It's a sign of the financial times, as THQ warns of one closure, and lets two other devs go free.
Times are tough all over, and while the game industry is doing better than some, there still those who are hurting in the hip pocket. The latest to feel the global financial pinch is publisher THQ, who has announced that unless it can find a buyer soon, it will be shutting down Big Huge Games.
THQ only acquired the dev house a year ago, so it's a sure sign that things are not going well. What's worse, is that it's hard to see how THQ can expect to sell a studio that even it admits is currently unviable. BHG is probably best known for its Rise of Nations titles - so this isn't exactly a B-list company.
The pending shut-down - and let's be honest, it's probably going to go that way - comes on the back of THQ's announcement that it's setting free two other developers to find their own way. Both Incinerator Studios and Heavy Iron Studios are now roaming free to find other financial backing on their own terms; whether or not that's possible, for studios better known for television tie-ins, is debatable. Both companies worked on various Disney and Nickelodeon projects, but those licenses are staying firmly in THQ's hands.
We hope that someone can find the cash to pick up Big Huge, and hope too that Incinerator and Heavy Iron don't whither for want of work. It's bad time out there, to be sure, but it would be sad to see three studios go down in one hit.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012