Viacom's second quarter 2009 financials dropped this morning, singling out lower than expected Rock Band sales as one of the primary causes of the company's 14% drop in revenue over the previous year.
A little over a year ago Viacom was singing the praises of Rock Band, heralding the rhythm game as the driving force behind a 33% profit increase during the first quarter of 2008. Cut to a year later, and Rock Band is once again a focus, but not in such a positive way. The company's second quarter 2009 financial results report a 14% decline in revenues and a 26% decline in operating income. In both cases, slow sales of Rock Band are listed as a key factor in the losses, driving down the company's Media Networks segment's operating income by 12% and revenues by 8%.
The Media Network revenue drop to $1.97 billion is listed as being "principally due to a 41% decline in ancillary revenues driven by lower sales of the music video game Rock Band."
If Rock Band alone can have that big of a positive or negative effect on the company's financials, it sounds like there are too many rhythm-based eggs rocking out in that one basket there.