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Harmonix is no longer an indie studio, but the team will continue its vision of bringing exciting music experiences to video games. Harmonix has been manifesting melodies into games for over 26 years and it looks like nothing will stop the music.
Please don’t stop the music
Fortnite is joining Guitar Hero and Rock Band on the list of iconic franchises that Harmonix has helped create. The company was started in 1995 with a simple but grand vision: to bring music performance to those that otherwise may not be able to experience it. And that mission will continue under the ownership of Epic Games.
Epic Games released a statement with details on the acquisition, and it sounds like Harmonix is going to be pretty important. While it’s early to draw too many conclusions, it’s already really clear Harmonix will be influencing music much more than before. And this is the team that brought us The Beatles Rock Band, Dance Central, and Fuser.
As we work to build the metaverse, this expertise is needed to reimagine how music is experienced, created and distributed. The Harmonix team will collaborate closely with Epic to develop musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite while continuing to support existing titles including Rock Band 4.
Epic Games providing information on Harmonix Acquisition
Fortnite is the biggest game in the world, and now it should have some of the best music experiences too. That’s a win for Fortnite fans (which is a lot of people) and it also puts Harmonix in a great spot in terms of the developer’s stability and financial future.
An Epic Harmony
Alain Tascan, vice president of game development at Epic Games, shared some more insight on how compatible the two company’s visions should be together as well, closing out Epic’s statement with the following:
“Music is already bringing millions of people together in Fortnite, from our emotes to global concerts and events. Together with the Harmonix team, we will transform how players experience music, going from passive listeners to active participants.”
Harmonix shared some details as well, which can be viewed here, but it doesn’t sound like much is going to change. Time will tell before long though. This isn’t the first acquisition from Epic Games and it probably won’t be the last. Fall Guys developer Media Molecule was just purchased earlier this year and Epic isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
It remains to be seen how things will play out but one thing is for sure: we all need to ask Epic Games to re-release The Beatles Rock Band. Maybe we’ll get Paul McCartney’s Rock Band avatar in Fortnite though, which I would like. (I also would like to buy new Rock Band instruments but that’s sadly not happening.)
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