THQ will be closing both of its studios in Australia and a development team in Phoenix, laying off about 200 members of staff. This comes after the closing of Homefront Kaos Studios and layoffs at Volition in June.
CEO Brian Farrell explains that this is simply cutting out the fat:
With this realignment, we are narrowing our focus to high-quality owned IP with broad appeal that can be leveraged across multiple platforms, and to work with the best talent in the industry. By right-sizing our internal development capacities for our console portfolio, our five internal studios are focused on delivering high-quality games with talented teams driving the execution of those titles to market.
As we have outlined in our business strategies, we are making shifts to reduce movie-based and licensed kids' video games in our portfolio, which underscores our strategy to move away from games that will not generate strong profits in the future.
THQ has already halted future titles in the Red Faction and MX vs. ATV franchises due to poor sales, but this doesn't mean that they are on the way out. In fact, their current lineup shown at E3 looks beastly: UFC Undisputed 3, WWE '12, Warhammer 40000: Space Marine, Darksiders II, Guillermo del Toro's Insane, Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third, Patrice Desilet's mystery IP, and my favorite, Saints Row: The Third.
If anything, this restructuring will makes all those games better.
[Source]
