THQ’s new president, Jason Rubin, has give a frank interview to GI.biz. The co founder of Naughty Dog is now second in command on the company reporting only to CEO Brian Farrell.
THQ has been in a difficult situation in recent months, partly due to the flop of uDraw, ‘You won’t be seeing another uDraw,’ said Jason, ‘We’re not going to be doing side projects in mobile or casual. You’re not going to see that stuff.’
What is more likely is another Saints Row game as it appears to be the one game keeping THQ afloat, ‘The reason that THQ is here is because Saints Row is really successful,’ comments Jason. He also says that Volition will not need a project as they are already working on a title.
The future of Darksiders developers, Vigil, also seems to be safe as he describes them as ‘an incredible talent,’ but suggests he may ‘see if we can make something that perhaps hits the market more directly.’
‘One of the things I plan on doing is making a much more concise portfolio. I will not expand into the money I have because I want to keep this money around for a rainy day,’ continues Jason, Â ‘THQ is going to be a lot more careful with what it does and a little less cavalier.’
After viewing all the games in development Jason told CEO Brian Farrell ‘You’ve got a reasonably sized slate. Maybe it’s one title too big.’
As to which title(s) may be for the chop, Jason is not giving any hints. ‘Clearly, Darksiders is coming out. Clearly, Company of Heroes is coming out, etc, etc. But there’s a lot in flux with our future titles.’
GI then asked if the Guillermo Del Toro project, Insane, was in the firing line. You may recall the project being announced at the Spike VGA’s in December 2010 with a very short trailer featuring the game name and some tentacles.
Since then nothing has been heard of the trilogy which would take ten years to develop. The first game was scheduled to be released next year, so is it still on the slate?
‘As to each project and what every company is doing, they’re still a work in progress,’ comments Jason.
Source: GI.Biz
samba987
’THQ is going to be a lot more careful with what it does and a little less cavalier.’
So basically milk the franchises they have, until they run them into the ground. Pretty soon there will be no new IPs on the market.
Forrest_01
Lets not forget that Darksiders was a new IP when that came out & we are now only seeing the sequel this year… In fact, the only game mentioned that has had any predecessors was Saints Row & i can tell you from the third one, there’s plenty of life left in that dog yet!
Although Insane might be in a bit of trouble – A ten year plan for a trilogy doesn’t exactly sound like a cheap option. Especially with a big name director on board.
bunimomike
I thought his words were incredibly transparent and honest considering the size of the company and the industry it’s in. He knows they’re not flush with money right now and he HAS to look after the business. Put aside your consumer attitude (meant nicely) for a moment and realise they have to balance the books and pay employees. If that means looking after what they do best then so be it. They’ll branch out when they’re ready and not overextend until they believe the timing is right.
jikomanzoku
As a slight aside – dunno if it was related to their financial woes, but THQ recently sold the rights to the UFC franchise to EA :(
xdarkmagician
it was reported afterwards that THQ basically felt the series wasn’t profitable… so I guess they needed some quick cash for darksiders advertising. :)
KeRaSh
Since they already announced that there will be no more Red Factions, Volition must be working on Saint’s Row 4. I want Saint’s Row for the Vita…
xdarkmagician
THQ is broke. Unless they can increase their stock price several hundred percent in the next year THQ is dead. Regardless of what ever games they produce, cancel, or anything, they going to get sold. They can’t even stop EA or ActiV from a hostile takeover because even at the (incredibly) low stock price they don’t have enough cash to buy back their shares. the only reason EA or ActiV haven’t bought THQ yet is because THQ isn’t a threat and they’re just waiting for THQ to go bankrupt so they’ll get a better deal since they only have 4 or 5 IPs worth buying, with Saints Row, Red Faction, and Destroy All Humans at the top. And THQ can’t even afford to relaunch the last 2. The only way THQ can survive is with new investors. Everyting THQ does now is just part of a bizarre corporate mating dance as they’re just trying to find a partner. The best thing for everyone in a case like this is being absorbed into a larger more successful publisher. I hope Bethesda, maybe then we’ll see a Fallout style Red Faction RPG