THQ had its annual investor's call this afternoon, and with it came a few significant changes in the publisher's upcoming lineup of games. Most notably, the Obsidian-developed South Park: The Stick of Truth has been pushed back into next year, and Tomonobu Itagaki'sDevil's Third will no longer be published under the THQ banner.
South Park was announced just a few months ago, and had originally been scheduled to release later this fall. Now THQ has listed it as a fiscal Q4 release. Obsidian was hit with layoffs earlier this year, including members of the South Park team. However, that wasn't cited as a reason for the delay, nor was any reason for that matter.
Devil's Third was the first game scheduled to be published from Valhalla Game Studios, the studio founded by former Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki. Originally, the third-person action title had been targeted for release in early 2013, but now that will only come to fruition if THQ can quickly find a new home for the game. CEO Brian Farrell stated that the game "no longer fit THQ's profitability profile," and that they are currently talking to other companies about taking on the project.
When asked for further comment during the Q&A, Farrell explained that the company that produced the game engine that was originally to be used in Devil's Third went out of business, which meant that THQ had to step in and help them build a new engine. That expense, coupled with the current value of the Yen, factored into in the decision to drop the title.
Elsewhere, it was revealed that the Saints Row: The Third expansion pack, Enter the Dominatrix, will arrive in September as a stand-alone product, which can be played regardless as to whether you have the original game.
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