For the third time in the past year, THQ has announced once again that it is moving away from licensed titles targeted at children and is  focusing instead on core games.

“THQ will be a more streamlined organization focused only on our strongest franchises,” said Brian Farrell, President and CEO of THQ.

They also pointed out that Saints Row: The Third is doing very well, having shipped 3.8 million units globally, with expectations of 5-6 million shipped during the life cycle of the title.

The Quebec Court of Appeal for the District of Montreal has ruled in favor of THQ Montreal and its parent company. The decision strikes down a provisional injunction obtained by Ubisoft that temporarily prohibited THQ from soliciting Ubisoft employees who were bound by a non-compete provision with Ubisoft. The lawsuit was filed by Ubisoft after THQ announced that developer Patrice Désilets had joined the studio to create a new intellectual property after he resigned as Creative Director of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Last week THQ confirmed that it had lowered its third-quarter projections, mostly based on poor sales of the HD versions of its uDraw tablet for Xbox 360 and PS3. On Friday the company delivered some retribution to 30 of its employees who worked on that project in some way. The company laid off 30 employees from its Play THQ development team, including unit leader Martin Good. That team worked out of THQ’s Agoura Hills, California offices.

THQ expected that bringing its popular Wii drawing peripheral, uDraw, to other platforms would be lucrative. Earlier this year they announced that the uDraw would be coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3. With the peripheral out and in stores, it looks like THQ isn't getting the kind of returns they expected. The company said yesterday that sales for the third quarter would be down around 25 percent and blames weak sales of the drawing peripheral for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

Another day, another broken promise from a publisher about extra content included in a game for free. You may recall that earlier this month EA failed to deliver free content - Battlefield 1943 - that it promised to PS3 owners who purchased Battlefield 3 during E3 this year. THQ apparently has done the same thing to PS3 owners. THQ announced earlier this year that "an exclusive mode" would be available on the PS3 version of Saints Row: The Third that utilized the Penetrator (a three-foot long purple sex toy attached to a bat handle).

THQ CEO Brian Farrell said at the Cloud Gaming USA conference in San Jose today that cloud gaming is the future and that - to paraphrase what he actually said - will inevitably cannibalize traditional retail, with console makers dropping the need for discs on the next generation of consoles.

"No physical goods cost for game makers,” said Farrell. “No inventory, no markdowns, and all the money spent by the consumer would go to the developer or publisher."

THQ has decided to put the Red Faction franchise on ice, after reporting disappointing first quarter revenues that amounted to a $38 million loss. The last two games in the franchise have not met sales expectations, according to THQ, and the company says that it is having a hard time justifying further investment in the franchise at this point in time.

According to a Gamasutra report, THQ is in the process of closing Digital Warrington and Kaos Studios, two of its wholly-owned development studios. The Kaos Studios closure had been hinted at by THQ earlier this year, as the company eyed moving its developmental operations to the Montreal area where it already has a presence.

"THQ continues its strategy of aligning the best industry talent with the company’s marquee franchises," the company said in a statement sent to Gamasutra.

In March THQ laid off 17 employees, leaving the studio about 70 developers strong. Today those 70 employees are out of work, though THQ said that it is hiring for Montreal and all employees that have been let go may apply for jobs there. That is little comfort for those that can't afford to relocate to Canada.

Gamasutra reports that THQ's New York City development outfit, Kaos Studios, has cut staff. THQ has also reportedly cut some staff from Red Faction and Saint's Row developers Volition. Kaos Studio most recently completed development on Homefront. Around 16 jobs have been eliminated from Volition, while 17 positions have been cut from Kaos.

In a statement to Gamasutra, representatives for THQ explained that "the changes are not expected to affect any current or future titles in development with Volition." THQ went on to say that Kaos has a "dedicated team in place" to continue supporting Homefront with post-launch content while preparing for future projects.

The cuts at Kaos Studios are not unexpected, as THQ had talked about thinning the herd long before Homefront was ever complete. Many believe that THQ will move that studio to Canada at some point.

THQ has been very naughty, says Ubisoft, who managed to get a court injunction preventing the company from stealing any more of its employees, according to a Eurogamer report. A Quebec court has sided with Ubisoft. The court action relates to THQ recruiting Assassin's Creed creative director Patrice Désilets to lead its new Canadian studio.

Désilets then encouraged Assassin's Creed artistic director Alex Drouin, production manager Mark Besner and associate producer Jean-Francois Boivin to join him over at THQ. The problem with that was that Désilets had a one-year non-compete clause in his Ubisoft contract.

