Rhythm game
Activision scaled back its 2010 Guitar Hero release schedule to just two full games, reducing the number of SKUs from 25 in 2009 to 10 in 2010. Activision has also closed some of its in-house developers, including RedOctane, Neversoft's Guitar Hero division, and Underground Development, bringing the remaining employees and assets under their own control. Viacom, which had previously paid Harmonix $150 million for their performance behind Rock Band in 2007, are now seeking to get a "substantial" refund on that amount due to the weak sales in 2009. Viacom is also seeking to further reduce costs by negotiating new deals with music publishers to reduce the costs associated with music licensing for the Rock Band series. During the third quarter of 2010, Viacom began seeking a buyer for Harmonix, recognizing they did not have the efficiency and capacity to deal with the cost of maintaining a video game developer compared with dedicated video game publishers.