Topic: THQ CEO Speaks on Innovation, Licensed Titles

[NWR_DrewMG]

CEO Brian Farrell suggests that success lies in innovation, rather than licensing movie rights.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/25037

During an investor conference call, THQ CEO Brian Farrell commented that the "see the movie, play the game" single-player experience that his company once focused on was no longer a successful strategy. Instead, he said that the company would focus on more innovative, youth-focused products, specifically pointing toward the uDraw tablet, which, according to the company's quarterly financial results, shipped 1.2 million units between its November 14 launch and the end of the year. Although THQ posted a quarterly loss during the recent holiday season, they were pleasantly surprised by the response to the tablet.

Farrell said, "The single-player kids' games, particularly those based on movie licenses, were the ones that showed the most weakness. What we learned this holiday season is new stuff, innovative stuff... you do something new and consumers, especially kids, respond to that."

Farrell also specifically pointed to de Blob as a franchise they were looking toward for growth, as the upcoming de Blob 2 will be launching on multiple consoles simultaneously, including 3D support on the Playstation 3. de Blob was a critical success on the Wii in 2008.

THQ quarterly earnings fell 11.8% from $356.7 million to $314.6 million. The company reported a net quarterly loss of $14.9 million compared to $542,000 in profit during the same period in 2009. The losses were partially due to a $30.3 million charge incurred from lowered performance expectations of the aforementioned licensed titles.

[UncleBob]

The single-player kids' games, particularly those based on movie licenses, were the ones that showed the most weakness.

Speaking of which, about two months ago, I found a pretty blue GBASP, with some useless accessories 9 games - two being good (Super Mario World and Super Monkey Ball Jr.) and the rest being crap (all with manuals though - whoo!).  I thought I'd be open-minded, so I tried playing one of the games I shrugged off as crap... I turned the seven titles upside down, scrambled them all around, and randomly grabbed one... it wasn't good...  I played through several levels until I decided I was better off jabbing sharp objects into my ears to scratch my brain.  Oh, hey, look... a THQ logo...  Though to be fair, that game was released several years ago...

[GK]

All THQ has to do is make a Wiiware game based on their engine for WWF No Mercy. Drop the license & leave a ton of space for created wrestlers. They would get rich off of selling extra move sets & costumes as DLC until the next console. Especially if it had online play.