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Financially Strapped Harmonix Trades In Founder Alex Rigopulos At GameStop
It's been a topsy turvy year for Harmonix. The Rock Band/Dance Central developer was cut loose from Viacom's now-defunct MTV Games division, and is now an independent studio. Sadly, the company still seems to be struggling to make ends meet without those fat MTV expense accounts, and today announced a very surprising business move.
In a posting on the Rock Band forums, Harmonix revealed that it had traded in its CEO and co-founder Alex Rigopulos at GameStop. Here's the official word:
"It was a really difficult decision for us to make," said fellow Harmonix co-founder Eran Egozy, "but once we saw his creator rating on Metacritic, we realized that now was the time to make this move. Plus, his trade in value was awesome. For a "gently used" CEO you can get, like, almost forty bucks in store credit." Mr. Egozy wasn't prepared to make an official announcement about how Harmonix plans to spend that $40 credit, but hinted that management is considering "putting it towards a 3DS, or maybe a preorder on Portal 2, because those both look pretty bad ass."
Harmonix's John Drake suggested that Rigopulos would be replaced quickly, as the company is eyeing some extremely fresh talent in the industry.
"Alex was a visionary at Harmonix, and we could never replace him. With that said, we're replacing him," said Drake. "Harmonix is looking for young and hungry talent. Like really young, and really hungry. Babies mostly; we're looking for baby executives. [We'll be] combing nurseries, maternity wards, maybe even pre-schools, seeking superior infant labor: our nation's greatest untapped resource. If that fails, we'll probably just pick someone at random from the forums. I don't know, maybe HeyRiles. He's alright."
The company also announced that it would be holding a yard sale in front of its Cambridge, Massachusetts headquarters, selling off old games, hardware, and a chair that Beatle heir "Dhani Harrison once sat in."
We wish them the best.
[GameStop is the parent company of Game Informer]
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