South Park RPG, Metro: Last Light, Company of Heroes 2 delayed
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
THQ delays trio of upcoming games into next year due to company's desire for quality; publisher posts $21 million loss on $107.4 million in revenue.
THQ has delayed a trio of its anticipated upcoming games. As part of its latest financial report for the three months ended September 30, THQ announced that it has delayed South Park: The Stick of Truth, Metro: Last Light, and Company of Heroes 2.
Explaining the delays, THQ president Jason Rubin said each was borne out of a desire for quality.
"When I joined THQ, the company made a public commitment to quality titles. We always expected that in some cases this would mean that more time would be needed to make sure that every title is of the highest possible quality," Rubin said.
South Park: The Stick of Truth was previously scheduled for a launch on March 5, 2013. The game is now expected sometime during THQ's "early fiscal 2014," which means sometime after March 2013. As for Metro: Last Light and Company of Heroes 2, those games are now scheduled to launch during March 2013.
"I believe South Park's market opportunity is significant," Rubin added. "It is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated titles of calendar 2013. It is also an expansive title, encompassing multiple television seasons' worth of content. THQ is committed to giving gamers no less than the rich South Park game they have been waiting for and deserve."
Remarking about Metro: Last Light, Rubin said it is THQ's aim for this game to "set standards for visuals," while Company of Heroes has a storied pedigree to live up to.
"Giving both of these titles time to reach their full potential is the right thing to do for the products," he said.
As for fiscal specifics, for the three-month period ended September 30, THQ posted net revenue of $107.4 million. This was down from the $146.0 million the company hauled during the same time last year. THQ posted a loss of $21 million, better than the $92.4 million hit the company took this time last year.
It wasn't all bad for THQ during the quarter. The company's digital revenues rose 34 percent from $14.3 million to $19.1 million.
Lastly, THQ said delaying South Park: The Stick of Truth, Metro: Last Light, and Company of Heroes will create a need for further capital. The company has begun talks with investment banking firm Centerview Partners LLC to "assist the company in evaluating strategic and financing alternatives."
"Clearly, THQ faces a number of opportunities and challenges," said THQ CEO Brian Farrell. "I am confident about the opportunities that lie in our robust slate of games and in our studios. But we also face challenges operating with limited capital resources in the highly competitive market for games, and we are working diligently to resolve those challenges."
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
96 comments
1 Like I was kind of eery of the South Park game...but it's actually looking to be really...really...awesome lol
1 Like If CoH 2 is half as good as the first one....it's already better than all games released in 2012 combined.
South Park has lots of potential....looking forward to it too.
3 Like Metro last light in one of my three most anticipated games of the year. Delay for optimization an polishing if you must THQ, but please not for "market Reasons". This FPS offers atmosphere that give unparalled inmmersion and is SP only, and I can't name any other incoming shooter that promises that.
seems there new boss is smarter than the one that rage quited i only hope they can afford keeping those games in the cooker longer without lay offs or risk of gowing down under.
Im starting to like THQ... I loved company of heroes and metro 2033 and playing the saints row 3 which is great IMO.
This is possibly good news in general if indeed the delays are about quality. This is a move straight out of Take 2's play book. THQ can't be another Activision or EA. If they want survive, they have to be another Take 2.
2 Like I just hope the titles have quality and end up successful. I would enjoy a great South Park game. I can wait a little longer for an improved game.
If the reason is indeed increase in quality then i am all up for it. Even though, i was looking forward to playing Metro: Last Light asap.
1 Like Love it or hate it, South Park still probably the most entertaining (and spot on with current references) show on TV regardless of what you think. I don't know why South Park Studios is wasting their time with THQ, to be honest. They've had a bad track record ever since they started. Hopefully this turns out alright
The only people who hate South Park are the ones who are offended by it and that just makes it even funnier for the fans.
THQ is only the publisher. Obsidian is making the game.
And why do you think THQ is bad? They have quite a few good games. I love the Saints Row series.
THQ's desire for quality? Since when did they acquire that? Every one of their titles is "good" at best and always feels like it needed 6 more months work on top of whatever they consider "quality". It's a shame because a few of their games had a lot of potential to be far better than they actually were.
