I feel that with all the talk about this, and how little THQ has addressed it, there is some truth in it. Maybe not their ENTIRE lineup. But sure seems like there is a shit storm around the corner. Also, you know, the lack of polycounters that work for THQ jumping in on this convo...
Not sure what THQ's contract is like - but I know for my company I'm legally (and with good reason) not allowed to talk about the company's happenings.
Hopefully all is well and this was just a rumour that got out of hand. It's sad to see shit like this in and regarding our industry. It's just another thing that makes IGDA look like a joke and yet another knee jerk report based on suspicion.
Ah, well if NDAs say they cant talk about the company at all, that makes sense, and would help lean towards it all being BS. But I guess we`ll find out in a couple of days/weeks/months. My NDA is pretty loose, so I haven't seen what big companies ones are like.
But I really hope it isnt true, even in the slightest, as I REALLY enjoy a LOT of THQ games, and I hate hearing about people getting laid off.
It's been quite obvious that THQ has been fucked for a while. Their share price has dropped to around 2% of its worth in just four years. I'm on the outside and very out of the loop with the actual situation, and even I can see massive levels of incompetance at a very high business level; you don't just go around randomly snapping up failing studios for no reason on a spending spree - and then when they fail to turn profits on your hedged bets, you don't sell them off and shut them down to go around buying even more or pushing products with massive advertising campaigns that have also already failed. One person can't do all that by themselves, so one really has to question what's going on at the top of the foodchain for there to be such a colossal failure of practical business sense for such a long time (resulting in billions of dollars of loss, tens of studio closures and hundreds of individuals displaced or without jobs).
This is probably due to their plan to completely shift away from their licensed kid games and to focus more on their hardcore content. Licensed kid games have been hurting them for awhile..and theyve been planning on getting out of those types of projects publicy for a while. You'll notice that their "hardcore" studios aren't affected.
There is a good reason why THQ's stocks are sitting at 71c. They've had a one track mind on driving good studios into the ground with bad games. Honestly they're on par with Ubisoft's self-destruction.
Umm, doesnt ubisoft have some of the best selling IPs right now? How is that self destructing? Maybe Im just naive, but they seem to know what they`re doing. Their 1 studio that shut down (compared to other large companies that have so many more studios closing) is the one that worked on the lesser known, worse selling games. They tried to make a hit in the sports genre, but failed. But their other ips are phenomenal.
Still, play it safe. Most of the guys on here that have been at a studio that has gone through a massive shift in management know that those changes trickle down.
Still, play it safe. Most of the guys on here that have been at a studio that has gone through a massive shift in management know that those changes trickle down.
Back up you work.
Nothing but a harder lesson learned then not having your work backed up, having to look for a job and not having a year or two worth of work to show for yourself. Trust me it hurts.
ALWAYS routinely back up your work. Save renders, etc. Always protect your own ass. Even when things are going good. You just never know in our industry.
They have a really awesome line up of games for the future.. South Park, Insane, the unannounced game by Patrice Desilets and Metro: Last Light. I really hope things work out for them
Ubisoft isn't big because of Splinter Cell and Rainbow 6.
'Just Dance 3' is very handily Selling Assassins Creed by almost double, and probably cost $$1/10 to make. THQ delivers on a few of the AAA, but they haven't diversified their portfolio to minimize risk.
If one does a google search on the IP it does say that THQ got the rights to it from sierra, back in 2007, but they don't have the rights to the old games in any way, just the ip.
August 2008 brought few interesting words from Jonathan Dowdeswell asked by GameStar.de if continuation of Homeworld series will appear:
"You can not believe how often I hear this question, in any case we would love to develop Homeworld 3!" Jonathan Dowdeswell, Relic Executive Producer
In November of that same year there was more news: Joystiq asked Jonny Ebbert, lead designer of Dawn of War II, about Homeworld 3.
"We're really happy the IP has made its way home, and yeah, we're definitely looking at it." Jonny Ebbert about Homeworld 3
The reason we haven't seen #3 yet is most likely because it is one big risky project, not well known, THQ is not in a current position to take risks I believe.
Owner (REGISTRANT) Legend Entertainment Company CORPORATION VIRGINIA 14200 Park Meadow Drive Chantilly VIRGINIA 22021
(LAST LISTED OWNER) THQ INC. CORPORATION DELAWARE 29903 AGOURA ROAD AGOURA HILLS CALIFORNIA 91301
Personally, I don't think Homeworld is too big a risk - but only as a non-boxed game. If you went digital and with a slightly lower budget, it'd probably do well as an established niche brand.
Personally, I don't think Homeworld is too big a risk - but only as a non-boxed game. If you went digital and with a slightly lower budget, it'd probably do well as an established niche brand.
I think you underestimate just how poorly Homeworld sold. I think HW2 was under 300k sales.
;(
On top of development costs THQ had to fork over some significant dough, to purchase Homeworld from Vivendi.
