According to Zelnick, ”THQ’s strategy was licensed properties, first and foremost. License stuff from other people, whether it’s UFC or WWE or a motion picture property, and make a game around that. And our approach, since we took over the company, is 100 percent owned intellectual property.”
Zelnick went on to criticize THQ’s business plans, stating, ”(THQ’s) strategy didn’t work and the execution was bad.”
“To put it another way: the food was no good and the portions were small. THQ won’t be around in six months,” he concluded.
The biggest issue for THQ, Zelnick claimed, was the lack of quality of their games.
”Take-Two has the highest quality ratings among third-party publishers, according to Metacritic and most people in the industry. Quality really, really, really matters. THQ has had some good game(s), but their quality levels aren’t even remotely … the quality hasn’t measured up,” Zelnick insisted.
In January, THQ announced that it would be dropping family-oriented licensed games, and sticking to its large successful franchises such as Saints Row.
