THQ Think Highly Of Themselves
Nothing wrong with confidence.
Published: 7:00, 18/05/2011 by Matt W.
5When you consider the top publishers in the video game industry right now, you probably think of companies like Activision, EA, Bethesda, etc. If you’re like me, you might not think of THQ as one of the best, but their CEO, Brian Farrell, shockingly thinks otherwise. During an interview with Industry Gamers, Brian had this to say about THQ’s place in the video game industry.
“We certainly think of ourselves as one of the big ones. We had the top selling game in March with Homefront. …There was a time, ‘Oh my gosh, THQ! You’re launching Homefront in March. It’s so crowded. You’ve got Crisis, you’ve got dadadadada…’ We were number one. We crushed the competition here and in the U.K. and in other markets that we track. So our goal is to have great products, pick our spots, where we can compete and win. We talked about how we’re going to do that with Saints Row: The Third later this year. So it’s picking your spots, having great games from great creators, and it’s not about numbers of products – it’s about bringing great products to market, marketing them as we did with Homefront and as we intend to do with the rest of these games. So when we can compete, we win.
We talked about that on our call and I think the way we like to think about this is, we undertook a brand new strategy 2 years ago and turned the company around in 2010. Last year was kind of the quiet year for us, we didn’t release a lot of products, and now we’ve got a pipeline that I think our competitors would be envious of. So I’m a competitor, I love to compete, and we intend to compete and win.”
THQ certainly is a large publisher with a lot of good projects, but I think what’s holding them back is that they’re lacking something a few of the bigger publishers have: a consistent big time franchise that keeps the media buzzing by either winning GOTY awards, or selling tens of millions of copies. Activision has it with Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. EA has it with their sports franchises, Mass Effect, Battlefield and a plethora of other long running solid franchises.
I certainly don’t want to take anything away from THQ, because they have some good IP’s, but they’re not quite at the same level as the industry leaders; at least not yet. Just don’t tell them that.
Source: Industry Gamers
Most Comments This Week
- Gaikai’s Streaming – Does This Mean No PS4? [65]
- PSN Store Update: 23/05/12 [55]
- First Party Vita Games Drop To £12 On PSN [52]
- PSN Store Hit With 80023163 Errors [51]
- Is Something Big Coming To PlayStation Plus Soon? [50]
- “Leap” Motion Controller Could Revolutionise Gaming [43]
- Ghost Recon: Future Soldier PS3 Install Is Huge [42]
- Australian & New Zealand D3 Players Suffer High Ping Rates [41]
- Sony Files Patent For Game-Interrupting Soda Adverts [40]
- Ghost Recon Future Soldier Review (PS3, Xbox 360) [39]
Latest Reader Comments
-
New Hardware, New Plus: All Eyes On Sony This E3
- 14:13 Radiitz: Thats the problem we face today. In another 7 – 10 years, maybe streaming will work. But internet...
- 13:28 damoxuk: No thanks. I don;t want to stream games and have worst lag than when I played Atari 2600 games 30 years...
- 12:30 Radiitz: Its 2012. I can’t believe there are still people begging for PS2 compatibility with PS3....
- 12:28 Radiitz: Personally, I would like the PS4 (when/if it releases) to be like the Onlive console. You buy what is...
- Community Round-Up: 26/05/12
- Meet the Reader: KAMIKAZE-UK
- NFS: Most Wanted Due Out In November
- TSA Speculates: Why You Might Not Need To Buy A PS4
- Microsoft Job Offer Mentions “Next Generation” Of Xbox
TSAtv: Original Video Content
Batman book review
Kris Dancing, again
Joe Danger interview
Sonic Generations
18/05/2011 at 07:08
Member since: Sep 2010
Bless THQ, but I would say that for me personally the Red faction franchise could be something more for them, and I always without fail purchase the newest Smackdown vs Raw game each year.
18/05/2011 at 07:42
Member since: Feb 2010
They published Crisis?
To me they just produced a lot of bad games in the PS2 days, and don’t see them around much now
18/05/2011 at 09:54
Member since: Jun 2009
No they didn’t publish Crysis 2 – What he was saying was that they were releasing Homefront at around about the same time, so he was referring to laughing in the face of competition.