Around 1/3rd of a million sales - but that's still pretty good for a niche PC game. Supreme Commander, Empire Earth and Command and Conquer 3 take some of the top spots for being both recent and some of the most successful RTSs of all time, and claim around a million sales each and have sequels - and they were all boxed retail.
It's fully possible that relics schedule has been pretty busy with good titles that are guaranteed to bring in money, it's hard to squeeze in HW3 there, but I have no doubt that they've done a tiny bit of pre-production already.
In their opening weekend they were high in the global sales charts (behind Bf1942 and it's expansion, and The Sims). I don't think they flopped; recently Homeworld had its 10th anniversary and has sold 500,000 units to date, as an example.
Not super good news about delisting. Hopefully they can push up releasing some games (Darksiders 2) sooner and get their earnings up. Q3 fiscal year earning reports are sometime in the next 2 weeks. Hopefully Saints Row The Third had a decent impact on things for them.
Not super good news about delisting. Hopefully they can push up releasing some games (Darksiders 2) sooner and get their earnings up. Q3 fiscal year earning reports are sometime in the next 2 weeks. Hopefully Saints Row The Third had a decent impact on things for them.
If they've got a good release schedule for this year and 2013, now would be a great time to snap up some stock cheap and make a tidy sum.
If they've got a good release schedule for this year and 2013, now would be a great time to snap up some stock cheap and make a tidy sum.
If they recently had a change of management at the top I would say things aren't so grim, its pretty common for a "captain of industry" to drive down the price of the stock artificially before they are awarded their stock options, blame it on the previous people and then ride a boom back to normal or beyond, sell the stock and walk away claiming to have rescued the business from the brink.
I'm not saying that is what is going on here, but its one thing that happens pretty often. The stock price isn't always about how well the company is doing but how rich it can make someone in a few month to a year.
If they recently had a change of management at the top I would say things aren't so grim, its pretty common for a "captain of industry" to drive down the price of the stock artificially before they are awarded their stock options, blame it on the previous people and then ride a boom back to normal or beyond, sell the stock and walk away claiming to have rescued the business from the brink.
I'm not saying that is what is going on here, but its one thing that happens pretty often. The stock price isn't always about how well the company is doing but how rich it can make someone in a few month to a year.
Yup. The stock market is thoroughly detached from economic reality in a lot of ways, and it deserves plenty of blame and scorn for it, but if you do understand how its own weird little reality works you can make some pretty sweet cash.
Next year they have a big pile of licenses, so I wouldn't count on it being a good one. Of those licenses, one is reputedly Dawn of War 3 however.
Unless they're really, abysmally bad to the point that it gets widespread publicity, licensed games (movie tie-ins, Star Wars, Bakugan, Legos, dance games etc) usually do better than you'd think.
You're forgetting to factor in the huge chunk of sales from the uninformed buyer demographic: parents, aunts & uncles, and grandparents that buy it for a kid because of the title, and kids that see their favorite franchise and beg and plead and nag for their parents to buy it for them. It's certainly not Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed players that are primarily driving those sales.
On top of that, a lot of those players are younger kids who won't be as perceptive if it's a lukewarm or even a bad game, so they'll want #2, and #3...
That really blows On a side note, I heard Kevin's been having a lot of trouble with his brother Harvey, something to do with losing his job as a district attorney. Wish them the best of luck anyway...
I saw this all too much with Midway. The delisting, shifting of upper management. I was a part of Midway during that and luckily left before they were shut down but this has some eerily similarities to that situation. Granted THQ has much better licenses then Midway did but still... Be careful...You just never know anymore.
Unless they're really, abysmally bad to the point that it gets widespread publicity, licensed games (movie tie-ins, Star Wars, Bakugan, Legos, dance games etc) usually do better than you'd think.
Poor licensing choices are what have been killing THQ, slowly but surely like some kind of poisoning. I'm not personally so sure that another Nicktoons spinoff game is going to work in their favour. Their South Park RPG is a commendable risk, but it's still a very high risk title from a publisher who really can't afford any more very high risk ventures.
They seem to be changing their corporate strategy, and leadership structure for the better, so we can only hope that they are on the up.
Although, that shows you the type of people running the place and to be honest, it doesn't surprise me. It's the 'I don't give a shit anymore' attitude. You know you're going to get fired so you push buttons.
Although, to be fair, if there was a possibility of me getting laid off in a mass layoff, I'd rather be prepared because I heard a rumor than to have it slap me in the face.
well he's already backed down from one "rumor", this one he said would be announced this morning, and nothing yet... what is the point of saying something the day before it's supposed to happen, other than to get attention?
seems like the only way you find out about layoffs before hand is when somebody screws up and leaks the info - so people got 3 weeks to prepare for this rather than getting surprised.
I'd like to know how many people THQ employs - EA or Activision would consider laying off 170 people just part of the regular cycle.
Wow, looks like all the cuts are at the top, like they actually want to turn things around rather than close all of their studios and float to earth on golden parachutes.
I just hope they aren't saving studio layoffs until after the games ship
8 mill in sev total. WOW. out of the 240ish affected, that's like,....$33,000 each. Obviously it won't be even so I'm sure some of those layoffs are getting a nice payday.