This allowed Ubisoft to get an injunction against THQ and Désilets in January of this year.

An update to fix a bug that causes the Xbox 360 version of THQ's Homefront to freeze is a day or two away from Microsoft certification, according to a Eurogamer report. The title update to the game addresses the Profile Corruption error, or "freeze bug" that some Xbox 360 users have experienced while playing Homefront. THQ says that this issue is its highest priority.

"We are also including a fix for multiplayer connectivity and ping time issues, where players are being sent to distant server locations at the expense of performance. We expect this update to be submitted to Microsoft really soon and we will be working with them very closely to get this approved and deployed as quickly as possible," said THQ on its Homefront blog.

While it might not be as frequent as it once was, it’s still not uncommon to hear publishers bemoan the existence of the used game market and express a desire to see it go the way of the dodo.

But not THQ.  No, the publisher of the recently released Homefront doesn’t want to kill off the used game market, it just wants to make sure it’s making some money off it.  THQ CEO Brian Farrell explained it to MCV thusly:

“The most important thing is we have to participate in the value chain in used games.  We understand, given our focus on the gamer, that consumers like to be able to monetise their game library. So it is an ecosystem between publisher, gamer and retailer that just has to sort itself out.  Part of it is monetising but the bigger win is keeping our gamers engaged with DLC and robust online play, and that keeps the disc in the first purchaser’s hands.”

THQ is no doubt happy to report today that Homefront first day sales in North America were approximately 375,000 units. The game ships to Europe and Asia Pacific throughout this week. No doubt THQ is delighted to make this announcement after an average Metacritic score of 73 (73 on PS3, 71 on Xbox 360, and 72 on PC) saw investors get nervous and sell off yesterday.

"We are delighted with first day sales for Homefront and are already fulfilling re-orders for the game from multiple retailers," said Brian Farrell, THQ President and CEO.

It looks like the team developing future Homefront titles will be in Montreal, and not Manhattan exclusively. According to a report on Joystiq, THQ Montreal/Kaos Studios collaborated on the first game. Senior VP of Core Studios Dave Davis mentioned the Montreal/Kaos Studios collaboration during a studio head roundtable this afternoon at GDC.

"Wherever the talent is, we will have our studios," Davis told , though he admitted that "Manhattan is an incredibly expensive place. There isn't a talent pool -- most of the people we have there are imported to NYC."

Davis said that, while it is expensive to develop games in Manhattan, he doesn't see the Kaos Studio offices closing anytime soon. But at the same time, he admits that there could be some consolidation of the two studios:

C|Net reports that the citizens of San Francisco are apparently ticked off at THQ - and by extension its partner GameStop - for releasing hundreds of balloons into the sky as part of a mock protest of North Korea - part of a marketing ploy for its new game Homefront. The balloon release happened during the Game Developers Conference. Many of the balloons had a postcard-size flyer attached to it advertising the game. People in the downtown area saw the balloons soaring in the sky, but were disgusted as they watched them land in the San Francisco Bay. That is when some residents began to express their anger. The anger was aimed at GameStop, which was a promotional partner with THQ and whose name appeared on the balloons.

According to multiple reports, THQ Studio Australia has cut around 14 from its art department. Develop reports that these workers are not being given the option to find positions elsewhere in the either. With this round of layoffs, the studio's headcount is right around 60 employees. This may be the result of THQ saying earlier this year that it was going to be less reliant of licensed children's properties, which the studio had focused a lot of energy on in the past.

"We have let 14 employees go at our THQ Australia studio. In the normal course of business, we expect to adjust our workforce both up and down as required by project needs," read a company statement.

We wish all those affected good luck in finding new positions elsewhere in the region.

Source: Develop

Publisher THQ has sold its mobile division, according to published reports this morning. THQ Wireless, the division launched in 2001 to tackle the lucrative mobile games market, has been sold off to advertising and distribution firm 24MAS. Stockholm-based 24MAS is an advertising and 'premium applications' company serving customers in over 80 countries via a proprietary software platform.

THQ says that the sale of the division does not mean an exit from the mobile market: "This agreement and our ongoing relationship with 24MAS will enable us to continue focusing on cutting edge games for Apple and emerging smartphone platforms while enjoying the distribution services of 24MAS on wireless carrier platforms," said Ian Curran, THQ's executive vice president of Global Publishing.

