Riccitiello Makes About-Turn on Harmonix Comments

Says the studio is one of the great developers of all time.

Posted by Staff
Riccitiello Makes About-Turn on Harmonix Comments
EA boss John Riccitiello has attempted to clarify his statements regarding Harmonix and music games, adding that the genre "is going to recover... [although] I don't know exactly how."

Yesterday the exec said to Bloomberg that, an investor willing to purchase Harmonix would be like trying to catch a falling knife. Today, he told Kotaku that he was slightly misreported.

"[I said t]he nervous investor would be worried about the decline in the music sector feeling like a falling knife. The only part of that conversation that got reported was the 'falling knife' part," Riccitiello said.

"Alex [Rigopulos, co-founder of Harmonix] is a great developer, Harmonix is one of the great developers of all time. They've got the leading dance product and maybe the leading game full stop on Kinect and the question was what investors might be thinking about it."

"Given the run up to it it's a little bit unfair condemnation of people I have a great deal of respect for. Harmonix is at least as responsible as any company on earth for the creation of a genre. There aren't that many times you can point to that level of innovation."

The exec ruled out EA buying the Rock Band studio, on the basis that asking prices were too high.

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