Sandblast-games posts

Publisher THQ may be waiting until Wednesday to officially reveal their latest quarterly financial results but apparently the news can't be good. Media reports are suggesting the publisher is making huge cuts in its work force and shutting down more than one of its internal developers.

Gamasutra reports that Dallas-based Paradigm Entertainment has been shut down by THQ along with LA-based Mass Media. The Develop web site also reports that the UK based Juice Games has had its team cut by a third. Finally the official THQ web site has apparently removed a number of their internal dev studios off their own interactive map, (thanks Kotaku) including Helixe, Locomotive, and Sandblast Games. It's not yet known if these studios are closed entirely or merged into other THQ studios. THQ has yet to officially respond to these reports but it seems clear that their financial results, due out on Wednesday afternoon, will be pretty brutal.
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On Monday we heard from Midway on their latest financial numbers. Today it's THQ's turn to the plate as it revealed its latest financial results for both its latest quarter and its full 2008 fiscal year that ended on March 31 For their last quarter the publisher recorded $187 million in revenue, up slightly from $172.1 million for the same period a year ago. However, THQ recorded a loss of $34.5 million for the quarter, which is a much higher loss than the $6.5 million that it got for the same period a year ago. THQ stated that while some games like Frontlines: Fuel of War either met or exceeded their sales expectations, other previously released games did not meet their expectations.

For the full year THQ had revenues of $1.035 billion, up slightly from revenues of $1.026 billion for the fiscal 2007 time frame. THQ had a loss of $35.3 million for the full fiscal year, down from a profit of $68 million for the fiscal 2007 year. THQ has already taken steps to cut costs, shuttering a development studio and canceling games late last year. it is also rumored to have laid off workers at two more internal development studios. THQ's upcoming game line-up for the PC includes the third person shooter Red Faction: Guerrilla this fall and in 2008 the highly anticipated RTS sequel Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II from developer Relic.