Harmonix turns to Fig to crowdfund first-ever Rock Band PC port

The debut of Guitar Hero Live and Rock Band 4 last year brought plastic instruments to modern consoles, and now Harmonix is trying to keep the party going via a new Fig campaign to raise money for a Rock Band 4 PC port done by British studio Sumo Digital.

This is almost certainly the mystery title that Harmonix stated it would bring to Fig last year as part of a partnership that saw Harmonix CCO Alex Rigopulos taking a seat on Fig's board.

It's intriguing to note that Harmonix netted $15 million in investment around the same time; the company is now trying to raise $1.5 million from Fig backers/investors to help fund Harmonix and Sumo Digital's efforts on a Steam version of Rock Band 4 that would release late this year.

This would, incidentally, be the first Rock Band game to ever be released on PC, which presages some unique challenges. For one, Harmonix is upfront about the fact that most -- but not all -- legacy Rock Band peripherals will be compatible with Rock Band 4 on PC. Harmonix also hopes to include song creation tools that can be used to author tracks for the game and share them via the Steam Workshop. 

Incidentally, Harmonix is also on the hook to deliver (with support from Oculus) a virtual reality version of the game, Rock Band VR, for the Oculus Rift later this year.