According to GamesIndustry.biz, THQ has held back Red Faction: Guerilla and Darksiders: Wrath of War till the fiscal year ending March 2010. Both games were originally scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (and, in Darksiders: WoW’s case, PC) this year.
The news came amidst a barrage of downbeat press from the embattled Saints Row publisher, which recently slashed 250 jobs (17 per cent of its workforce) in the face of spiralling sales. THQ has also cancelled a number of unannounced projects, and reduced development budgets for the fiscal year 2010 by USD 100 million. Lean times, indeed.
Red Faction: Guerilla is the third entry in the warmly received landscape-bashing shooter series. It switches the action from first to third person, chucks in a whole new open world and scales up the original’s much-touted terrain modification element to current generation standards.
Darksiders: Wrath of War is a new IP focussing on Mr War of the well-known Apocalyptic riding troupe. Miniguns, whacking great swords and a big horse called Ruin are said to feature, and the combat has been likened to that of God of War and Devil May Cry. A mix of underground and overground adventuring has been promised, and there’s a plot involving angels and demons knocking chunks out of each other or something.
Hopefully neither of these titles will join their unannounced brethren on THQ’s red-list.