Harmonix Lays Off 12-15 Percent of Staff

Cambridge, MA-based music gaming firm Harmonix has laid off 12 to 15 percent of its full-time staff of about 240, according to a report in the gaming blog Joystiq. Harmonix, the developer of the Rock Band, Dance Central, and original Guitar Hero franchises, was sold by Viacom (NYSE: [[ticker:VIA]]) to private equity firm Columbus Nova in December. In a statement this week, Harmonix said it is restructuring its organization to “bring it into alignment” with its “current product development plans.”

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.