THQ's decision to shut down its persistant online RTS game Company of Heroes Online will cause the publisher to take a $9.9 million charge in its latest financial numbers. As we reported on Tuesday the game from developer Relic Entertainment will shut down on March 31 in both North America and Asia. Another free-to-play game, WWE Online, will also be shut down; it was only available in Asian markets.

THQ's press release was vague on the reasons behind the shutdown of its free-to-play games, saying only that the company had "reevaluated its strategy of adapting certain Western content for free-to-play online games in Asian markets." Overall THQ's revenues for the quarter that ended on December 31, 2010 came in at $314.6 million compared to $356.7 million for the same period a year ago. The company said it had a net loss for the quarter of $14.9 million compared to a net profit of $542,000 for the same period a year ago.