MTV Games, a part of Viacom's MTV Networks, (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, and distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that the Rock Band franchise has officially surpassed $1 billion dollars in North American retail sales in 15 months, according to The NPD Group. In addition, over 40 million paid individual songs have been sold via download through the Rock Band platform furthering its position as the music video game leader in paid song sales and downloadable content with over 600 songs available to date in the Rock Band catalogue.

Originally launched on November 20, 2007, Rock Band is the multi-million unit selling, genre-defining music game platform that allowed music fans and gamers to interact with and discover music like never before by choosing guitar, drums, vocals, or bass to start a band and rock the world. Developed by Harmonix, the world's premier music video game development company, and published by MTV Games, the Rock Band platform has had a positive impact on the overall promotion and sales of music, benefiting artists included in the game both directly through royalties associated with game sales and indirectly by causing the sale of more songs and albums.