1 Like @mattcake Metro 2033 was an amazing game on PC... If they want to take their time with the next one, good on them. Plus you also mention that "It's a shame because a few of their games had a lot of potential"... Perhaps this will help Metro: Last Light be a title that can hang with the 'big dogs'. Though I'm guessing it's the consoles optimization causing the delay... trying to squeeze out every last cpu/gpu cycle and deal with the tiny amount of ram. Either way as long as this means the end product is better, We should all be happy with that.
2 Like Every time I see news about THQ struggling I think:"How can this be?They make so many great games, i mean Stalker series(they only published), Metro series, Darksiders...".
And then I realize that although I loved all those games, I didn't bought any of them on day1...(only purchased them for 20?) I gess their games dont get so hyped as other companies games... and that reflects eavily on sales.
1 Like That's too bad about South Park. It was my most anticipated game of next year, aside from GTAV. Oh well, maybe that will let me kind of catch up on other games. Oh, yeah, GTA V comes out sometime right before, hmm....
@tightwad34 Fiscal 2014 starts in April 2013, so it technically still is slated to come out next year, just not in the first three months of it.
1 Like That's too damn funny because Matt & Trey often joke about the crude animation of the series so to hear the game is delayed to quality issues is irony at it's best.
1 Like ""I believe South Park's market opportunity is significant," Rubin added. "It is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated titles of calendar 2013.""
No, it really isn't. Here's to the game that will finally break Obsidian Entertainment.
1 Like @mrboone01 The best looking southpark game ever made and also the highlight of microsofts entire E3 conference personally extremely excited for this game
4 Like @mrboone01 Break Obsidian? The same Obsidian that recently raised the MOST funds (for a game) on kickstarter to fund their OWN game called Project Eternity which is an old school rpg like they used to make?
As far as the game sucking, it isn't even out yet. Obsidian makes some decent games like the most recent Fallout: New Vegas (and some not so decent ones, IE Alpha Protocol). I don't think a bad game would flop a studio like Obsidian who usually gets hired out by other studios (Bioware, Bethseda, THQ) to develop games for them.
Also you underestimate the power of South Park, it has a tons of fans on name alone who will buy it.
2 Like I have a lot of respect for THQ. When a company is in the dirt it will usually push out something faster to pick up spare cash. Instead they take the hit and give the games the time they deserve
Really excited for CoH 2. I'm perfectly fine with waiting a little longer if the extra development time guarantees an outstanding game.THQ's got the right idea.
1 Like I thought THQ already delayed Metro until between Jan. and March. They just pushed it to the end of that window. I'm willing to be forgiving since they had the foresight to ditch multiplayer. The fact that THQ needs to raise capital is more of a concern... not a good sign. Vote with your dollars if you want them to stay afloat.
2 Like Mecha-Streisand better be in there, and I better be able to Ro-cham-bo someone for an arrowhead.
Just hope it doesn't turn out as bad as the Family Guy game that come out this month will inevitably be.
@Chaos_Dante_456 It's going to be an RPG made by obsidian already 2 points that make it a 1000 times better than the family guy game
5 Like Ah... Another Metro game, can't wait to get back into the tunnels. Just beat the first one a few days ago.
I hope it was my post that delayed this game.
At least then we get some much needed updates to the game.
4 Like Well I hope they are able to hold on long enough to get these games out the door. Glad they are focusing on quality, but it would be a shame if the games never came out at all. They've cancelled a couple games I was really looking forward to already, so I hope these games can get them back on track.
1 Like I think this is a good call on THQ's part. They aren't exactly known for releasing the most polished games around- so rather than gunning for a release date and further dumping on their own reputation, they are taking the time to let a game "cook" properly. I'd rather wait another 3 years for a new Metro game than play one that ends up being crappy. It's not like it's a narrative I'll die if I don't jump back into immediately, but whenever it shows up, it could be a good time.
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also every dawn of war expanision pack has only been 30 dollers and that man seem like alot it is an expansion pack and not just more maps or something dont lose faith with THQ just yet they still have quailty games
9 Like @Tripwolf Whilst generally I'd agree with you. I've personally seen very little of this from THQ. As if you've played Metro 2033 and Company of Heroes you know that those two truly are some of the few unique quality products to come out of the gaming industry in the past few years.
Not to mention the fact that Metro had no DLC whatsoever, and Company of Heroes only had expansion packs. So I think it's a bit of jumping the gun to call out a company for monetizing and abusing the system when they have no history of it with these series.
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South Park: The Stick of Truth
- Publisher(s): Ubisoft
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