As part of its financial results yesterday, THQ quietly revealed why it really shut down its Company of Heroes Online beta: because it was cancelled. The company announced that it had cancelled Relic's online adaption of the popular RTS-action series set in World War II, and its online wrestling game, WWE Online.

The company also said that it has reevaluated its licensing strategies when it comes to children's movies. From the financial report:

THQ recorded a major loss and saw its revenues fall in the third-quarter as consumers spent less on its video games during the holiday shopping season. The company posted a net loss of $14.9 million, compared with a profit of $542,000 in the same period a year ago. THQ's revenue fell 11 percent to $314.6 million from $356.9 million a year earlier.

Still, the company tried to put a brave face on the discouraging revenue numbers.

"We posted a strong holiday quarter led by our new uDraw GameTablet, which shipped 1.2 million units. This owned intellectual property provides THQ with a new growth opportunity focused on innovative and creative game play," said THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell. "Our fiscal fourth quarter continues our robust release schedule of high quality, high profile games including Homefront, WWE All Stars, and de Blob 2."

Relic Entertainment announced via the Company of Heroes web site that it is shutting down Company of Heroes Online. The game never made it out of the beta testing phase. The World War II-themed real-time strategy / action game hybrid will officially close on March 31.

Relic also announced that it is no longer selling COHO Cash (the game's currency), and are urging players to spend cash they have now. Refunds for cash are not likely. While Relic describes the six month-long beta test as "successful" the future of the online game is in doubt:

"We are still working on our plans for the Company of Heroes franchise and are not ready to discuss details yet. We will be leveraging all the data and feedback the Company of Heroes Online Beta generated."

THQ's future leaning action game Homefront will utilize "online Pass" for online play via a code packed in the game. Much like it did with UFC Undisputed 2010, used game buyers will have to purchase a new code online in order to play the multiplayer part of the game in its entirety.

THQ did say that it will offer a limited multiplayer option for used game buyers that gives them access to multiplayer up to level 5. The game features a full 75 levels.

The extra code will cost right around $10. Naturally, single player will not be affected by Online Pass. The game ships in March for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

Source: Shacknews

The Ultimate Fighting Championship filed a lawsuit on Thursday against publisher Ubisoft, claiming that the packaging for its new Kinect fighting game, Fighters Uncaged, infringes on the trademarks of the UFC. Attorneys (Lewis and Roca LLP) for UFC parent company Zuffa LLC charged that the phrase on the back-cover of the new Ubisoft game for the Xbox 360 is an infringement of its trademark.

The offending phrase is "Become the ULTIMATE FIGHTING weapon!"

Zuffa's lawyers claim that the phrase is nearly identical to the UFC’s trademarked Ultimate Fighting name. It may also confuse consumers who are looking for the company's games like the "Undisputed" series published by THQ and the "Sudden Impact" game.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction blocking the sale of the game, removal of the infringing phrase from the game's packaging, unspecified damages, and court costs.

Once in awhile a politician or an executive trips up and tells the truth. This time out, it's THQ CEO Brian Farrell. Speaking to CNBC, Farrell tells Chris Morris that the price of videogames are too damn high - just like the rent in New York. The conversation began when Farrell was discussing the price of MX vs. ATV when it releases next year. Farrell pegged the price of that game at $40.

“I know investors worry about price points,” he says. “When we think about this business, we wonder if we can turn it on its head a bit. How many users can we capture? … The real key is expanding in the installed base.”

Game industry group TIGA is using comments from a THQ executive to further press for tax relief for the videogame industry in the UK.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, THQ Executive VP Danny Bilson called the talent in the UK “extraordinary,” and while he would love to see his company build a new studio in the region, it won’t happen anytime soon because “it's all about money at the end of the day.”

THQ opted instead to build a new 400-employee studio in Montreal, where it will receive tax breaks of 37.5 cents for every dollar spent on labor costs, which Bilson called a "huge win" and would enable the developer to "put more on the screen."

Bilson added:

While THQ CEO Brian Farrell believes that the future could bring lower costs for console games, that seemingly bright prospect contains a bit of a catch for consumers.

Speaking at a recent Goldman Sachs conference, Farrell, as reported by CVG, sees console games eventually selling for between $29 to $39 at retail, but those would be basic or stripped down versions of games, with—of course—extra content available from paid downloadable content.

THQ will experiment with just this kind of concept on its upcoming MX vs ATV title. As Farrell noted, “In the past, we've seen that we bring the game out at $59.99 and it does reasonably well - around one million, or one million-and-a-half units.”

