THQ has announced a fresh round of layoffs as its new business strategy begins taking effect in a nasty way.
"THQ confirms a reduction in force to the company's administration and publishing organization," it said in a statement handed to Game Informer.
"As recently announced, the company is exiting the kids' licensed games category, and is focusing on its core game franchises and developing its digital initiatives."
THQ's "updated business strategy" was announced shortly after the publisher denied rumours that it had cancelled multiple projects and was positioning itself for sale.
Last month, the company cut 30 staff from its family-focused Play THQ division, the Californian development team responsible for the publisher's uDraw line of products.
Comments
5 comments so far...
brownboy90 on 27 Jan '12 said:
If they had a proper business strategy in the first place this would not be such a big cut! Companies tend to only look 2 years into the future.. silly. But At lease it's not as bad as a company getting rid of people for NOTHING.. I could mention one who does this and think it's well out of order!
Mastermue on 27 Jan '12 said:
Cuts are always bad news. Good luck to those who find themselves out of a job.
Yellow6 on 27 Jan '12 said:
If it's anything like my firm they'll re-hire most of them as contractors at a higher rate.
Less motivated.
No "free overtime".
More expensive per hour.
Gotta love top level management
Incidentally I quite like THQ, I reckon I've played a fair number of games by them and enjoyed them.
Let's just hope they pull through and don't get run into the ground.
alan666 on 28 Jan '12 said:
there will no doubt a lot more lay-off's in the gaming industry this year as consumer spending really cuts back.
Telnac on 30 Jan '12 said:
Sorry for any THQ fans, but it's obvious that THQ is imploding and will soon cease to exist. They've made misstep after misstep for years now, and are blindly flailing... unable to find any solid business strategy or a market for the mediocre games they've released recently. The uDraw was a brilliant device... for the Wii. Rather than capitalizing on it by making more good games on it, they tried to release it for the PS3 and the 360?! Did anyone even pause to consider the audience on those platforms?
So how to respond to the dismal news? Layoffs. If round after round after round of layoffs haven't turned things around the last 4 years, why do you think another round will turn things around now?
I give THQ a year... two tops, before it joins many, many other poorly run publishers in the waste bin of video game history.