The latest round of video game studio acquisition comes from Epic Games which is acquiring Harmonix, the developers of titles like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Dance Central. The developers made the announcement today via a blog post, mentioning that they will "work with Epic to create musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite". However, specifics of such collaboration haven't been shared at this time.

" Now, we’ll be working with Epic to once again challenge expectations as we bring our unique brand of musical gaming experiences to the Metaverse, and we couldn’t be more excited," reads the post.

Harmonix also stated that their joining of the Epic Games family will not affect their current Rock Band DLC plans nor the way they support any their older games. The developers also created a brief FAQ in the post to answer pertinent questions.

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[ZeroFX]

or alternatively would u like them being acquired by EA?

i just don't care, but ea buying it carries the same level of "rip" as epic games.

 

[1c4rus]

Epic is not exactly a model company, and they are basically a Western proxy for China's Tencent, who owns 49% of it and calls many shots. Now Tencent itself is a dubious company ran with the backing of certain "higher up" actors if you know what I mean. (Officially. This is not even conjecture)

Tldr: if you do not have political or privacy concerns, Epic can be your bros. Otherwise, a cautious approach to them is best.

Tencent is literally have stake/influence on many studio and social platform including but not limited to most beloved Reddit and Discord but it always end up Epic is alienated most. Pure hypocrisy I presume.

Tldr: We have seen enough of security and privacy fiascos from US based companies than any China related products or services.

 

[MarkDarkness]

Tencent is literally have stake/influence on many studio and social platform including but not limited to most beloved Reddit and Discord but it always end up Epic is alienated most. Pure hypocrisy I presume.

Tldr: We have seen enough of security and privacy fiascos from US based companies than any China related products or services.

You are not wrong. The USA is so OmegaLUL that it is one of the few countries in the world not to have adopted any modern privacy legislation, which even China has in their own way. THAT SAID, it's about picking a side with your money. Steam remains largely Western and, for all purposes, fairly democratic. It takes fire raining from the skies for Steam to censor something. They also stopped beating around the bush and just made adult games widely legal, legitimizing a whole sector of the games business. For all intents, it is independent and ran by its directors, not by a nation-state. So if I need to vote with my wallet, I am voting for Steam.

 

[HarveyHouston]

If anyone is worried about the Harmonix acquisition, I think you guys should read this portion taken from this Wikipedia article:

Tencent's WeChat platform has been accused of blocking TikTok videos and the censorship of politically sensitive content. In April 2018, TikTok sued Tencent and accused it of spreading false and damaging information on its WeChat platform, demanding RMB 1 million in compensation and an apology. In June 2018, Tencent filed a lawsuit against Toutiao and TikTok in a Beijing court, alleging they had repeatedly defamed Tencent with negative news and damaged its reputation, seeking a nominal sum of RMB 1 in compensation and a public apology.In response, Toutiao filed a complaint the following day against Tencent for allegedly unfair competition and asking for RMB 90 million in economic losses.

However, Tim Sweeney, the CEO and founder of Epic Games, maker of the popular game Fortnite, among others, tweeted that his company would never follow suit and punish people for expressing their opinions, even though Tencent is a 40% stakeholder in Epic. He emphasized, "That will never happen on my watch as the founder, CEO, and controlling shareholder," and that Epic is an American company, implying that it would not compromise an ethos of free speech in the name of currying favor with authorities in China just to try to maximize profit there.

So as long as Tencent doesn't buy more stock in Epic Games to control the company, Harmonix is fine. Still, it concerns me that China is allowed to buy stock in American companies at all - not that I want the stock market to be compromised, but I am concerned about businesses in the U.S. being owned and controlled by outsiders. Even friendly nations like Canada, Mexico, and the U.K. should not have the final say on what we do with our businesses, by default.

Of course, that's just my opinion. I can't actually control the financial decisions of the U.S., so...

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Steam remains largely Western and, for all purposes, fairly democratic. It takes fire raining from the skies for Steam to censor something. They also stopped beating around the bush and just made adult games widely legal, legitimizing a whole sector of the games business. For all intents, it is independent and ran by its directors, not by a nation-state. So if I need to vote with my wallet, I am voting for Steam.

Steam sounds like a good platform to do business with, since they're so open-minded about everything.

 

[_n3o_]

I remember Frequency and Amplitude on PS2, amazing rythme games (if you love rythme games you need to try them). Then guitar hero.

Harmonix is dead.