THQ has revealed that it plans to drop out of the licensed kid game market entirely, refocusing its efforts on so-called "core" games such as Saints Row: The Third. This news came at an investor meeting, where it was also announced that Volition's open world game had sold 3.8 million copies.
THQ will be a more streamlined organization focused only on our strongest franchises,” said CEO Brian Farrell. "The success of Saints Row: The Third is an example of what our revised strategy and focus can achieve. We have now shipped 3.8 million units globally and are currently expecting to ship between five and six million units lifetime on this title.
THQ has also said that revenue from SR3 DLC is the highest of any of its other digital offerings. As part of its new market focus, THQ will be further looking at digital content.
This is a very interesting development, when you consider how everybody was desperately grasping for the "family" market a while ago. One would think the licensed kiddy games would prove THQ's biggest cash cow, but apparently not. Still, I think THQ has amassed some of the best "core" games in the industry, so I like this news quite a bit.
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Contest:
9:20 AM on 01.25.2012 | 
You'll notice that the main concern at that investor meeting was "3.8 million units sold," so quality is probably not exactly the first thing on their minds. They can catch up to quality by packaging it with all of their DLC! Sarcastic cheer!
It's not like I was a kid once.
But I also ask. What family games has this company published? Unless we are talking about games of other properties (cartoon shows, movies) I can't come up with anything worth mentioning.
Does this mean they'll go back to Red Faction? I never understood why they dropped it in the first place.
So, is it worth getting now?
I agree with this statment but considering SR3 and the last Red Faction they've also taken heaping piles of shit on their core titles.
I hope so.....
Mayhem with grenades/tanks > Dating sims with bowling or darts.
Also, Phil, games on dowels.
christ
Anyway, kind of off topic, but THQ are idiots for letting Red Faction go under like it did. Guerrilla was a great game that sold well, so what do they do? Abandon everything that made people like it for the sequel.
If they had just focused on more awesome demolition-style gameplay then that series would still be a hot property.
Noooooooooooooooooo!
This better mean Red Faction is coming back.
either they'll start to make more and more "realistic hardcore" games (which roughly translates to call of duty clones) or they'll create a flop and go running back to spongebob.
regardless, I think SR3 is a wonderful game, for what it is. now let's pray to christ they don't fuck up the third game like the last Red Fraction or over saturate the series like CoD and Battlefield 3 (I swear to god if I see another god damn BF3 add online I'm going to punch a baby!).
Then again, I thought SR3 was pretty terrible. It lost all of the things I loved about SR2 without really adding much. The first mission was pretty great, the rest were incredibly bland. Soundtrack wasn't as engaging, characters barely existed, not much worth doing in the world, humor was lame, and the weapons all felt pretty samey. I'd rather see Red Faction come back, since I thought Armageddon was actually really good and a return to the roots of the series. Anyway, glad to see family junk go and maybe a renewed focus on what makes their core games fun.
Silly me!
As a huge fan of Saints Row from the very FIRST game, I'd have to echo the sentiments that Saints Row 3 was but a mere SHADOW of Saints Row 2. Nowhere near the same amount of content. So here's hoping they don't run the series into the ground.
Also, Homefront 2 shall be good. ;D
I'm hoping they put out more Warhammer stuff. Those buttholes.
Eww. The way they handled the DLC in Saints Row The Third was awful.
So next time will there be a Season Pass that includes none of the future DLC? I'm looking forward to it.