THQ drops family video games, aims for the hardcore gamer

THQ has announced that the company would be readjusting its focus more on the hardcore games, and would be eschewing family games. This shift in focus was the result of sales in the past few years.

This strategy ostensibly arose from the failure of the company’s ambitious uDraw, as well as the poor sales of its recent family games including such licenses as Avatar, SpongeBob SquarePants, and more recently, Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat and Puss in Boots.

“THQ will be a more streamlined organization focused only on our strongest franchises. The success of Saints Row: The Third is an example of what our revised strategy and focus can achieve. We have now shipped 3.8 million units globally and are currently expecting to ship between five and six million units lifetime on this title. Additionally, our robust digital content offerings for this game have resulted in the highest digital revenue of any console title in our history,” THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell announced in a press release.

THQ’s upcoming games include such titles as UFC Undisputed 3, Darksiders II, and Guillermo del Toro’s inSANE, as well as a new, unnamed title from Patrice Désilets, who is best known for the Assassin’s Creed series that was published by rival UbiSoft. Company of Heroes was also mentioned, which could be a reference to Company of Heroes Online, which closed beta testing last March 2011 but was rumored to be cancelled.

The publisher will be explaining its new business model in a 2012 investor conference call on the 2nd February, 2012.