Sadly the rumour of THQ closing the doors of five develop studios is indeed true, and the decision for which is blamed on the ”economic environment as a whole.”
Paradigm Entertainment, Mass Media, Helixe, Locomotive Games, and Sandblast Games are now all gone, with Rainbow Studios and Juice Games getting numbers cut down.
It’s tragic that while generally the videogames market has been performing strongly compared with others in this turbulent time, the shares of the major publishers still haven’t managed to escape the clutches of ‘looming recession’.
”Over the past several weeks, we have completed a new strategic plan for THQ and presented it to our board of directors. The plan was initiated by me and developed by the executive committee in close collaboration with senior members of our product development and publishing organizations,” wrote THQ bossman Brian Farrell, reports Kotaku.
”As a result of this new plan, we have discontinued a number of projects from external developers, as well as certain projects within our internal THQ studios. In a number of cases, the cancellation of a project means that the THQ studio working on that project will be closed.”
Farrell acknowledges that these decisions are incredibly difficult to reach but are also a ”necessary step toward returning THQ to profitability.”
These are dark times indeed as EA cuts loose 6% of their overall workforce and now THQ shuts down five whole studios. Who else is going to suffer the chopping block?
Damn those capitalist pigs!
