It all began with THE AXE, an interactive PC experience where players could use a joystick to manipulate the melody of on-screen instruments.
Harmonix went on to create new ways of interacting with music on home consoles creating the iconic beatmatch games FreQuency and Amplitude for the PlayStation®2 (published by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.), and developing titles in the sing-along Karaoke Revolution franchise (published by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.). Harmonix stayed on the cutting edge of emerging technology, leading to the creation of EyeToy: AntiGrav for the PlayStation®EyeToy®, one of the first home games where the player’s body served as the controller for on screen action.
Harmonix developed the first two titles in the Guitar Hero franchise - Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II. This Red Octane/Activision-published series took the world by storm, bringing an untold number of living room rock sessions to life and launching a multi-billion dollar rhythm-action franchise. Subsequent titles in the Guitar Hero series after Guitar Hero II were developed and published by Activision Publishing, Inc. and its subsidiaries.
As mobile devices found their way into the hands of gamers everywhere, Harmonix brought new ways of interacting with music to these rapidly expanding platforms. First came Phase, one of the first games to launch in the App Store for the classic iPod. Phase let players turn any song in their iPod library into an interactive beatmatch level, filled with unique tap-along gameplay.
As the prevalence of video-enabled iPhones rose, Harmonix returned to mobile app development, launching their “brilliantly bizarre” video remixing app, VidRhythm in 2011. The app allowed users to turn short snippets of video and audio into instant music video hilarity and was named runner-up for Apple Inc.’s 2011 App of the Year.