The Beatles: Rock Band may have trumped Guitar Hero 5 in terms of both unit sales and actual revenue, but less consumer interest in both franchises has actually dragged down game industry sales overall by about 50 percent. Gamasutra dug into sales for both franchises across all consoles—including downloadable song…

While rival gaming companies like EA and *THQ* were laying off thousands of staff earlier this year, Activision (NSDQ: ATVI) kept chugging along. No more. Slumping game sales industry-wide have forced the company to start cost-cutting; the first casualty is former Scratch the Ultimate DJ developer 7 Studios. Reports say…

Activision (NSDQ: ATVI) apparently has aspirations well beyond the video-game world for its hit franchise Guitar Hero. CEO Bobby Kotick told THR that the franchise “might make for a good TV show or good concert tour,” but the publication’s sources say discussions about it are well under way. Activision subsidiary…

A California judge has just upped the stakes in the trade secrets and IP battle between *Activision* and Scratch: The Ultimate DJ creators Genius Products and Numark Industries: he granted the smaller companies a restraining order against *Activision* and its subsidiary 7 Studios. The ruling forces Activision (NSDQ: ATVI) to…

A pair of indie gaming companies may have tossed a wrench into Activision’s plans to piggyback on the success of its Guitar Hero franchise with the upcoming DJ Hero game. Genius Products and Numark Industries, the two companies behind the as-yet-released Scratch: The Ultimate DJ game, have filed a lawsuit…

Former *Yahoo* COO Dan Rosensweig’s name has come up in the running for a number of high-profile Web positions in recent months: including Yahoo’s hunt for a new CEO and Microsoft’s search for a head of advertising. But All Things D reports that Rosensweig is headed in a completely different…

Music video games are hailed as possible saviors of both the video-game and music industries, but new figures show that appetite for games like Guitar Hero is falling away as entertainment spending slows. Variety.com reports that Viacom-Harmonix’s Rock Band 2 sold 809,000 copies last year domestically, while Activision-Blizzard’s Guitar Hero:…

This is becoming a core music industry argument: Music labels want to get paid when people use or listen to their music. Other parties think the labels need to better appreciate new distribution models as opportunity to promote their music. The labels counter that promotion is great, but they still…

The spat between guitar maker Gibson, and Guitar Hero maker Activision (NSDQ: ATVI) escalated this week, as Gibson filed suit against several retailers in hopes of stopping the game’s sale. It was revealed last week that Gibson believes Activision is infringing on one of its old patents for a simulated…

Buried within Viacom’s (NYSE: VIA) 10-K annual report filed yesterday with SEC is an interesting and elusive number: the earnout that the developers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band will get over the next two years. In October 2006, the parent company Harmonix was bought by MTV Networks for $175…