Rock Band earns Harmonix bonus payout of US$ 208.7 million

While everyone pretty much saw how big a hit Rock Band (Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360) was going to be, only Harmonix could have possibly known that they were getting quite the good deal when they agreed to get snapped up by MTV Games. As we’ve found out, the runaway success of Rock Band not only gave the developing house massive props, but a massive bonus on the way as well. Check out the full article for all the details.

With the runaway success of Rock Band for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 making the guys over at Harmonix overnight rockstars, you’d think the video games industry would let up throwing them the proverbial lacy feminine underwear of good fortune.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), this doesn’t seem to be the case, as Harmonix may be in for yet another killing in the future – the developers dancing themselves all the way to the bank to the tune of an extra US$ 208.7 million. You could buy a small country with that!

What’s the reason for this very huge sum of moolah that we can only fantasize in our wildest dreams, you ask? Well, if you remember the deal about MTV Games snapping up Harmonix for a cool US$ 175 million, then you’ve probably also heard about a little stipulation in the buy-out. This stipulation pretty much means that if Harmonix agreed to be acquired by MTV Games, they get a financial incentive. According to this stipulation:

In addition, to the extent financial results exceed specific contractual targets against a defined gross profit metric through 2008, former Harmonix shareholders will be eligible for incremental earn-out payments with respect to the years ended December 31, 2007 and December 31, 2008.

And looking at the overall success of Rock Band, it looks like that big bag is bulging bigger and bigger. So congratulations to Harmonix – they’ve got 208.7 million reasons why they should pat themselves on the back, and get going with a sequel. Here’s hoping!

Buy: [ Rock Band Special Edition (Xbox 360) ]
Buy: [ Rock Band Special Edition (PS3) ]