of stock. That sucks.

[Kefkataran]

True, but it's still cash-money-bling-bling, motha. RED OCTANE GOTSTA GET PAID!

[Ilikecapcom]

Red Octane is not the dev :)

[Flatpicker]

Put GH2 out for the 360 with a wireless explorer shaped guitar controller and I'm there.

[disc]

Developer of Guitar Hero = Harmonix.

To tell the truth, the only thing Red Octane has going for it is the Guitar Hero name.

[Rirath]

Still have a blast with "Guitar Hero PC Clone", so far Legendary Theme of Gitaroo Man, the Punch Out! remix, and the Tetris remix are my favorites. It's not perfect, but it works surprisingly well. Been waiting for this since day 1, it's nice to have other uses for the guitar. Everything on the guitar maps great, except for the whammy bar.

I can even map the up tilt to a button.

[Rirath]

Developer of Guitar Hero = Harmonix.

To tell the truth, the only thing Red Octane has going for it is the Guitar Hero name.

People definitely need to remember who the devs are, but Red Octane is pretty much legendary for anyone needing DDR supplies or whatnot. They had a good name in the community long before Guitar Hero. The Red Octane brand is one of the reasons I was willing to shell out for a peripheral that only works with one music game.

I walked into Wal-Mart today and was surprised to see an entire endcap shelf display of Guitar Hero boxes. Not sure what the occasion is, but it was neat.

[Kefkataran]

Shit, can't believe I fucked that up. So Red Octane's the publisher, right? I'll fix that.

[Ultima Thulian]

Got a chance to play a deom for Guitar Hero II at Ozzfest, great stuff. Lookin to top the original. Still no StairWay To Heaven though...

[UnderHero5]

Got a chance to play a deom for Guitar Hero II at Ozzfest, great stuff. Lookin to top the original. Still no StairWay To Heaven though...
No Stairway?.... Denied!

Oh, and it still say's Dev's on the main page.

[jeffbax]

Didn't Red Octane buy Harmonix?

[gzsfrk]

$100 million?

Worth every freakin' penny.

[ElPresidente]

Red Octane do make very good peripherals. Pairing Red Octane and Harmonix together was a brilliant move, it is a shame that Harmonix aren't the ones getting the monetary kudos though. Lord knows how many hours of my time their games have sucked up. Greatest rhythm game developers ever.

[LilAbner]

Little known fact: Red Octane started as a game-rental company.

[Meatgortex]

I've been renting games from Red Octane since they were founded a couple miles from my house. (Makes turn around times nice).

Indeed as has been said many times, RO is a game rental store and peripheral maker. They also branched into publishing for Guitar Hero, but the game was developed by Harmonix.

Before GH Harmonix was know for Frequency and it's sequel Amplitude. RO does not own Harmonix, but they do own the "Guitar Hero" name.

[sync]

Didn't Red Octane buy Harmonix?nope. They are independent still.

[Sensei-X]

Well they better hand some of that cash to their employees otherwise I hope Activision is happy with the empty shell they will be left with once all the people with the real talent flee for greener pastures.

[Borys]

This is like peanuts for Microsoft. I can't believe how "cheap" RO is.