He continued, “When we lower the price to a mass market price the thing really jumps... So what we're doing this time is we're coming out initially with a smaller game at a lower price point - the $29 to $39 range.”

Relic revealed via its blog that the party is over for Games for Windows and its upcoming Warhammer 40,000 titles. The general consensus among PC gamers is that GFW support in earlier Warhammer 40K games was more of a hindrance than a help when it came to playing multiplayer.

Nevertheless, the horror seems to be abating: the upcoming Dawn of War II: Retribution will only use Valve's Steamworks. THQ and developer Relic seem to prefer Steamworks because it provides Steam community features such as groups, achievements, and Steam chat. THQ said that, in addition to Steamworks support, it is working on new matchmaking and ranking built specifically for Retribution.

The bad news is that Relic has changed the game from a regular expansion to standalone, which means that Dawn of War II owners are stuck with Games for Windows. Here is more on the decision to make the game a standalone expansion:

In an interview with Computer and Video Games, THQ's Global publishing executive VP, Ian Curran, gave his opinions on DRM and the possible future of the $60 retail game.

Speaking about the cost of retail games, Curran said that the industry may move towards a micro-transactional market where the whole game isn't necessarily in the retail box. Citing the free-to-play MMO market as an example, users play the game and then buy additional content they want.

The problem with such an example is that most free-to-play MMO games can be played without ever buying extra content, whereas big publishers will probably charge for features that players consider essential like multiplayer. Of course, with a lower price, consumers might find paying extra for multiplayer more acceptable. Here's a bit from the interview:

THQ Executive Vice President of Core Games Danny Bilson (pictured) stated in a recent interview that the company is working on its own measures to thwart the used games market but indicated that the solution just might make all involved parties—publishers, retailers and consumers—content.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Bilson was tight lipped about specifics, but stated that the ultimate objective of such a movement is to stop gamers who purchased a title new from trading it in at all. He said of that goal, “That’s the war we’re in – that’s really tough for us.”

While emphasizing that what follows is not official, Bilson alluded to one solution that THQ might be working on:

With this one we're not going to lock out the multi-player to the used gamer, we're not. We're going to let them experience some of it but not all of it. And then he'll have to pay a nominal fee to get all the maps and all the stuff. That's not official, I'm saying that today, that's just what I'm thinking.

It's not that the Queen of England was seeking a gold-plated Wii, but THQ dropped one off anyway, reports Kotaku.

The publisher delivered the system to Buckingham Palace this week in order to promote its newly- released Wii title BIG Family Games. THQ product manager Danielle Robinson hyped commented:

BIG Family Games is the ultimate Wii game to get all family members, from grandparents to young children, playing together. The Royal Family is arguably the most important family in the country so we felt that they had to have a copy of the new game. But we thought that Her Majesty the Queen wouldn't want to play on any old console, so an extra-special gold one was commissioned. We hope that she and the rest of the Royal Family enjoy the game!

GP: Let's call this one what it is: publicity stunt.

GTA knockoff Saints Row 2 launches today, and a spokesman for the NYPD has criticized THQ's new crime game for its graphic depictions of virtual violence against police officers.

As reported by the New York Daily News:

A blood-soaked new video game boasts enough violence, guns and gratuitous sex to make Grand Theft Auto seem as tame as Pac-Man - and it has cops hopping mad.

The over-the-top Saints Row 2 encourages players to butcher cops with chain saws, smoke drugs, annihilate rival gangsters and run prostitution rings... Many in law enforcement and politics don't find any of it remotely entertaining.

Patrick Lynch, who heads the NYPD union, told the Daily News:

These horrible and violent video games desensitize young people to violence while encouraging depravity, immorality while glorifying criminal behavior.

The newspaper also has a quote from our old pal Jack Thompson:

Jack Thompson, a Florida lawyer and longtime critic of violent video games, called Saints Row 2 a "Grand Theft Auto ripoff."

"As is true with pornography, as is true with violence, the subsequent products tend to push the envelope even more," he said.

An unnamed THQ spokesman defended SR2:

Saints Row 2 is not a gang simulation game. It's a tongue-in-cheek game.
 

Meanwhile, the Daily News does acknowledge some of the satirical elements in the game:

Despite the outrage, some of the scenarios depicted in the game seem hilariously over the top. Players can commit insurance fraud by faking injuries, spraying the contents of a septic tank to bring down property values or appearing on a "Cops"-like reality TV show.

If things get boring, competitors can just strip and run around naked.