Replies
Not sure what THQ's contract is like - but I know for my company I'm legally (and with good reason) not allowed to talk about the company's happenings.
Hopefully all is well and this was just a rumour that got out of hand. It's sad to see shit like this in and regarding our industry. It's just another thing that makes IGDA look like a joke and yet another knee jerk report based on suspicion.
But I really hope it isnt true, even in the slightest, as I REALLY enjoy a LOT of THQ games, and I hate hearing about people getting laid off.
Might be worth it....
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/01/26/thq-incurs-more-layoffs-five-internal-studios-not-affected/
Still, play it safe. Most of the guys on here that have been at a studio that has gone through a massive shift in management know that those changes trickle down.
Back up you work.
They nearly blasted themselves into oblivion a few years back, but they rebounded gracefully. They're now the number #2 largest publisher.
Nothing but a harder lesson learned then not having your work backed up, having to look for a job and not having a year or two worth of work to show for yourself. Trust me it hurts.
ALWAYS routinely back up your work. Save renders, etc. Always protect your own ass. Even when things are going good. You just never know in our industry.
Better safe then sorry.
Good luck to all.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2008/11/thq-response.ars
THQ currently does, I believe.
'Just Dance 3' is very handily Selling Assassins Creed by almost double, and probably cost $$1/10 to make. THQ delivers on a few of the AAA, but they haven't diversified their portfolio to minimize risk.
I'm fairly confident that Activision do.
If one does a google search on the IP it does say that THQ got the rights to it from sierra, back in 2007, but they don't have the rights to the old games in any way, just the ip.
The reason we haven't seen #3 yet is most likely because it is one big risky project, not well known, THQ is not in a current position to take risks I believe.
It's like trying to get systemshock3
Personally, I don't think Homeworld is too big a risk - but only as a non-boxed game. If you went digital and with a slightly lower budget, it'd probably do well as an established niche brand.
I think you underestimate just how poorly Homeworld sold. I think HW2 was under 300k sales.
;(
On top of development costs THQ had to fork over some significant dough, to purchase Homeworld from Vivendi.
Don't know what it might have been out of the gate, but if 300,000 is the lifetime sales, then I can't see them validating a sequel.
And that was back during the PS1/PS2 budgets.
Fully fledged High Rez normal Mappy DX11 pipelines would certainly cost a SHITLOAD more. I really doubt it would justify the production costs.
Like Eld said, Relic is likely too busy making games that actually SELL.
Not super good news about delisting. Hopefully they can push up releasing some games (Darksiders 2) sooner and get their earnings up. Q3 fiscal year earning reports are sometime in the next 2 weeks. Hopefully Saints Row The Third had a decent impact on things for them.
If they've got a good release schedule for this year and 2013, now would be a great time to snap up some stock cheap and make a tidy sum.
I'm not saying that is what is going on here, but its one thing that happens pretty often. The stock price isn't always about how well the company is doing but how rich it can make someone in a few month to a year.
Yup. The stock market is thoroughly detached from economic reality in a lot of ways, and it deserves plenty of blame and scorn for it, but if you do understand how its own weird little reality works you can make some pretty sweet cash.
Unless they're really, abysmally bad to the point that it gets widespread publicity, licensed games (movie tie-ins, Star Wars, Bakugan, Legos, dance games etc) usually do better than you'd think.
You're forgetting to factor in the huge chunk of sales from the uninformed buyer demographic: parents, aunts & uncles, and grandparents that buy it for a kid because of the title, and kids that see their favorite franchise and beg and plead and nag for their parents to buy it for them. It's certainly not Call of Duty or Assassin's Creed players that are primarily driving those sales.
On top of that, a lot of those players are younger kids who won't be as perceptive if it's a lukewarm or even a bad game, so they'll want #2, and #3...
Jesse I'm with you I think it's a bad omen. It's ashame cause I love some of their studios and IP. I really hope things work out for them.
Poor licensing choices are what have been killing THQ, slowly but surely like some kind of poisoning. I'm not personally so sure that another Nicktoons spinoff game is going to work in their favour. Their South Park RPG is a commendable risk, but it's still a very high risk title from a publisher who really can't afford any more very high risk ventures.
They seem to be changing their corporate strategy, and leadership structure for the better, so we can only hope that they are on the up.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-01-thq-to-announce-170-layoffs-today-report
just how fucking irresponsible do you have to be to have that kind of conversation on twitter?
Although, that shows you the type of people running the place and to be honest, it doesn't surprise me. It's the 'I don't give a shit anymore' attitude. You know you're going to get fired so you push buttons.
I'd like to know how many people THQ employs - EA or Activision would consider laying off 170 people just part of the regular cycle.
I just hope they aren't saving studio layoffs until after the games ship
he's only going to be making 360k a year now for 12 months.
Times are tough.
I'm guessing those are close to release dates, as they're woefully specific. September would coincide with Metro: Last Light