If you were paying attention to Twitter at all this weekend, amid the deluge of Golden Globes-related live tweeting and the occasional reference to Lana Del Rey on SNL (it really was that bad, you guys), you may or may not have noticed a sudden upswing in mournful discussion regarding publisher THQ and its continued existence. Specifically, the rumors claimed that THQ's upcoming Warhammer MMO project, Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online had been cancelled, and that the publisher was in the process of aborting all of its projects currently targeted for 2014.
Considering THQ's recent stock woes--it's been trading at about 66 cents as of last week--the sudden influx of doom and gloom surrounding the company wasn't altogether unbelievable. However, despite all of that, THQ representatives took a break from watching Meryl Streep's acceptance speech to take to the Internet tonight and assure everyone that 2014 is still very much a year in which THQ plans to sell video games, and that no decisions have been made regarding the aforementioned MMO, so please for the love of god stop saying anything about that before the investors wake up on Monday and stomp what's left the company's face into Wall Street's famed "curb of the unprofitable."
"THQ has not cancelled its 2014 line-up, and has not made any decisions regarding the planned MMO. As part of the ongoing review of our business, we have made decisions to ensure that the company is strategically addressing the most attractive markets. As we have previously announced, we have dramatically reduced our commitment to the kids' boxed games sector which leads to a significantly more focused release schedule moving forward. Our slate for calendar 2012 and beyond is focused on high-quality core games and continues to build our digital platform and business. We are excited for our pipeline of original and high-quality content along with our relationships with some of the best talent in the industry."
The rumor originated from the barely navigable Twitter feed of Kevin Dent, the head of the IGDA's "Mobile Special Interest Group," which somehow is a real game industry thing and not the name of a CBS crime drama. Dent stated that Warhammer was canned and that he had heard THQ had gone to the trouble of actually returning the intellectual property of various license-holders in order to start wiping 2014's slate clean.
Somewhere in-between replying to what I can only assume is literally every single person who has tweeted at him today and discussing his plan for a Counter-Strike LAN party this evening, Dent went ahead and backpedaled on all of that, repeating THQ's statement and stating when asked that all his information came from friendly sources inside THQ's various studios, while deftly avoiding every request to explain who those sources were. Because apparently after firebombing what few remaining vestiges of THQ's stock value were left with seemingly incorrect rumors, that would just be, like, wrong, or something. You can read all of his various statements and responses here. Just be forewarned: dude tweets a lot.
Anyway, the point is, THQ is all about releasing core games in 2014, and as far as you know, they're still making a Warhammer MMO, because they haven't stated otherwise--or, at least, haven't clearly stated otherwise. So please, please, please stop telling everyone they're not doing those things, because if the investors hear enough people grumbling about it they will magically appear and gut the company like the goddamned Candyman.
Oh...oh god. We're too late...