Where did THQ really hit the point of no return? - General Discussion

#1 Posted by boocreepyfootdoctor (781 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

Did it really need all these cards to fall or did one specific failure do most of the damage? ... There's doing less shitty Nickelodeon and Disney games in favor of mid-tier original IPs. There's over spending on the Homefront ad campaign. There's Udraw. There's failure to find investment backing to buy into PS4/720 dev kits. There's failure to fast track Saints Row 4 for annualization. What would tHQ change if they could only change one thing ?

#2 Posted by Icicle7x3 (885 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

Udraw.

#3 Posted by Sooty (6683 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

They didn't play it safe enough, if your company is struggling you don't release games that won't draw in the mainstream.

#4 Posted by Blimble (302 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Sooty: The problem is you really can't do that with certainty. You can't just make a COD clone and have rake in the cash. The mainstream market is so random that anything could just manage to hit it right spot

#5 Posted by Colourful_Hippie (2597 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Icicle7x3 said:

Udraw.

#6 Posted by Ares42 (1808 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Icicle7x3 said:

Udraw.

#7 Posted by Superfriend (1271 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Sooty said:

They didn't play it safe enough, if your company is struggling you don't release games that won't draw in the mainstream.

They made the mistake of betting a LOT of money on certain games like Homefront (and Udraw). A lot of money was spent on production and marketing, more than those games really needed. Those games had to be huge hits. My guess is that somewhere within THQ somebody actually thought those were safe bets. The tragedy here is that that guy/set of guys is probably already employed somewhere else, while Vigil dudes are out looking for jobs.

In short: The environment where every game all of the sudden has to sell 3 million units is created by the publishers themselves. Not everybody can have their own Call of Duty game, but they only learn through extreme failure, if at all.

#8 Posted by Keres (173 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Sooty said:

They didn't play it safe enough, if your company is struggling you don't release games that won't draw in the mainstream.

Hee hee.

#9 Posted by Lyfeforce (212 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Icicle7x3 said:

Udraw.

...being brought to PS3 and Xbox 360, rather.

#10 Posted by mordukai (7001 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Icicle7x3 said:

Udraw.

More to the point, Udraw for PS3.

#11 Posted by PeZ (106 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

Didn't they make like 4 million of those Udraw tablets? What were they thinking? That's Atari ET levels of stupid, right there. But I'm sad to see them go.

#12 Posted by grayfox1210 (192 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

Udraw anything.

#13 Posted by Muzhik (11 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

Udraw was probably the thing that put them over the edge but THQ hadn't published enough good games, for a company of their size, for a while. I think the decline of THQ was something that had been going on and Udraw and Homefront were just 2 blunders that hit when they were already really weak

#14 Posted by Demoskinos (8922 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Icicle7x3 said:

Udraw.

#15 Posted by OfficeGamer (1024 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

@Keres said:

@Sooty said:
They didn't play it safe enough, if your company is struggling you don't release games that won't draw in the mainstream.
Hee hee.

I like you

#16 Posted by Brodehouse (7111 posts) - 3 months, 22 days ago

I disagree with the Udraw statement. Udraw CAUSED the collapse, but the collapse could have been averted if a number of things went right.

The 'point of no return', the point when THQ couldn't possibly recover from the uDraw fiasco; when Darksiders 2 came out and wasn't a smash success. If it came out and did Saints Row numbers, THQ would've had the opportunity to mitigate their losses, pay off their debts and continue, shaken but still surviving. Udraw was slipping off the cliff side, Darksiders 2 was losing grip on the shrubs you were desperately hanging onto.