Oh & if you thought that they released some poor titles for the PS2, you should see some of their earlier offerings on the SNES. Truly awful some of them!
18/05/2011 at 07:47
Member since: Nov 2009
For me THQ is all about Red Faction. If it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t pay much attention to them.
18/05/2011 at 17:06
Member since: May 2010
same here, loved ref faction on the ps2 but lost intrest in the the new ones on my ps3. However, all a big fan of MX vs ATV series
18/05/2011 at 07:56
Member since: Jul 2009
Confidence. That’s hawt.
18/05/2011 at 08:13
Member since: Jan 2010
I had to look up a list of their games.. I actually played none of those.. (Only checked ps3 list)
I am mildly interested in their upcomming Warhammer game, might be my first THQ title on my ps3. =P
18/05/2011 at 08:15
Member since: Jan 2010
I did play Company of Heroes on the PC though.
18/05/2011 at 08:29
Member since: Feb 2009
well they’ve got ea’s greedy attitude down.
honestly, i think the only game of theirs i’m interested in is saints row, and i absolutely will not be buying that new if they have their bloody online pass thing included.
18/05/2011 at 11:10
Member since: Jul 2009
Greedy attitude? You make it sound so wrong. There’s a natural hunger for nearly every company in the world to do well. With that in mind, growth is often very important. Add to this that CEOs will always be the brashest and most outspoken (usually) and he really does come across with the sort of confidence that both gamers and employees would want to see. They’ve positioned themselves accordingly – sure they’ve not got their world conquering franchises – but they’re churning out some decent games and his statement will breed confidence amongst the ranks and gamers alike – especially if you’ve enjoyed one or two of them (for me, Red Faction: Guerilla was just all manner of fun).
You basically come across like you don’t want people to succeed. :-\
18/05/2011 at 16:19
Member since: Feb 2009
by greed i was referring to their decision to use drm to combat the perfectly legal preowned market.
why does gaming have the sole right to violate our rights to transfer ownership of any media we’ve purchased?
this industry is going beyond a simple desire for profit and into obscene levels of greed, there seems to be no limits to how far some publishers are willing to go to squeeze every last penny out of their customers.
to them we’re nothing but a resource to be exploited.
they’ve seen the kind of money that can be made, and now they’re all on a mad drive to make as much money as possible, with distinctly short term thinking.
but you’re absolutely right about one thing, if this is the method they’re utilising then, no, i don’t want them to succeed.
any business that treats it’s customers like some of these publishers do deserves to crash and burn.
it’s the people doing the actual work on these products i feel for, these managers making short term, short sighted decisions for squick proift and screw the consequences, they’ll be fine, their obscene salaries will last them probably longer than they’ll live.
i just don’t like this atmosphere of greed around this industry lately, it almost seems like desperation, or more like an addict craving the next hit.
18/05/2011 at 08:34
Member since: Apr 2010
I would call Homefront more of a success in marketing rather than anything else.
18/05/2011 at 13:13
Member since: Mar 2010
Yep, they did a very good job of selling the story and avoiding showing people how ugly the game was. Saying that, I love Homefront.
18/05/2011 at 08:59
Member since: Forever
I guess Homefront was the beginning of that new business strategy and judging by its reception, there is a long way for THQ to go before they are considered in the highest echelon’s of video development and publishing.
18/05/2011 at 09:07
Member since: May 2009
Did Homefront really out sell Crysis2? I find that difficult to believe. IMO THQ games have always lacked polish, they seem to always ship a game that has potential but still feels incomplete.
18/05/2011 at 09:56
Member since: Jun 2009
Homefront was certainly cheaper (I think I saw it for about £30 about a week after release), so maybe it sold more due to a lower price point?
18/05/2011 at 09:18
Member since: Aug 2008
Well, the certainly brought a lot to the market this year, but as the article quite correctly states, they lack a consistent big time franchise. Looking at their current crop of titles, I don’t see where that could come from – I would’ve said Red Faction was the banker but we’re coming up on the 4th in the series for release, and none of the previous titles have been award winners or seem to have broken any sales records. Maybe they’re looking to build a franchise from Homefront, unfortunately the rather busy FPS market is populated by franchises like Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield – ones with games that are, y’know, not terrible.