Harmonix Expecting $100M Revenue In 2011, Driven By 2.5M Dance Central Sales

After being unceremoniously sold by Viacom earlier this year, independent rhythm game maker Harmonix is expecting to book $100 million in revenue for 2011, driven by the success of the Dance Central franchise. Harmonix COO Florian Hunziker told Bloomberg in a recent interview that he expected the revenues would contribute to Harmonix's most profitable year ever. The company has sold over 2.5 million copies of the original Dance Central since its release last November, making it the second-best-selling Kinect game behind Kinect Sports. A multiplayer sequel to the game was released last month. Harmonix, which released iOS music and video VidRhythm in August, has recently started publicly hinting at a planned "fundamental creative reinterpretation" for its best-selling Rock Band franchise. But Hunziker told Bloomberg that the company was also working on "multiple new music games" with no resemblance to the Dance Central and Rock Band franchises. Hunziker also said that high initial licensing fees for playable songs in the company's extensive downloadable catalog have paid off in the long run, as players continue to purchase them years after their initial release.