Earlier this week, Harmonix reported they was undergoing layoffs of 12-15% of their approximately 240-person staff in order to restructure themselves to fit current projects underway. The move follows the sale of Harmonix to Columbus Nova, but there was no word of whether the layoffs were influenced by the music-gaming studio's new owners.
In a similar, yet potentially more surprising story, Activision Blizzard has announced they will not publish a Guitar Hero title in 2011. Their decision is influenced by the unimpressive sales of last year's Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and the manufacturing cost of peripherals for their games. Activision Blizzard did commit to continuing to create new DLC for their existing Guitar Hero and DJ Hero titles, but did not announce any plans to move the Guitar Hero or DJ Hero franchises forward in the future.
Update: According to the Official Guitar Hero twitter feed, there will not be any new Guitar Hero DLC after the month of February. "We will release the previously announced DLC track and mix packs for February, but we will not be able to release new DLC packs."
Expect an editorial from me soon detailing what I believe is a good plan to move forward in the music game genre. It's... recycled from a long "Our Take" comment I had previously posted on the Harmonix sale news story, but there's new content that's making it's way into it.
In short, both companies are probably doing the right things, with layoffs and a halt of their current market practices. I don't think digital sales can carry their platforms alone, since they're more complicated and less versatile than iTunes, by comparison, so hopefully one of the two come up with a better solution soon.
I was so waiting for tambourine hero
Great now you lazy bums can get off your couches and learn to play music the real way.
But I can play music the real way, just not on those instruments!