EA's CEO has put a stop to any rumours that they might pick up from Viacom.

Riccitiello likened the purchase to catching a falling knife in terms of the possible outcomes of buying the developer.

The CEO told Bloomberg on the topic of purchasing Harmonix: "I need to finish engineering and building to make that happen. I don't need a billion-dollar acquisition."

He added later: "I'm sure some smart investor will buy the business feeling that they can catch a falling knife, but more people have been cut trying to catch falling knives than have benefitted from getting the timing exactly right."

By Ewan Aiton