THQ Outlines Financial Fallout of Ending UFC Deal

I didn't but sr3 for the humor, I bought it because I was a fan since the first. As long as they bring back the pimp cane shotgun, sr2 level of customization and surprises akin to murderbrawl 21? I think it was 21 but anyway, I will still buy it no matter what. Also COH 2 woooooo!

@familyphotoshoot said:

If this is supposed to be an anigif maybe it comes off better, but as a still it looks like a dude is bent over while another guy is hovering behind him, preparing to anally fist him.

@nickp said:

It seems EA's big "reveal" at E3 is in fact that they've bought a lossmaking franchise.

I was about to say, THQ wouldn't have let UFC go if they felt it was still making money for them. They clearly saw the franchise as part of the fat they needed to trim.

The problem is not the sale figures but the massive pay checks the top level employees are asking for, especially the CEOs. If a game sold between 500k plus to a million then that should be good but fixed expenses on making these games are ridiculous and sometimes irrelevant. Thank God for Indie games because at least their quality in terms of length, creativity, and value are surpassing the big boys.

@vinsanityv22 said:

R.I.P. THQ San Diego. I loved you guys, whether you were making WWE All Stars, Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks (as Midway San Diego), or X-Men Mutant Academy (as Paradox) - you guys KNOW fighting games. You guys do better transitional animations and more responsive, faster paced combat than any other western developer! Even the core Mortal Kombat team (with their reliance on janky, canned combos) couldn't make a game as good as Shaolin Monks! I would've LOVED to see what UFC game you guys were making. *sniff*

If there's any justice in the world, SOMEONE will pick up all the guys from this team and reform them AGAIN. Just so they can keep making awesome fighting games.

I'm also shocked that UFC Undisputed 3 didn't sell well. I thought this was a big part of THQ's business strategy; I remember they were SUPER HAPPY with the first one's sales. It was a million seller back then for sure; did UFC 3 not manage to pass the million mark? That's shocking.

The first one did excellently, but THQ went way too early with another one. This just isn't the sort of thing you make yearly, and UFC 2010 suffered in retail. UFC 3 did well by comparison, but apparently not well enough to give the UFC their money.

What I wanna know is what happens in the future? Everything I'm reading makes it sound like THQ sold the license to EA directly, and while I'm not very contract-smart, I wonder what happens when EA and Dana White are the two at the conference table.

@akumous said:

The problem is not the sale figures but the massive pay checks the top level employees are asking for, especially the CEOs. If a game sold between 500k plus to a million then that should be good but fixed expenses on making these games are ridiculous and sometimes irrelevant. Thank God for Indie games because at least their quality in terms of length, creativity, and value are surpassing the big boys.

Yeah, not really.

The problem with UFC is that it's a licensed franchise. Meaning THQ doesn't get all the money. I can only assume that they didn't make enough to break even AND pay UFC for a renewal. This is part of what Strauss Zelnick was talking about a few months back, about why he avoids licenses that other companies go for. You prop that license up in the game space, and more often than not, your reward is a bigger license fee when renewal time comes around. Given THQ's almost exclusive reliance on licenses throughout its history, this smacked them senseless as they couldn't pay all these companies anymore.

Fact is, the licensed space is becoming an absolute bitch nowadays. What few license-owners that aren't just making their own in-house studios (Disney, WB) are asking for a crap-ton more money. THQ was never big enough for where licensed games ended up going.

I'd not be surprised if they lost WWE in a year or two.

@NegativeCero: You do know that EA is all about releasing the same franchise every year? Like Madden and FIFA, I believe UFC 2010 and 3 were two years apart. I'm not sure yet if the yearly releases will be a good or bad thing for UFC but FIFA and Madden are getting slightly better with every year.

That's EA for ya. They don't care at long as no one else is making money. The second someone else can be making money they have to make the same money or try to. EA needs to die.