Tue, May 17, 2011 | 21:53 BST
THQ considers itself “one of the big” publishers, says Farrell
Brain Farrell doesn’t see any reason why THQ shouldn’t be considered one of the “big ones,” like EA or Activision.
Speaking with Industry Gamers, the CEO feels just because the firm doesn’t have the resources and cash flow as some of the larger firm, doesn’t mean it is any less of a contender.
“We certainly think of ourselves as one of the big ones,” said Farrell. “We had the top selling game in March with Homefront. …There was a time, ‘Oh my gosh, THQ! You’re launching Homefront in March. It’s so crowded. You’ve got Crisis, you’ve got dadadadada…’ We were number one. We crushed the competition here and in the UK. and in other markets that we track.
“So our goal is to have great products, pick our spots, where we can compete and win. We talked about how we’re going to do that with Saints Row: The Third later this year. So it’s picking your spots, having great games from great creators, and it’s not about numbers of products – it’s about bringing great products to market, marketing them as we did with Homefront and as we intend to do with the rest of these games. So when we can compete, we win.
IG reports that Activision and Electronic Arts have market caps of $12.93 billion and $7.73 billion, respectively, compared THQ’s $279.3 million which is part of the company’s strategy of quality over quantity.
“I think the way we like to think about this is, we undertook a brand new strategy two years ago and turned the company around in 2010,” offered Farrell. “Last year was kind of the quiet year for us, we didn’t release a lot of products, and now we’ve got a pipeline that I think our competitors would be envious of. So I’m a competitor, I love to compete, and we intend to compete and win.”
Games in the pipeline for THQ, other than Saints Row, include: inSane, Devil’s Third, Darksiders 2, Metro: Last Light, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, Dark Millennium Online, Patrice Desilets’ new IP, and new offerings from WWE and UFC.
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Posted in: Development, THQ
Tags: brian farrell
15 comments
#1
Joe Anderson
17/05/11, 9:51 pm
Darksiders 2 FTW
#2
YoungZer0
17/05/11, 10:03 pm
Well, Will Farrell always was a funny guy.
#3
Razor
17/05/11, 10:15 pm
Ugh, sure Brian.
#4
Gekidami
17/05/11, 10:17 pm
For a “Big Publisher” i’m not seeing any big names on that list of stuff to come.
#5
YoungZer0
17/05/11, 10:25 pm
“We were number one. We crushed the competition here and in the UK.”
Is that even true? Or delusional?
#6
mathare92
17/05/11, 10:30 pm
Didn’t Homefront have a 2 week head-start over Crysis 2 anyway?
#7
Gekidami
17/05/11, 10:31 pm
^ Nope, other way round. Crysis 2 came out first.
#8
gdogg979
17/05/11, 10:46 pm
^ actually homefront came out 18th march and crysis 2 was the 25th march.
in the u.k anyway
#9
Ali Mofadal
17/05/11, 10:58 pm
Big Publisher means high profits, big games i don’t see these things in THQ.
what i respect in THQ is Relic, they made really great games which could’ve sold more with a better publisher.
#10
SOMI
18/05/11, 12:00 am
Their better than Nintendo at least. No one could get lower than Nintendo.
#11
LOLshock94
18/05/11, 12:37 am
im pretty sure nintendo hasnt been hacked yet…
#12
e13
18/05/11, 1:23 am
THQ is so lost. Put those add dollars around Relic games. War Hammer could have easily been the next Star-Craft.
#13
LOLshock94
18/05/11, 1:28 am
werent these guys broke last year? this could be a contender for the
shittyess publisher and game maker to date number 1 goes to rebellion
#14
Christopher Jack
18/05/11, 3:47 am
They sure have a good amount of AAA releases coming out, more so than ActiVisios at least. Sadly Acti will still kick their arse with just a single game release.
#15
Blerk
18/05/11, 8:42 am
They’re more Ubisoft that EA. I’ve bought a fair few THQ games this gen, though – a lot more than Activision titles, for instance. Their output is greatly improved this last few years.