Take-Two CEO says THQ ''Won't Be Around in Six Months''

[News Portal]

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick blames THQ's reliance on licensed properties and low quality games for their recent financial troubles. "Licensed properties leave pulishers at the mercy of license holders", he said, "THQ has some good games, but ... the quality hasn't measured up." THQ representatives have since commented on Zelnick's observations calling them "outdated and innaccurate".

Source: Joystiq

Read full article by GON News

[TheOriginalDaniel]

[Nekosan]

Hey THQ, it's not illegal to be creative and create some IP of your own.

[Novocaine]

Low quality games? Metro 2033, DoW and SR3 were **** great.

[Mearehear]

A good percentage of games developers that want to be financially successful should be made to go play Journey, Minecraft, Limbo, and a few others of note, then sent off to think about it together over a few beers..with luck then they will remember that games with creativity and imagination are flocked to by enthusiastic paying customers.

[Artful-dodgeR]

Low quality games? Metro 2033, DoW and SR3 were **** great.

This. The last few thq games I've played has been bloody fun.

[Marius]

What's Take Two's link to THQ?

[Submariner]

Whoops, can I take 2 it back.

Update: Game Informer has received the following statement from Zelnick regarding his recent comments:

"While discussing our strategy I spoke out of turn about someone else’s. It was inappropriate and I regret it."

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/arch ... -long.aspx

[tranquil]

Guy is nuts, THQ have some awesome games under their belt.

[Jez]

I thought a lot of their financial troubles were linked to them overinvesting in some tablet thing?

[PURITy Kin]

THQ are one of the good publishers/developers. You know, the good ones.

[Shinanigans]

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 Zelnick's perception of THQ is outdated and inaccurate.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."

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/05/thq-t ... -outdated/

O-snap.

[Drakand]

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 Zelnick's perception of THQ is outdated and inaccurate.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."

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/04/05/thq-t ... -outdated/

O-snap.

wow, he got pwned.

[Zombywolf]

Low quality games? Metro 2033, DoW and SR3 were **** great.

This. The last few thq games I've played has been bloody fun.

low quality = not popular enough with people who pay the idiot tax.

[Adambjjoz]

You can thank the tanked WWE games they made & the epic-fail UFC Undisputed 3 game (as in, having to call an emergency shareholder meeting to announce mass quarterly losses instead of profits type of epic fail) for a good portion of their troubles. They've also had an absolute stack of Wii/3DS/Vita games cancelled on them & a number of PC/PS3 games pushed out from 2012 to 2013/TBA release dates.

It may not mean the end of them as a company, but when you post massive quarterly losses instead of expected huge profits and your shareholders vote in measures like the entire board of directors & CEO copping a 50% pay cut & bi-annual performance reviews - you know your in the ****. As others have said in here too, if they don't create any IP or content themselves, they have no one to blame when they get led by the leash by stupid license owners into making games that are horrible & nothing short of a cheap cash-grab at the expense of consumers.

Check out this thread for some of the details: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... 5&p=9#r165

In a statement, the publisher said as part of the restructuring, it is moving away from "mixed martial arts titles and movie-based entertainment properties" for consoles and would shelf their long-running fighting franchise Ultimate fighting championship. Yuke's, the developer behind THQ's UFC, is being shuttered by the publisher.

THQ CEO Brian Farrell will reduce his salary by fifty percent and layoffs from the publisher's recent restructuring total 240 people, according to a new filing with the SEC.

THQ's new filing says Farrell will see his salary reduced from $718,500 to $359,250 for a one−year period beginning February 13, 2012. He will lose additional money if he is fired or resigns during that time. The company's board of directors will also have their salaries reduced by fifty percent for one year. The filing confirms the entire restructuring will see layoffs total 240 employees between now and September.

The majority of the restructuring plan is expected to be implemented by March 31, 2012, with the remainder completed by September 30, 2012. THQ will hold an earnings call tomorrow where it's expected we'll hear more about this restructuring plan. The SEC filing from today can be read here: http://investor.thq.com/phoenix.zhtml?c ... p=irol-sec