Game over: Viacom to sell ‘Rock Band’

For Viacom Inc., yesterday the music died.

Or at least the catchy pop tunes emanating from its “Rock Band” videogames.

Viacom said the money-losing business unit that developed “Rock Band” is now on the auction block. The media conglomerate acknowledged that it never quite figured out how to run a successful video game company — even one that drew the kind of cultural buzz that it did when “The Beatles: Rock Band” came out last year.

Investors approved, pushing Viacom’s stock up 3.12 percent, to $44.59. The company released quarterly results yesterday that otherwise topped Wall Street expectations.

The “Rock Band” business, called Harmonix, has dragged on the company’s earnings for the past several quarters as people continue to avoid big shopping sprees.

Music games such as “Rock Band” have struggled in particular because of the pricey accessories — plastic guitars, drums and the like — required to play them. You can buy a $60 copy of “Rock Band 3” for the Xbox at Best Buy, but the instruments used to play along with the game can run you hundreds of dollars extra.

“Harmonix has and will continue to create terrific video games,” Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman said. “But for us, it is about focus. The console games business requires an expertise and scale that we don’t have.”

Dauman said Viacom is in talks with several potential buyers. He did not say when it plans to close a deal or how much it hopes to get for the company.

Viacom’s other media properties continued to grow in the most recent quarter, which ran from July through September.

The New York-based company, which is controlled by billionaire Sumner Redstone, said its net income fell 59 percent to $189 million, or 31 cents per share, because of $260 million in write-offs on the value of Harmonix. That’s down from $463 million, or 76 cents per share, a year ago.