Talking Loud, Saying Nothing

Despite the product cull, there are still some very strong brands in THQs cupboard. If the UFC fighting series isn't milked and is treated with respect surely it can echo the same growth as the real-world sport. Saints Row: The Third proved in its unhinged madness that it's finally broken away from GTA's shadow and has confidence among the biggest Q3 hitters. Warhammer is an epic universe that most developers would love to have a crack at, but is THQ still pumping money into an MMO or has it been shelved and put up for sale, as rumours suggest? Does it really have a flexible business model in mind, or does it simply not know how to make money back from such an expensive project?

Metro Last Light is as core-focused as a game can be and could carve a decent niche in the first-person shooter market, but let's not pretend it can (or needs) to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Battlefields and Call of Dutys. Push it too far in that direction and it will come a cropper like Homefront before it. And what of Company of Heroes? That's a real-time strategy series that should not be ignored, the kind fans will obsess over in the long term. I spoke with one journalist last week who is actually angry (aren't they all?) that THQ is in danger of destroying its finest games. Don't whittle down your stick until you're left with just the shavings.

Games exec Danny Bilson has gone worryingly quiet. He's a terrific evangelist with the right combination of swagger and honesty, but why isn't he shouting about core games to the fans?

Core games exec Danny Bilson has gone worryingly quiet. He's a terrific evangelist for the core business as anyone who's interviewed or met him will know, the man has quotes for days with the right combination of swagger and honesty that shows most execs to be the overly media-trained yes-men they are. He's the mouthpiece the company needs right now, pounding the drum of brave, brash and bombastic console and PC games. That stripped down product line up is as hardcore as they come, why isn't he shouting about it to the fans?

There are other projects in the works too, with the THQ Partners team striking gold. I can't think of a better studio to work on a new Homefront than Crytek. There's no doubt it will put the hard work in to give the series some credibility, but that 2013 release seems a long way off. As does Valhalla's Devil's Third and the project from Left 4 Dead studio Turtle Rock. Great teams, great talent, but a great way off.

Yesterday THQ said its internal development studios were not affected by layoffs, but that's because the entire business has been stripped down already. And that doesn't mean there isn't more bad news to come for those at Relic, Volition and Vigil. Canadian studios in Vancouver and Montreal are the safest at this point, but hand outs from the local government there won't help the bigger struggle in the long term.

THQ says it will concentrate on its core business, but all around it are the wasted efforts and broken games of ill-conceived and random projects, or worse, games that were half built, not followed to completion and unceremoniously dumped in the bin. We've heard it all before, is it any wonder the company is expected to fall beyond repair? The games industry has all but given up on the company and its efforts to move into digital, sales are missing targets and there's serious questions about finance for the latter half of 2012. THQ needs to be honest with itself, be realistic with its ambitions, humble in its failures and stand up to the future. No one wants to see another Midway situation, where the company collapses and rivals cherry pick what's left of the IP. But at this point it's hard not to see just that in THQ.