GAME are going belly up, Sony is having a terrible time, Nintendo are predicting a 65 billion yen loss and it now appears the rumours about THQ have been accurate.
Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday show that the company will lay off 240 employees, 17% of its workforce. Chief Executive Brain Farell will have his pay cut by half and his termination pay has been cut by a considerable amount, should he resign or be fired without cause.
THQ will pay out around $11 million in severence pay before the end of March so it sounds like the job cuts will take effect soon.
Of course, our best goes out to those who lost their jobs after closures and hope they find employment elsewhere.
Source: Yahoo
aerobes
Bad news obviously. Hopefully they move on quickly and none or very few of THQ’s ongoing projects are affected. Also, am I seeing 11m divided by 240 people? … Over 45k each?
kjkg
Yeh but no doubt they have far too many people on the board like the majority of big companies. So although that is a hefty payout, chuck in 4 people earning over £100,000 per year and that value goes down for the average Joe.
Porcupine_I
It’s probably more like 10m divided by 40 top brass, and the rest for the 200 left
scavenga
Wow, how incredibly sad.
I’m thinking something must be very wrong with the foundational business model of video game production, because I’ve been under the impression that games are generally selling quite well…
bunimomike
I think the industry has finally left its “make a game and watch the money roll in” era. Okay, that might’ve been years ago but it’s now a brutally cold business/industry which is thankfully still littered with warm people and creative folk.
Then there’s management. Meh.
afrogeez
I think you spelt Brian wrong, unless his name really is brain.
kjkg
Would be a damn cool name to have though, wouldn’t it!
I’d be trying hard to make friends with someone called Pinky, probably a stripper!
jikomanzoku
Or a pigdog from Doom, better take a chainsaw with you to be safe.
Eldave0
Sad news as always, then again I can’t actually think of any noteworthy THQ games right now so the news is hardly surprising
Forrest_01
WWE games, Darksiders & Saints Row all spring to mind.
I haven’t played as many games on PS3 from THQ than i did on PS2 though, admittedly.
Crazy_Del
Red Faction, Warhammer Space Marine… UFC?……
Still great games (Except Armageddon)
Forrest_01
Oh yeah, forgot about Red Faction. Shame they killed it off with Armageddon though.
Eldave0
I stand corrected lol! :) Then again none of those titles are really must-have games that generate a lot of revenue are they
Forrest_01
Personally, i would say both Darksiders & Saints Row were pretty big fee earners.
After playing & loving both (darksiders the year before last & saints row i am still playing), i really wouldn’t want them to go down the pan.
Although i don’t imagine for a second they stay in business just to fulfil my personal gaming needs! :D
yogdog
Warhammer is a more niche title, to a degree, but it still generates a lot of profit in relation to the amount of money they put in. Personally, it is a must have series for me, no matter what type of game it is. Saints Row is pretty big for them as well. Not so sure about Darksiders, and I’ve yet to play it personally either.