These days we can barely make it through a whole week without more news of game devs losing their jobs.
This time around, it’s publisher THQ who has announced that it has culled 30 staff from its family-focused Play THQ division, responsible for the publisher’s uDraw titles.
A THQ spokesperson released the following statement about the job losses:
“Due to weaker than expected sales of the uDraw Game Tablet, we are taking a difficult but important step to reduce the number of employees that supported this brand. 30 people will be leaving the company and business unit leader Martin Good will also be leaving to pursue new opportunities outside the company. This action will allow us to reduce costs, increase efficiency and increase the focus of our organization.”
The spokesperson went on to say that the decision was taken in order to focus on “maximising the sales and profitability” of recently released titles such as WWE ’12 and Saint’s Row: The Third, as well UFC3, due out in February next year.
Source: Game Informer
JoshHood
Isn’t uDraw like £80? Who the fuck would pay that?
Joe Dart
Exactly.
Omac_brother
Amazon has got it at £35 with instant artisit for 360/PS3. But yeah, most retailers are selling it for £80.
KeRaSh
I saw it on sale in a store here in Germany for under 40€.
Grey_Ghost13
It is a shame that people are loosing their jobs, but I’m not surpirsed. It’s not the best of products.
Omac_brother
Expected but still sad. Lack of advertising has killed this off before it had a chance, which is sad because the Marvel Super Hero squad game looked to have some potential.
Joe Dart
Aran and I managed to post pretty much the same story on this, so I’m sure if you squint at where my name’s posted I’m fairly certain you can morph it into his.
OriginalJonty (Aran Suddi)
My god, it works!
tactical20
uDraw hasn’t even been remotely marketed has it?!
I knew nothing about it until I stumbled across it on Play the other day. Did TSA ever write anything about it?
colossalblue
no, I asked THQ’s PR people for advice about it but I wasn’t met with much enthusiasm so I decided that if they’re not that bothered about marketing it, I wasn’t going to spend money on researching it to talk about either.
Forrest_01
Seems like a smart decision. I would have made the same call. :)
Omac_brother
That shows THQ’s immense confidence in their product.
“Shhhh…If we dont tell anyone about it, nobody will see how crappy it actually is”
Sympozium
Meh its a useless item to me, don’t see the point of it but a shame how jobs have been lost.
BrendanCalls
I’ve never heard of uDraw, how am I supposed to buy it if I dont know what it is.
I’m not a huge THQ fan anyway, I think they have a lazy tendency towards licensable faranchise games, with poor controls and a basic grasp of intelligence.
I really hope the guys and girls let go get another chance somewhere else, maybe at a better publisher/developer
simplebob
Seen a couple of TV ads, but this has only just come out. Given theres still xmas shopping days left, announcing youre cutting staff that can support it (I’m guessing meaning less chance of any new titles in the future) is not going to help shift them
The Lone Steven
What is Udraw? I’ve only heard about it now. O-o The lack of marketing is probably what caused it to fail. That and it being £80. Funny how they are happy to market the same old stuff every year but a new IP, they cba to. :S
Sympozium
Udraw
Thats pretty much it, straight to the point
Forrest_01
Was going to be followed by a sequel – iDraw. But apple would have put a stop to that! :)
R4U Eldave0
*company releases shovelware with almost no advertisement, sticks high price tag on it and is then confused why it sells badly*…. I’m by no means a clever guy but even I know thats a stupid approach to take