The ongoing battle between Harmonix and Viacom took an interesting turn today as the parent company of MTV has been ordered by a private arbitrator to pay the Rock Band creator over 380 million dollars. The biggest source of contention in the lawsuit is Harmonix’s claim that Viacom has failed to pay bonuses totaling up to 150 million dollars. Viacom expressed excitement over acquiring the company back in 2007, but their attitude since then has been nothing short of hilarious.

Despite the financial success of Rock Band 2, 3 and The Beatles, Viacom was losing money over the musical instruments bundled with the games and sold Harmonix to a private firm for $50, but received a $50 million tax credit. The lack of any bonuses paid is what led to the legal conflict between the two companies, which is expected to drag on further because Viacom is already fighting the $383 million award.

This sort of thing makes me wonder if anyone is ever going to attempt to make more music games, considering how Activision has dropped out and now Harmonix is involved with some ugly court drama.

This is your time to shine, Rocksmith!