THQ expects its digital offerings to continue doubling

CEO Brian Farrell said during THQ's call to investors last night the firm expects its digital sales to double next year, and continue to grow from there.

According to Farrell, revenue from digital sales doubled for THQ during its last fiscal year and the release of MX vs ATV Alive in 2011 could help digital revenue exceed projections even more.

"Our digital revenue will double this year over last fiscal year, and will double again for the next fiscal year," said Farrell. "That's across a broad spectrum of areas with a lot of DLC for our key franchises especially since we're more active on XBL and PSN as well as iPod and iPhone offerings.

"The real wild card next year will be MX vs ATV Alive which will launch for $39.99. We think this may be where the industry is going, with the free-to-play/micro-transaction market, where you try and get the user hooked and engaged with more content and then start charging for it. We do good at first with the game at premium and then do a lot more when we do mass market. The idea is to get the user base up quickly - someone could just spend $39.99, but a person who likes the DLC could spend well over $100.

"So this is how we are looking at it. But the overall [digital]user base will be higher than just as a boxed product we believe."

Last night, THQ released its financial figures for Q2 of its fiscal year, and reported net sales of $77 million, compared with $101 million in the prior-year period. It also reported a net loss of $47 million, compared with a net loss of $5.6 million YoY.