'THQ won't be around in 6 months,' says Take-Two boss

[TekkenLord]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...take-two-boss/

Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Grand Theft Auto and BioShock publisher Take-Two, has effectively said it's game over for THQ.

Speaking at the MIT Business in Gaming conference (via Joystiq), the executive said his company's focus on wholly owned intellectual property versus THQ's focus on licensed games was a key factor in their differing fortunes, as was the quality of their products.Even if you do a great job on a licensed property, he reasoned, your margins will diminish in the long term because each time you have to renegotiate the terms of the license you'll be charged more for a brand you helped to establish and grow.
"The most important difference is quality," Zelnick said. "Take-Two has the highest quality ratings among third-party publishers, according to Metacritic and most people in the industry. Quality really, really, really matters. THQ has had some good games, but their quality levels aren't even remotely ... the quality hasn't measured up.
"Strategy didn't work and the execution was bad. To put it another way: the food was no good and the portions were small." Zelnick concluded by saying: "THQ won't be around in six months."
Harsh words, but probably true given THQ's recent financial troubles, which have led to 100s of job cuts as well as product cancellations.
Having killed off the uDraw brand in February, THQ said last month that it was cutting 118 jobs across Darksiders 2 developer Vigil and Company of Heroes maker Relic as a result of plans to switch Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millenium from an MMO to a single player and multiplayer title

[AaronSOLDIER]

Won't bother me.

[Vulgotha]

Dude this is terrible... I love the Dawn of War games, and Space Marine!

What about Dawn of War 3?? This is bad, bad news...

[Two4DaMoney]

All I care about is the saints row series.

[mooninites]

Another one bites the dust

[$Greatness$]

That's what you get for dicking my Smackdown games.

[Lethal_NFS]

I honestly do not think THQ is going anywhere. I just love the UFC games too much to let that happen!!! I just need to figure out how to stop it from happening now...

[EatSleepAndPlay]

What was there biggest selling games?

[rbrtchng]

Company of Heroes and Space Marine were two AWESOME games

[$Greatness$]

What was there biggest selling games?

The WWE wrestling series and Saints Row would be my guesses.

[Lethal_NFS]

The WWE wrestling series and Saints Row would be my guesses.

I will say WWE and UFC.

[HellsJester]

Sad news for me if true.
Really looking forward to Darksiders 2, Metro: Last Light, and South Park The Game.

[Fenix]

Wouldnt phase me at all, and its probably going to happen.

Last THQ game I bought was probably Metro 2033, only future one I'm interested in is Metro: Last Light lol

[Blacksite]

THQ has contacted Joystiq with a response to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick's dire prediction from this afternoon: "Obviously, Mr. Zelnick's perception of THQ is outdated and inaccurate. His comments are irresponsible and false. Perhaps he would be better off commenting on his own business."

Source

I can't say it would be a big loss for me if THQ closed down. On the other hand, Take-Two owns Rockstar Games and I'm a big fan of the Grand Theft Auto series.

[Fenix]

Source

I can't say it would be a big loss for me if THQ closed down. On the other hand, Take-Two owns Rockstar Games and I'm a big fan of the Grand Theft Auto series.

Im not really sure how to take the "Perhaps he would be better off commenting on his own business" part of his sentence. Rockstar alone makes take-two millions, THQ has to END franchises to help stay afloat lol

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Unfortunate that another dev studio might shut down. It seems that everyone is down sizing.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Can't remember the last THQ game I bought.

Also Saints Row should be fine because Violition makes it, they just need to find a new producer.

[The Cage]

THQ wont go anywhere.

[podsaurus]

Read about this in Gameinformer last month.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...-struggle.aspx

This is from Feb 2 I think but it's an outline of some games they're working with.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/a...ames-plan.aspx