After Daybreak (H1Z1), it’s now Harmonix‘ (Rock Band) turn out to be suspicious.

A few days ago, just after H1Z1 getting its open beta on PlayStation 4 announced, Daybreak got into trouble as its relations were revealed to Columbus Nova, whose accounts (along with a few Russian oligarchs) got frozen in the United States. What about Harmonix?

„Harmonix is not, and has never been, affiliated with Columbus Nova. Columbus Nova was not involved in the purchase of Harmonix from Viacom and has never been involved in Harmonix‘s operations. Jason Epstein, who previously worked for Columbus Nova, is a Harmonix investor and board member,” a representative told GamesIndustry.

So far, it looks clear, but things get messy from this point – a 2010 Viacom press release says that they sold Harmonix to „Harmonix-SBE Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Columbus Nova, LLC.” The response? „That was incorrect and is a point we have corrected multiple times over the last 7+ years.”

The representative brought up two examples – a VentureBeat article where they referred to Daybreak as „the first game investment of Columbus Nova” (which now gets that company’s name dirty again… lol), and a 2011 Boston Globe article, which says that Viacom sold Harmonix to several new owners, including Epstein.

So, the Russian oligarchs’ blockade doesn’t end here yet, although CNN reports that Columbus Nova states they are operated and owned by American citizens, and Renova Group (the parent company of CN, owned by Viktor Vekselberg, one of the affected oligarchs…) is just their largest client.

So, after Daybreak, Harmonix was also pulled into the chaos…

Source: GamesIndustry