THQ Loses Big, Changes Course

Perhaps THQ thought its new logo would help its sales, but it appears they were mistaken. They laid off 200 employees yesterday as they struggled to deal with poor sales of some of their recent titles (notably Red Faction: Armageddon and their children's titles). Basically, they plan to cut back their efforts in classic console games to put more focus on social games, like their upcoming Margaritaville Online (yes, it's based on the Jimmy Buffet song... I have no idea what it will be like).

We can add THQ to the ranks of companies that are investing in social and mobile games. Who knows, maybe someday even Activision will decide to give it a try.

THQ does have Warhammer: 40K coming up this quarter, which should do well. They believe they have a strong lineup for the rest of the year, which should help cushion their transition into different types of gaming. I expect they're in for some difficult times ahead, but at least they recognize that the industry is changing and they need to take action. It's the companies that just plan on doing more of the same that I worry about.